Saddle Up Saloon: Anyone Can Poem
Howdy once again! It’s been a wild ride but this here’s the final post for Anyone Can Poem.
I’d planned to use this last post to wrap up everyone’s free verse poems from last month; problem is, no one came round to share ’em.
Instead, we’re a-gonna wrap up everything we done did learn over all the past year o’ poeming:
- March, 2021. This was whare it all began. I asked you to take yourself on a relaxing date. While moseying around with such a stunning partner, you then needed to “word dump prosaically.”
This was a way to loosen up any of y’all who was feeling nervous about writing. - April, 2021. Next, naturally, we tried mimicry. Parody. Pastiche.
- May, 2021. I introduced haiku -sort-of. I’d always meant to come back to this beautiful form and do it right proper, but it is what it is.
- June, 2021. This month was one o’ my favorites! We all tried limericks.
- July, 2021. After expressing mah pet-peeve of messed-up meter, I suggested we mess up meters.
- August, 2021. Continuing with meter, we ‘fixed’ some famous poems.
- September, 2021. This ‘un discussed the need for concise poeming.
- October, 2021. To further improve our poetry, I said to “pick impactful, meaningful words and phrases that put the reader in the moment.”
- November, 2021. I delivered a healthy baby boy, and suggested we try an Acrostic Poem.
- December, 2021. We faced the greatest poetic challenge of all: free verse. I’d meant for this ‘un to be a two-parter, but had to take a break on completin’ the second part till…
- April, 2022. The follow-up on where we’d gone with free-versing.
An’ now we’re here. We’ve spent a year working together so y’all can be right cozy with writing a poem. I have no more challenges for you, excepting that you go through them steps anytime you think, I can’t write poetry.
I’m telling ya: YES, YOU CAN. Anyone can poem.
And, as always, you can send me any poem you’re struggling with. Just use the form at the bottom o’ one o’ the old challenges. I’m happy to help.
—–
©2022 Chel Owens
Saddle Up Saloon: Anyone Can Poem
Well, howdy! I’ll bet you’re surprised to see me again. I can say that makes two of us! I’m jest here to let y’all know Kid ‘n Pal will be returning to their old Saddle Up Saloon shenanigans, but on each Friday.
Don’t tell, but I snuck on in here afore them to finish up what we started back in December of 2020. Once we get through this ‘un and a final post on May 6, Anyone Can Poem will be done and done.
(I hear tell a story-generating Cowsino will mosey on in, come the first of June.)
And so, welcome, one and all, to this month’s installment! I originally posted back in January and intended to continue the lesson from December.
Like any good sequel, I’ll do a quick montage of the first installment so we’re all caught up: freeversepoetryisabadideabutwe’regoingtodoitanywayandforstarterslet’ssplityourpoemusingpunctuationandspacingsoitreadshowyouwish.
Way back then, you shared your free verse poem with the sort of pausing you want it read with. Now it’s time to get more nitty-gritty. I want you to look at everywhere you’ve done a comma, semi-colon, period, line break, and new paragraph. Take each of those places, one at a time, and decide how you will permanently create the pause you wish.
Pauses can be forced with what we already have, a’course. They can also be made with looooong, slooooow words, laborious words, descriptive words, shocking words, and onomatopoeia. And sure-shootin’, you can keep a line break or comma if you wish.
If you take the poem snippet I used for an example, we start with
I saw a dove;
it alighted on my hand
and frittered there.
But I don’t want the final version to be split across three lines. Instead, I want
I saw a dove
It alighted on my hand and frittered there.
To be honest, frittered is more of a second-draft word. I came up with rested the first time I typed it up. Frittered is a good word since it ain’t usual ’round these parts and has several syllables. It’s also fun to say; fun to wonder how in tarnation a bird might fritter. To create the pause or s l o w i n g I need around the midpoint of that line, I will need different words besides on my hand and.
Let’s try
I saw a dove
It alighted atop a finger; it frittered there
Hmm. Not bad. But what ’bout
I saw a dove
Alighting on my finger, it frittered there
Get it? Good. Your assignment is to take the lovely poem you shared in December and close up the line breaks with intentional words, a semi-colon or two, or sounds. Lasso the words that will sing the pattern you want.
Fill out the form, below, if you want only me to see it. Fill out a comment if you’re willing to show off.
Submissions are now closed. Find our latest challenge to enter.
Next month, we’ll do a final polish of your free verse and, as I promised, a final farewell to Anyone Can Poem.
I can’t wait to see what you do!
—–
©2022 Chel Owens
Saddle Up Saloon: Joanne Fisher in the Author’s Chair
“Folks, welcome ta another Author’s Chair. We’re thrilled ta have Joanne Fisher join us this month, all the way from New Zealand.”
“New Zealand! What an Odyssey! Pal, will Joanne treat us ta some a her sci-fi? Mebbe fantasy adventures? More tales a the farm with Jess an’ Cindy?”
“Good guesses, Kid. But here she is, let’s let Joanne tell us.”
“Howdy, Joanne Fisher! Welcome ta the Author’s Chair.”
“Hello Kid, hello Pal. The story I’m going to read is a poem story.”
“Epic!”
“It is, Kid, but I am only going to read one poem from my sequence based on The Odyssey, The Return. When deciding on which poem in The Return sequence to use, I decided to start at the beginning (since it’s a very good place to start).”
“How cool! I have a lot of questions already, Joanne.”
“Kid, I’m sure Joanne has a lot to say about the Odyssey and her sequence of poems but ‘member, the point a the Author’s Chair is ta give folks a chance ta hear fer themselves an’ ask their questions in the comments section.”
“Thanks Pal.”
Penelope Waits why do I constantly look out our window hoping to see your ship returning to its harbour? why do I listen for the sound of your footsteps echoing up to our bedchamber? I know you too well you've gone after your own desires & I'm the spider who waits quietly the thing with journeys is that they spiral inwards to your own dark heart should you return you'll find me here spinning a web to ensnare you & every night I unpick it while hungry men wait below none of them have your eyes or your smell all the heroes returned from the wars, except you long have I dreamed of your dark hair, tanned skin, & sinewy form to emerge out of the frothing sea-water & into my arms but I know you too well you will come home only when you are tired of your journeys your betrayals your lies & after so many threads I'm tired of waiting for our lives to begin again is there anything worth salvaging between us? Joanne Fisher You can read the entire sequence here: https://jedigirlblog.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/the-return-full-sequence/
“Now folks, don’t forgot, this is all about engagement, so ask yer questions about this poem. I know Joanne would enjoy talking’ about it. An’ remember, names are randomly drawn from among the questions an’ comments. Congratulations ta Norah Colvin who was drawn from Liz’s reading’ last month. Norah, you will receive a copy of T. Marie Bertineau’s The Mason House.”
“Joanne Fisher lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. She writes poetry, flash fiction, fiction, and the occasional article. She has written two unpublished novels, and her poetry has appeared in magazines and journals in New Zealand and overseas. One day she hopes to eventually get round to compiling a second collection of poetry, as well as publishing some ebooks of her flash fiction.”
You can find Joanne at jedigirlblog
Joanne the Geek Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100062936245988
Twitter: @joannefisher63
Contact Kid and Pal’s writer, D. Avery, if you want to take a seat in the Author’s Chair here at the Saddle Up Saloon.
Saddle Up Saloon: Anyone Can Poem
Good ev’ning or mornin’! Welcome to our tenth month of poem-ing.
We’ve a rough ride this year -through loosening up, parody, forms, meter, and word choice.
Now, we’re facin’ the roughest bull ride this side o’ the Mississippi: free verse.
Writing freely, without a form, is like opting for bareback riding on an unbridled stallion. You really oughter not; and, if you’re that determined, you really oughter know what you’re doing.
But this is Anyone Can Poem! I’m not here to warn against such idiocy; I’m here to teach you how to look good doing it!
First, let’s make sure you’re registered for the right event. What is a free verse poem?
Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French vers libre form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern.
–Wikipedia
It’s different from blank verse, which is taking a metered form and intentionally not rhyming. Free verse is also different than mishmashmess verse*, where you write whatever you want to and how.
Most free verse arises from an emotionally-moving experience we feel compelled to express in a poem. We awake at midnight, remembering our first (lost) love. We taste the first warmth of springtime against our skin during a morning walk. We fall head-over-heels for another person. We savor the agony of heartbreak when he or she doesn’t reciprocate.
Then, we pull the floating snippets of emotions down to the page. We feel that the words must not rhyme or conform to a pattern in order to express what we felt.
That’s great! I’m here to step in about now; pause the stallion-riding, and offer up a few pointers of why you have the inexplicable feeling that you’re actually seated backwards and wearing a prom dress and heels.
It’s simply because your free verse poem tricked you. It told you it needed to be mishmashmess when, in fact, it still needs form. -Not a bridle, per se; but definitely an arena within which to ride, and definitely a movement to the animal on which you sit. See: a lost-love poem must read like a beating heart. A nature poem about walking through springtime must read like a walking gait. New love must use long, slow-moving words like thoughtfulness and consideration at the start but short, exciting words like heat and touch as our feelings heighten.
So, please take your free verse poem. Go on: take it.
Now, I want you to shape it exactly the way you want it to read by changing the formatting.
If you wrote I saw a dove it alighted on my hand and frittered there, do you really intend that as a run-on sentence? Or, do you read it as:
I saw a dove;
it alighted on my hand
and frittered there
Or, maybe you even read it as:
I saw
a dove.
it
alighted on
my hand and
frittered there.
Use commas, semi-colons, periods, and hyphens to create small pauses. Use line breaks and new paragraphs to create longer pauses and new thoughts.
Then, share what you’ve done via the submission form (where only I will see it and respond) or in the comments section below (where only everyone may see and respond).
Go ahead. It’s easier than you think. And, it’s the first step toward a free-verse poem you’ll love. I promise.
Submissions are now closed. Find our latest challenge to enter.
—–
©2021 Chel Owens
*I made up the term mishmashmess verse. Don’t look for it.
Saddle-Up Saloon; Colleen’s Double Ennead Challenge No. 10
Welcome to November! We’re almost at the end of another year. Welcome to the Carrot Ranch Double Ennead Monthly Poetry Challenge. Every third Monday of the month, I’m here at the Saloon with another challenge to help get your poetic juices flowing. Each month, we will explore a different theme or image to inspire our poetry. Take your time, there’s no hurry! You have an entire month to write your poem.
HINT: You can find this post again by typing: double ennead challenge in the search box to the right of the Carrot Ranch banner. That will bring up the most recent challenge post. ❤
Check out the poems from last month HERE
The word Ennead means nine, and a double nine is ninety-nine! Carrot Ranch is famous for 99-word flash fiction. Now, the ranch has its own syllabic poetry form written in 99 syllables!
The Double Ennead comprises five lines with a syllable count of 6/5/11/6/5, (33 SYLLABLES per stanza) 3 STANZAS EACH = 99 SYLLABLES, NO MORE, NO LESS! Punctuation and rhyme schemes are optional and up to the poet. Remember, please write your poem in 99 syllables.
#Ekphrastic Inspiration
Art has a way of inspiring ekphrastic poetry. The idea is to see behind the obvious, possibly using your third eye to pull out more layers of meaning from a particular piece of art. Van Gogh is a favorite of mine because of the softness—a dreamlike imagery portrayed in his work. So, let’s use the image below to inspire this month’s double ennead poem.
Read: Perspectives in Writing Ekphrastic Poetry
Always check your syllables with a syllable counter when composing and writing syllabic poetry. The pronunciation of words is very important to conveying a meaning in your poems. Please use sodacoffee.com/syllables/ as a syllable counter.
Our Inspiration:
Painting, Oil on Canvas
Nuenen, The Netherlands: November, 1885
Kröller-Müller Museum
Otterlo, The Netherlands, Europe
https://www.vangoghgallery.com/catalog/Painting/9/Autumn-Landscape-with-Four-Trees.html
Use the image above to compose your double ennead poem. Remember your poem should have 99 syllables.
My example follows:
"Farewell to Another Year" frigid morn, Autumn kissed— quiescent fields glow, tempered with an aura of seasonal flow the wheel of the year turns another month lost under the sun's frail rays, hardwood shadows fade, while frost browned grasses sing anthems to the wind naked tree limbs tremble, upright to the end death's undulations voiced leaves fall... orange rain, bird requiems pay deference to the dead another harvest done, spring dreams fill my head © Colleen M. Chesebro
Poetry is based on perceptions. We will all interpret the image differently. Follow your inner voice for inspiration.
- Write a double ennead poem based on the painting above.
- Post it on your blog.
- Include a link back to this challenge in your post. (copy the https:// address of this post into your post).
- Read and comment on your fellow poet’s work. Feedback from other poets is how we grow our poetry writing craft.
- Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.
