#Poetry Blood Lyrics by Katie Ford (2nd poem)

• Author: Katie Ford
• Title: Blood Lyrics
• Published: 2014
• Poem:  A Child is Born Early   (2nd poem in part 1)
• List of Challenges 2019
• Monthly plan

What is part one about?

• The first of the book’s three parts, grapples
• …with motherhood and her sick child.

My readings:    I read the poem at least 6 x!

1. Poem is just a jumble of uneven lines…I read it quickly during a coffee break
2. I write the poem in my notebook and mark the punctuation with a red pen.
3. Then I divide the poem in full-stop sentences which makes it easier to memorize.
4. POV: who is talking to whom?
5. Notice the pronouns and does the poet speak directly to the reader?
6. I write down all the nouns
   
7. ….(w/without adjectives) to get a sense of the tone.
8. Next make a list of the images Ford uses:
9. unbreathing scripture is her new born….
10. lantern-glow is her prayer…
11. 700 dimes  ..is equal to the weigh of the per-mature baby….
12. lightning… is death that can strike in the hall of mothers.

Opening shot:  the first  sentence (4 lines of poem) ‘Of a Child Early Born”

1. “For the child is born an unbreathing scripture
2. And the broken authors wait on one gurney together.”
3. Ford uses these words an an invitation
   
4. …just like the opening shot of a movie.
5. …a passage into a deeper experience.
6. Deep feeling lies at the heart of most good poems.
7. Powerful.

Last thoughts:

1. Emily Dickinson:
2. ” If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold
3. …no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry.”
4. Katie Ford’s poem kept me awake at night.
5. I tried to memorize this poem
6. …. and my brain would just
7. …not accept I was ‘missing a piece’.
8. Result look at IPAD Kindle at 0345 am!
9. #NowThatIsPoetry !!
10. A Child is Born Early….harrowingly intimate and earnest.
11. I cannot review all 40 poems
12. …but I hope I’ve given you
13. a look at this impressive collection.
14. I’ve memorized the 1st and 2nd poems. and
15. Each time I recite Ford’s poems  to myself….
16. …as I pour myself a cup of coffee
17. I stop…put the coffee creamer down and I’m
18. …speechless.
19. Katie Ford is a great poet!