From a Dreamer's Scratch Pad

Hi, I'm Laura Gjovaag...

This is a page where I have put my poetry, starting with stuff I wrote years ago (as Laura Dunham), and continuing to the more recent poems I've written. I don't claim to be good. I don't even claim to be mediocre. However, I've won a couple of prizes, been published in a couple of books. I guess that means that someone, somewhere, liked my poetry once upon a time. I truly hope you do, too.

From a Dreamer's Scratch Pad

Click on the section title to go to that page of poetry

From a Dreamer's Scratch Pad

Short Thoughts Run Faster

The New Nightmare

A Blue Balloon into a Summer Sky

Undefined Edges

Louder Echoes

This is all post high school stuff from here on out.

Respite

Holding Ragnarok Away

Slivers of Memory

Another Life

I'll add more recent poems as I write them, I suppose.

All poetry on this site is Copyright ©1999, 2003, 2007 by Laura Gjovaag

All rights reserved

This poetry may be used and copied only with the inclusion of the copyright notice on each poem.
These poems are mine, I wrote them, I bled my soul into them, I don't want anyone else taking credit or blame for them.

The Manuscript

Or, How I Used to Present My Poems

My collection of poetry has been known for a long time as "From a Dreamer's Scratch Pad". It was a simple loose leaf notebook with a title page, quote page, dedication page and table of contents, then nearly uninterrupted poetry from there on out.

My quote probably came out of Reader's Digest, my high school writing teacher, Mr Mitsui, couldn't stand Reader's Digest so we often slipped as many references to it as possible in our poetry. 

                          "Be careful of your thoughts;
                      they may become words at any moment."
                                                   -Iara Gassen

I did divide my poems into sections, and what was included in each section changed through the years. I tried to always present my best poetry, with a sprinkling of older stuff (including some I had written in Middle School).

The sections were as follows:

The dedication read: "To my grandma, from whom I inherited writing" and included a poem by my favorite poet Langston Hughes, "The Dream Keeper".

I've added several sections to the current version.

I have included virtually all the poetry I've written, bad and good. This makes the collection a bit lopsided in favor of the bad, but I know there are people out there who like all types. You may have to read several sections before finding something you can stand.

How To Write Freeverse Poetry

  1. Look around you. There are things in your life, pictures that exist in your eyes. Look at them. Look at them.
  2. Say, aloud, what you see. Say: "I see a tree bent by the wind." Say: "I see the fog rolling in."
  3. Now say it with more detail. Say: "I see a young willow, in the wind, bending over to look at the delicate daisy at its foot." Say: "Like spilt milk, the fog is flowing over the valley, obscuring everything."
  4. Write it down.
  5. Arrange it so it looks right. Nobody knows what right is, except you. Listen to what your eyes tell you.
  6. You have a picture, add tension: "The young willow bends to tell his friend the daisy how short life promises to be." The tension is in the message. The tension can be anything, put it in, or the poem won't give anything to its readers.
  7. When you have the right combination of picture and tension, the poem is done.
  8. Rinse.
  9. Repeat.

Please send comments to realtegan@excite.com.
-Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag