poetry | onewildword

May 13

An experiment in form: Channeling a beat poet

I brought a new poem to my writing group last week. They loved it. Said it was the best poem I’d written. I was almost embarrassed at the accolades (notice I said “almost”).

The poem was different than the kind of poem I usually write. For one, it was longer—39 lines. And, the lines themselves were longer than what I normally write. Plus, it was a sestina (a poetic form of 39 lines with 6 stanzas of six lines each and a tercet of three lines at the end. In a sestina, the end words of the first stanza are repeated in a certain order through the rest of the poem). Intriguing? Yes. Easy to do well? Not so much.

Two exercises to help you write poetically

Poetry is a great primer for beginning a writing session. If you read yesterday’s post, Write lyrically by reading poetry, you know why author Cristina Garcia reads poetry before she writes. Now you can learn how to use poetry as part of your writing practice. Try these exercises.

Exercise 1
Capture something from your subconscious. Pick several poems to read. Read to yourself and aloud. As you hear a poem, write down anything that catches your ear — A sentence, phrase, word. Any snippet that resonates. This helps you raid your unconscious. You are discovering something you didn’t even realize you were thinking about. Take this piece of writing and examine it for meaning. You may find this meaning takes you on a path in your work that you didn’t see coming. This will inform your writing and propel you forward.

As Grace Paley said, “Write about what you don’t know you know.” Read more

Mar 5