- I’ll visit, comment, and share your poetry on social media!
Now have fun and write some poetry!
Saddle Up Saloon: Anyone Can Poem
It’s yet another month of Anyone Can Poem. The Management (me) would like to apologize for delays in responding to submitted poetry. I don’t spend all my time ’round these parts, and it’s startin’ to show …specifically, I’m delivering a baby boy this Tuesday and have been busy with cookin’ him.
Now… on to poetry.
I shore hope you took time to run through the steps we outlined last time we gathered. They’re a might helpful for creating any poem.
Speaking of, I think it’s time to try a poetic form. We’ve done simple haiku and limericks. Let’s move on to Acrostic.
Acrostic is easy. Children write Acrostic poems with letters of their name. Bloggers write them with no rhyme or reason…
That’s probably the pregnancy hormones acting up. The point is that this sort of poem does not have to be terrible. And it’s a great way to keep to a form and not get too difficult.
What is an Acrostic poem?
An acrostic is a poem or other composition in which the first letter (or syllable, or word) of each line (or paragraph, or other recurring feature in the text) spells out a word, message or the alphabet.
Wikipedia
That’s it! The only trick is that I want you to write your Acrostic while keeping everything we’ve learned till now in mind. You’re only doing yourself a disservice if I see:
Charming as a sloth
Hiding chocolate
Everywhere
Like a sloth
Pick a word. Write or type it vertically down a page so each line begins with each letter of your word. Then, imagine the feeling you wish to convey with that word. I want to feel that whilst reading your entire Acrostic. Gallop round the outline I gave last month and you’ll be golden.
Submissions are now closed. Find our latest challenge to enter.
Finally, share what you wrote. We’d love to read your poem in the comments. Or, feel free to use the form and only I will see it. No stress; just fun.
—–
©2021 Chel Owens
SADDLE-UP SALOON; COLLEEN’S #DOUBLEENNEAD CHALLENGE NO. 9
Happy October! Welcome to a new Carrot Ranch #DoubleEnnead monthly poetry challenge. Every third Monday of the month, I’ll be here at the Saloon with another challenge to help get your poetic juices flowing. Each month, we will explore a different theme or image to inspire our poetry. Take your time, there’s no hurry! You have an entire month to write your poem.
HINT: You can find this post again by typing double ennead challenge in the search box to the right of the Carrot Ranch banner. That will bring up the most recent challenge post. ❤
Check out the poems from last month HERE
The word Ennead means nine, and a double nine is ninety-nine! Carrot Ranch is famous for 99-word flash fiction. Now, the ranch has its own syllabic poetry form written in 99 syllables!
The Double Ennead comprises five lines with a syllable count of 6/5/11/6/5, (33 SYLLABLES per stanza) 3 STANZAS EACH = 99 SYLLABLES, NO MORE, NO LESS! Punctuation and rhyme schemes are optional and up to the poet.
We’ve been writing 99 syllable poetry for a few months now. Explore your own 99 syllable structure. In other words, you don’t have to abide by the syllable structure above. Just make sure that your poem comes out to 99 syllables! Have fun and experiment. I did!
October is my favorite month of the year! Halloween is just around the corner. As a child, I loved this holiday and still do today. I think the attraction was the opportunity to switch identities for one night a year. At Halloween, you could be anything you wanted simply by changing your appearance.
If you could assume any form or persona, what would you choose?
What is a Persona Poem?
Scott Sigil shares his definition: “A persona poem is a poem written in first person from the perspective of someone or something other than yourself. When writing a persona poem, the poet embodies a figure from history, or a fictional character, or even an inanimate object, and writes imagining what that person or thing might say if they had the chance to write a poem.” (Persona Poems by Scott Sigil)
Let’s celebrate Halloween together by writing a persona poem in the style of a double ennead. Be creative! Let your imagination run wild! Have fun!
My example follows:
"A Wise Woman's Companion" the veil thins when dusk falls Samhain spirits rise now, the purveyors of death walk among us... maybe crones in disguise? black magic lives on they burned us at the stake not believing our truths, only lies bad luck, or animal-shaped spies? my coal-black color determined my death my reputation's ruined by superstitions, ancient mythologies, and false statements... My one redeeming feature— black cats have nine lives! © Colleen M. Chesebro
This month, write a double ennead poem where you assume a persona. It can be Halloween related, or not. Remember, your poem must have 99 syllables in total. Have fun!
