{"id":4978,"date":"2018-07-07T21:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=4978"},"modified":"2018-09-27T21:48:22","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T21:48:22","slug":"poetry-is-something-you-discover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2018\/poetry-is-something-you-discover\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Poetry is something you discover\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Church of the Brethren Newsline
\nJuly\u00a07,\u00a02018<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"
Ken Gibble speaking at an insight session on poetry, with his new Brethren Press book “A Poetry of the Soul” in the foreground. Photo by Glenn Riegel.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Wendy McFadden introduced the session \u201cPoetry: Read It. Write It,\u201d she remarked that it is the first or only insight session on the specific topic of poetry that she is aware of in her history with Annual Conference. If that is the case, Ken Gibble stepped up to the plate.<\/p>\n

Gibble began by asking how many of us read poetry on a regular basis, and then, how many of us write poetry. He asked knowing that many people see poetry as inaccessible, something they just don\u2019t \u201cget.\u201d His response was to say, \u201cPoetry is not something you \u2018get.\u2019 Rather it is something you discover\u201d–or perhaps it discovers you.<\/p>\n

Gibble\u2019s experience with poetry was similar to others. We first heard simple poetry as children, often in Sunday school, eventually studying poetry and specific poets in high school and perhaps college. Gibble wrote poetry and hymn texts occasionally, then began reading and writing poetry on a daily basis only after he retired from the pastorate.<\/p>\n

We started to suspect that he was going to ask us to write as be began listing the elements of poetry:<\/p>\n

Poems can rhyme, but do not<\/em>
\nneed to they can be free<\/em>
\nverse. Psalms for example<\/em>
\nuse parallelism a kind of<\/em>
\nmeaning rhyme. The poetry<\/em>
\nrepeating a thought like a rhyme.<\/em><\/p>\n

Poems also have a rhythm or<\/em>
\nmeter, figurative language<\/em>
\nstanzas, shape, mood…<\/em>
\nstrong words. \u201cMove in<\/em>
\nOur Midst\u201d uses 20 verbs<\/em>
\nMove, Go, Lead, Touch\u00a0<\/em>
\nin four short stanzas.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most poems use an economy<\/em>
\nof words, a few well chosen<\/em>
\nthat power the poetic images.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gibble\u2019s favorite poetry tells a story, and might also stretch and surprise the reader. His poems in the new Brethren Press book \u201cA Poetry of the Soul\u201d are story poems.<\/p>\n

Gibble began a list of thought starters:
\nThe Lord is…
\nIf I could…
\nWhen I was a child…
\nO God you are…<\/p>\n

Now you and I are ready to write our poems.<\/p>\n

— Karen Garrett contributed this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more onsite coverage of Annual Conference go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/ac\/2018\/coverage<\/a>\u00a0.<\/em><\/p>\n

The news coverage of Annual Conference 2018 is made possible through the work of communications staff and a volunteer news team: Frank Ramirez, Conference Journal editor; photographers Glenn Riegel, Regina Holmes, Keith Hollenberg, Donna Parcell, Laura Brown; writers Frances Townsend, Karen Garrett, Alyssa Parker; youth team member Allie Dulabaum; web staff Jan Fischer Bachman, Russ Otto; Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, director of News Services; Wendy McFadden, publisher. Contact\u00a0cobnews@brethren.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0www.brethren.org\/Newsline<\/a>\u00a0to subscribe to the Church of the Brethren Newsline free e-mail news service and receive church news every week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Wendy McFadden introduced the session \u201cPoetry: Read It. Write It,\u201d she remarked that it is the first or only insight session on the specific topic of poetry that she is aware of in her history with Annual Conference. If that is the case, Ken Gibble stepped up to the plate. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4983,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1258,49,1273],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-4978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-annual-conference","tag-brethren-press","tag-spiritual-life"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4978"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4985,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4978\/revisions\/4985"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4978"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=4978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}