persona to persona…
April 9, 2012
The Day Nine prompt for NaPoWriMo is to write a persona poem. The persona poem allows the poet to inhabit another entity — a person, place, object, creature, etc. — and to speak from that voice. Like a mask, the persona may allow the poet to discover a surprising new personality, point of view or syntax.
Maureen Thorson offers some examples of famous persona poems on her NaPoWriMo Day Nine prompt post.
To see how a couple hundred contemporary poets have met the persona challenge, have a look at (and buy!) the wonderful new collection, A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry, edited by Oliver de la Paz and Stacey Lynn Brown (University of Akron Press).
If you have a chance to attend a reading, do! Visit the website for the book to learn more and see a calendar of readings, and follow A Face to Meet the Faces on Facebook.
Have you written a persona poem today?