- Post your poem on your blog or in the comments if you don’t have a blog by Friday, November 12, 2021.
- Include a link back to this challenge in your post. (copy the https:// address of this post into your post).
- Read and comment on your fellow poet’s work. Feedback from other poets is how we grow our poetry writing craft.
- Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.
- I’ll visit, comment, and share your poetry on social media!
Chloe & Sophie assert that no black cats were harmed in the creation of this poem!
Now have fun and write some double ennead poetry!
Saddle Up Saloon: Anyone Can Poem
Whew! Welcome to Anyone Can Poem, the time when we scare away the I-can’t-coyotes and embrace the I-will-wallabies.
Yes, our rodeo has wallabies.
Thank you to all the amazing poets who responded to my challenge to murder their children -erm, to remove their unnecessary or superfluous words.
Now, after taking out extra adverbs, adjectives, and grandiose language; we will spend this month filling our poetry with the best words.
How do you choose the best words? Easy.
- Decide what your poem (or, intended poem) is about. What moment do you want to capture; what feeling do you want the reader to feel; what action do you want to encapsulate?
- Which form (metered, rhymed, free verse, specific syllable count) do you feel works best with your theme?
- Take time to free-write descriptors, actions, feelings, colors -WHATEVER about the poetic moment.
- Pick your favorites from Step 3. Form phrases. Make it poetic.
- Form those pieces into a ‘final’ poem.
- Take the poem, line by line, and check if the words you picked are just showing off. Check if they are flowery. Make sure they are not fluffy bits of wallaby fur only intended to look cute.
- Instead; pick impactful, meaningful words and phrases that put the reader in the moment.
Let’s say my answer to #1 is chocolate. I want to capture the delectable moment when a piece of chocolate melts across your tongue and drips down your throat. Ah, the anticipation! The sensation! The bliss!
For #2, I choose to write it free-verse.
#3, Free-write: chocolate, rich, tasty, moist, mouthful, bliss, gurgling tummy, slip down, melt, rich goodness, milk chocolate, smooth, tantalizing, anticipation, square….
Now, I pick my favorites (#4) and smash them into a poem (#5):
Milky mouthful slips and drips
Across my licking, moist tongue
Come to me, my choc’late bliss
Slip down down down to my gurgling tummy.
Oh, dear. I have some removal to do of extra words (#6). While I’m at it, I’ll change or add better words (#7):Milky mouthful slips and drips Rich and silky milky sliceAcross my licking, moist tongue -Simmers on my tongueCome to me, my choc’late bliss -Melting down; oh, choc’late bliss!
Slip down down down to my gurgling tummy. Anticipation, come.
Hmm. Looks like it wanted to be formed after all. In terms of word choice, what do you think? Did I pick impactful or unnecessary? What would you edit or suggest?
Now, as always, it’s your turn. Go through the steps. Edit and refine. Then, send me what you’ve got or share it in the comments. You can also share what you’ve got at any point along the steps, for pointers. I’m happy to help.
And, above all, have fun!
Submissions are now closed. Find our latest challenge to enter.
—–
©2021 Chel Owens
SADDLE-UP SALOON; COLLEEN’S DOUBLE ENNEAD CHALLENGE NO. 8
Happy September! Welcome to a new Carrot Ranch double ennead monthly poetry challenge. Every third Monday of the month, I’ll be here at the Saloon with another challenge to help get your poetic juices flowing. Each month, we will explore a different theme or image to inspire our poetry. Take your time, there’s no hurry! You have an entire month to write your poem.
HINT: You can find this post again by typing: double ennead challenge in the search box to the right of the Carrot Ranch banner. That will bring up the most recent challenge post. ❤
Check out the poems from last month HERE
The word Ennead means nine, and a double nine is ninety-nine! Carrot Ranch is famous for 99-word flash fiction. Now, the ranch has its own syllabic poetry form written in 99 syllables!
The Double Ennead comprises five lines with a syllable count of 6/5/11/6/5, (33 SYLLABLES per stanza) 3 STANZAS EACH = 99 SYLLABLES, NO MORE, NO LESS! Punctuation and rhyme schemes are optional and up to the poet.
With the first day of Autumn quickly approaching on September 22nd, my thoughts naturally turn to pumpkin spice, hot apple desserts, and warm cuddly blankets. Think about how this season interacts with our five (or six) senses: taste, touch, sight, smell, and hearing.
