If you follow me on Twitter, you might have recently seen me tweeting incessantly about something called #SRSummerSchool. Over six weeks this summer I am learning more about the art of storytelling with the wonderful Laura Jane Williams and a host of other like-minded writers across the globe. 

The course, entitled ‘Don’t be a writer, be a storyteller’ has hundreds of us watching tutorials, undertaking tasks and submitting homework over the summer, in a bid to improve our writing. Whether it’s for Instagram captions and micro-blogging, or for poetry, prose and perhaps a novel…Laura is inspiring, motivating and educating us all.

This week, one of our tasks was to write about looking at something in an entirely new and detached way: defamiliarisation. We were asked to write a couple of verses about someone dear to us using this technique, and avoiding cliches.

I decided to write about my wonderful sister; and after a few edits, here’s what I came up with. It’s rough, and brief, and I may end up adding to it, but I am pleased with it at the moment, and I think she would be, too.

My better half

She is impulsiveness.
Skin disrupted by ink-stained arms
and postbox-red lips;
An hourglass figure
With real swaying hips.

Coveting the unpredictable.
Curating half-finished London days.
A Tex-Mex tequila lover,
Adoration and ease
Tightly wrapped undercover.

I can’t wait to tell you more about this course in future blog posts. In the meantime, find out more about Laura Jane Williams and her courses.

…Or check out Superlatively Rude Summer School (#SRSummerschool) on Twitter.