Ellen Clayton inspires a golden shovel

Poetry (pen) Pals #27

Another brilliant guest this week, and another poetic form to read / practice.

In an attempt to try and mix up my #yearof100poems for 2024, back in January I added in a secondary goal. I say added in, I didn’t actually even write it down which shows my level of commitment. And that ‘half-assed-in-my-own-head-non-specific goal’ was to write more poetry using different forms. Yeah. Erm.

So this week is making me very happy. And our guest poet is making me very happy too because it is our very own

Ellen

. Read on for some wonderful poetry and if you’re here to write, a nudge to give your own golden shovel a go…

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I want to start by saying a heartfelt thank you to everyone reading this post. It's been a real joy to be part of this community this year. I've loved reading your beautiful words and hearing your recommendations, and really appreciated the space to share my own work. 

Poetic forms can feel quite intimidating, but every time I attempt one I'm really glad I did. I often find using a different form enables me to move out of my comfort zone in terms of the content and style of my writing - I'm sure some of you will relate when I say I often end up writing on the same themes! Trying a different form can be a really useful way to step outside my usual creative boxes and can be the catalyst I need to do something different. 

Some of you may remember a little while ago, in the love poetry week back in February, I wrote a golden shovel. I find this form really interesting as it uses a line from another poem (or a lyric from a song!) within the piece. The reciprocity of this and using another poet or artist's work as inspiration feels fitting for this community, so I hope you enjoy having a go! 

These are the rules from Writer's Digest for the Golden Shovel form:

• Take a line (or lines) from a poem you admire.

• Use each word in the line (or lines) as an end word in your poem.

• Keep the end words in order.

• Give credit to the poet who originally wrote the line (or lines).

• The new poem does not have to be about the same subject as the poem that offers the end words.

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Here is an example of a lovely golden shovel I read recently: 

'The Artist' by Raymond Antrobus
a Golden Shovel after Gwendolyn Brooks' 'Gay Chaps at the Bar'


There are good reasons to tweezer each
word that you give a body
to pronounce your stance on what has
carried your cells with its
language of what you might call living for art.

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In this poem, Raymond Antrobus uses the line 'each body has its art' from Brooks' poem 'Gay Chaps at the Bar' as the final words in each of his lines.

I found this example on a page from the Young Poets Network which also has lots of information and other examples of golden shovels, so take a read if you want to get a little more in depth! 

I first discovered this form when my wonderful friend Jen Feroze wrote a golden shovel with a Joni Mitchell lyric. I then spent 18 months thinking how awesome it was before actually attempting it myself! Jen's poem can be found here, and I must also recommend her gorgeous, brand new pamphlet, Tiny Bright Thorns, which has just been published with Nine Pens Press and is about early motherhood.

My golden shovel poem is directly inspired by Jen's, but obviously the possibilities are endless - please choose a line or lyric which really speaks to you. 

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Here's my Joni Mitchell inspired poem about the beginnings of my relationship with my husband: 

Golden shovel, from River by Joni Mitchell 

Butterflies in my belly and
there he was, acting as though he
already knew every inch of me, loved
each fold of my skin, moving over me
expertly. Boundaries had been blurred so 
we spent weeks sneaking around, feeling naughty,
trying to hide our evident chemistry. We made
our way into each other's hearts, too: he had me 
within days, but I pretended I wasn't weak
for him a little longer, when in
truth I was infatuated. A year later, the
happy ending began: him, a ring in his hand, on his knees.


(Lyric used: and he loved me so naughty, made me weak in the knees).

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Photo by Allef Vinicius on Unsplash

Your writing prompt for this week:

So, (unsurprisingly!) the prompt is to write a golden shovel. Find a line from a favourite poem or a song lyric which is your jumping off point, and use each of the words from that line as the final word for each line of your new poem. You need to keep the original order of the words intact and credit the author of the original line or lyric. You may choose to write on a similar subject matter as the original work, or you might go for a surprise. Try not to worry too much about the end result - the joy is in the attempt! A golden shovel is, on the face of it, really restrictive - but there's actually a lot of freedom within it; you don't need to worry about syllables, rhyme schemes or meter. 

I think I'm going to attempt one with a Taylor Swift lyric that I can't get out of my head! Have fun, and I'm excited to read what you come up with.

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Ellen

is a poet from Suffolk, England. Her work has been published in various online and print publications, including Free Verse Revolution Lit and Capsule Stories. Ellen's debut chapbook, Home Baked, was published by Written Off Publishing in April 2022. She has performed at the Soho Theatre and the East Anglian Storytelling Festival. Her poetry has also been featured on BBC Upload. She has a feminist chapbook forthcoming with Alien Buddha Press. She can be found on Instagram @ellen_writes_poems.

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Have you written a golden shovel before? I haven’t. Tell me you’re not already thinking about the poem or song you’d like to try and use?! If you are taking part this week then I look forward to reading your work on Friday on our CHAT sharing post (not sure why I keep writing CHAT in capitals?!)

Until then,

Nelly x