any poetry writing tips

thorny.rose

I had a friend many years ago when in school who wrote some beautiful poems. Her inspiration came from experiences. Recently some bits of her poems came back to me.

I went through a trying and troublesome couple of months where a situation of betrayal led me down a dark path where I didn't take it too well.

I read a lot of poems here and there are stories to be told in many poems and I think it is a beautiful. I thought it might be nice to write a poem and to put my situation and an apology into a poem. Not for sending to him or anything. Just for me. And who knows if I ever accomplish this I might share it with somebody.

I only have experience of writing limericks for the craic. So does anyone have any tips or advice for poetry writing. I started last night to write something and I have a few lines and some verses already but it will be open for editing, chopping, cutting and adding and there is no structure to what I wrote.

Whelpling

thorny.rose wrote: »

I started last night to write something and I have a few lines and some verses already but it will be open for editing, chopping, cutting and adding and there is no structure to what I wrote.

It's usually this editing, chopping, adding and restructuring, over and over until you're happy.

Read some - no, lots - of poetry by other poets and see what you like, what you think will work, what you want to try. Get everything down that you want to get down, then you can pick out the most evocative bits and start working at moulding it into something that works as poetry.

When you think you're done, put it away for a few months, then get it out and read it again.

Reading aloud will help, and the way you lay it out on a page is important if you're going to have other people read it.

If I'm writing about something particularly emotional or raw, I try to get the details down, digest them, possibly make a short story out of them, then leave it a while before starting to write the actual poem. I like to keep the evocative imagery and raw emotions available, while at the same time being sufficiently detached from the subject that I can be somewhat objective about quality. Takes a while sometimes!

Then again, each to their own, and what works for me might not work for you. Just play around and enjoy the crafting!

Here's a few of my favourites (off the top of my head) to get you going, if you want to read:

A Display of Mackerel by Mark Doty
Invictus by William Ernest Henley
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou