Now that I have written a sonnet, I don’t even have to ponder what my next project will be. I have been sitting on pages of notes and internet bookmarks about scapegoats, the outcasts, the misfits. (I hear the word misfits and Rudolph’s Island of Misfit Toys comes to mind.)
Since I have so many pages of information, maybe it would be better written as a long essay. But I think a longer psalm, like Psalms 119, maybe in order. As I was reading the long note in my NASB Study Bible and found the psalmist was himself a “target of their ridicule, hostility, and slander.”
One poem that I wrote could be repurposed for this psalm. (My tip: unless your drafts are doggerel, and even then, keep them for repurposing.)
Reading through the notes, magazine clips, and bible notes for psalm writing tips, I found some interesting trivia:
- What is one meaning of a maskil? A skillful psalm. Psalms 47:7 “For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful song.”
- What American poet used biblical free verse? Walt Whitman.
- What is a psalter? The book of Psalms, or a book of psalms to use in devotions.
- What is one benefit of writing a psalm? It is easily translatable to other languages.
Like a long essay, Psalms 119 meanders but sticks to the central theme of the Word of God as a way of life. Before, I avoided reading it. But now when I read it, I find it full of life.
Sounds like a good starting point.
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