On Thursday the 2nd of July, UNSW’s authors convened in the clandestine corner of AGSM LG07 for a poetry workshop. Elizabeth Poulos, UNSWeetened Senior Editor and voracious poetry nerd, invited participants to explore the fundamentals of meter, scansion, and form. Poulos dazzled participants with examples of classic meter outside of stuffy old Shakespeare, including Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market, Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, and New York’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Through both written and embodied exercises, our poets learnt not only to annotate scansion, but to create it from scratch.

Below, they share their inventive poems, ranging from tattling butterflies to ooey gooey goodness. We encourage you to read them out loud. Listen close for galloping rhythms. Savour every splendid syllable. 

Feel each poem’s heartbeat alongside your own!

Shopping 

Shelves and shelves of items here

Only me to sort and sift 

With my task as overseer

No one left but me to lift:

Crates of loaves and crates of lime,

All the goods that cust'mers love

As they pick and as they buy 

Do they see it's never enough?

- Sean Cullen

Sean’s tribute to the trochee is a dizzying critique against unending consumerism – with a hint of hypercatalexis.

---

A beetle visited me yesterday.

It told tall tales of damsels and dragons

It was a facetious foray.

The birds and bees do not much like to play

Carried upon ant-back as if wagons,

A beetle visited me yesterday.

I have encouraged the wild ark to stay

For I am no footloose Bilbo Baggins

It was a facetious foray.

The butterflies like to tattle to jays,

Their reflections at the base of flagons

A beetle visited me yesterday.

I found seven antennae turning grey

It seemed the wasp had left her tag in

It was a facetious foray.

It was not a dream I say, Andre!

We gather up the woodlands that sag in.

A beetle visited me yesterday, 

It was a facetious foray.

- Kesar Sarwara

Kesar's silly, senseless villanelle was. written in protest of the limerick. The rhymes are supplied by the brilliant minds of fellow poets rather than her favourite site, RhymeZone dot com (there wasn't enough time to write an Italian epic in hendecasyllabics but maybe next time…).

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I woke up one day feeling quite frail

So naturally, I disrobed and drank some ale

Suddenly I was sleepy,

I started to feel creepy,

And opened my door to a huge ghastly gale!

One day I stated: Iamb a spondee

I realised my heart beats fast like trochee

My tooth aches a bit,

But the phyrric insists,

- Kaity Lawrenson

---

Cinema

Slipped in back,

the lights went down

Smell of popcorn,

a bustling sound

Nighttime terrors

And Lovely errors

Mystery lovers

Beneath the covers

Unknown friendships

Beneath the trenches

Where dreams they come alive

That’s where I’ll arrive

- Aarushi Srinivasan

---

I am uncertain if there is a we / you and I could fall into. / But I really enjoy / talking to you. / and I'm trying to move on / before you say, "I've noticed..." / How'd I reply 'I love you' then / in a way, misinterpretation absent? / End the day, / telling lies / of no good nights / nor goodbyes.

- Yonathan Budi

In the workshop, Yonathan’s soaked in stressed and UNstressed syllables. A galloping horse with a beating heart, wagging a finger (horses don't have fingers)? Thats an Iamb-trochee-dactyl

---

Reasonance 

My mind often wanders astray, 

Not knowing what roads lead to dismay;

With nothing alike,

Yet needing to strike,

I gasp as I drift through the array. 

So much more we yearn 

Nothing more but to learn and discern 

Setting our heart ablaze

Getting rid of the residue daze

To linger in the longing burn

- Bryan Xuanye Hua

Bryan wrote this on a whim, now reflecting in the calm indifference. He learnt lots from Liz’s workshop, and wishes to continue to experiment the Art of Poetry, learning to better express, reflect, and challenge the injustice that lies within our hearts.

---

The work of words flows slowly through a leak,

Those thoughts and treasures they once wrote in Greek,

What mind divine,

Did for eyes devise,

Such wonders on earth to seek?

- Joshua Tan

Josh writes poetry

---

i miss cozy cakes

there’s a place on grenfell street

a sweet spot right in the meet 

between Rundle Mall and the pedestrian fleet.

you look through the glass for a treat

but to your defeat:

the shop is closed.

the chapter is closed.

you miss a blip.

the way your best friend’s hand 

slips 

dips 

back and forth

in front of the corner store.

the way your mum, dad, friends

hand 

land

indulgence in your palm

in the shape of a red box.

left to forever hold 

ooey 

gooey 

goodness

inside.

- Anagha Abhi

Anagha’s experimentation with trochees and iambs knows no limits, just like her limitless love for the best cake shop in Adelaide ♥️.

---

There was once a kid with a dream. 

Thought the world wasn’t quite what it seemed 

They said dream no more 

She dreams even more 

Now her future gleams

- Swarnima Shama

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Stay in the loop for future writing workshops by joining our UNSWeetened's Discord Channel.

Article authors and editors:

Annabella Luu, UNSWeetened Coordinator

Elizabeth Poulos, UNSWeetened Senior Editor

Special thanks to: 

Anagha Ahbi

Yonathan Budi

Sean Cullen

Bryan Xuanye Hua

Kaity Lawrenson

Kesar Sarwara 

Swarnima Shama

Aarushi Srinivasan

Joshua Tan