“Your five senses help you take in information from the world around you. These senses are also a powerful tool to use when you’re writing. They help convey a message to readers by providing a strong image in their heads.” Source: https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/article-5-senses-in-poetry
For example, think about Autumn and describe it using your five senses:
- Taste: pumpkin spice, mulling spices, apples, pears, harvest foods, etc.
- Touch: wet rain, cold fog, warm sunlight, soft blankets, bonfires, etc.
- Sight: leaf piles, fall color, red gold and orange leaves, wheat sheaves, corn stalks, bales of hay, pumpkins, etc.
- Smell: wet, moldy, wet leaves, decayed leaves, pumpkin spice, baked bread, etc.
- Hearing: autumn rains, cool or stormy winds blowing, geese honking in migratory flocks, etc.
My example follows:
"Lady Autumn" welcome Lady Autumn— wet dew on grasses, foggy sunrise awash over the fenland sunshine between shadows, chilly to the touch red-tipped maples glitter embracing the Queen of all seasons, trouping their finest colors like burnished leaves displayed in a royal crown nothing gilded can stay every leaf must fall for a vivid autumn is death's finest hour cold rain despoils the bracts death, decay follow © 2021 Colleen M. Chesebro
This month, write a double ennead poem dedicated to Autumn. Pay special attention to sensory words.
- Post it on your blog or in the comments if you don’t have a blog.
- Include a link back to this challenge in your post. (copy the https:// address of this post into your post).
- Read and comment on your fellow poet’s work. Feedback from other poets is how we grow our poetry writing craft.
- Like and leave a comment below if you choose to do so.
- I’ll visit, comment, and share your poetry on social media!
Now have fun and write some double ennead poetry!
Saddle Up Saloon: Anyone Can Poem
If’n your summer (or winter) has been as busy as mine, I shore do ‘preciate your comin’ back for more poeming.
Still, I didn’t get many volunteers in last month‘s offer to send me your poem needing a bit of meter-tinkering. The offer is open, even if you’re reading this months or years after its posting.
Now, on to more FUN poetry specifics:
If my #1 pet peeve is meter, my #2 is when people write poetry for entirely the wrong reasons and are therefore showing off.
Their work is flowery, superfluous, showy, fluffy, wordy, adverby -in short, too much tell AND show in some of the worst ways possible. Their poem ends up a mash of obscure words and emotional pleas that lack a concise theme.
If a poet is new to The Game, s/he will do this innocently.
If a poet is old to the game, s/he will do so because swaths of followers are wowed by a naïve misunderstanding of what really makes poetry good. What will make it memorable. What makes it timeless.
How do you avoid this pitfall? The same way you do with regular writing exercises: brutal murder of useless words.
“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.”
Stephen King
This is one reason why I believe Dr. Seuss is among the poetic masters. How many words does he use in The Cat in the Hat? And yet, I love it. And yet, with my kids, that book I still get…
This is also why, in intentionally ignoring the other rules haiku must follow, I had us try 5-7-5 for our first form. I am sorry to those who felt stabbed at my casual treatment. It had to be done.
Make your poem concise!
Compact!
To a point -please, please have a point to your poetry!
Easier said than done? Nah.
The way I see it, the most common reason a poet strays too far is because the poem doesn’t feel special enough. We have a misconstrued idea that poetry must be mysterious (obscure), beautiful (flowery), long (wordy), and impressive (vainglorious). It DOESN’T; at least, not in the blundering way we try to get it there.
The purpose of a poem is to capture the feelings of a moment and then use the artistry of words and meter to convey that exact moment and its feelings to another.
So, take your moment; your idea.
- Write the moment. Try the first exercise we did, word balloons, free-writing, doodling, or finger paints.
- Form the words of your moment more poetically. If you feel comfortable following a form, do so. If free verse appeals, try that.
- Follow the first two steps a few times. Let someone else read what you’ve got and tell you what they think you’re writing about.
- Next, fix the meter. Even free verse poetry follows a meter.
- Last and most difficult, murder the unnecessary.
- Polish.
And, I want you to use the attached form to send me what you’ve got at any step along the way. I’m happy to give pointers and I NEVER judge writers negatively. Writing’s difficult enough without worrying about judgment.
If you feel up to it, comment with what you end up with after step 6.
I’m waiting.
—–
©2021 Chel Owens