[stylist] Poem: Autumn plans

Thu Nov 27 14:48:33 UTC 2014

Hi chelsea,
I wanted to respond to your question but it took me a few days to get back 
to it.
I wrote an  essay on this topic recently and have not yet published it as I 
am still revising it. But, here is where I am with it right now - it is for 
publication on a blog later this week.  I am going to do a bit more research 
on it and put some visuals with it for the blog but in the meanwhile this 
may help you a little.  It is certainly a great question. I think it is the 
most important question that can be asked.  I outlined, here, what I believe 
to be my top considerations - seven of them - when writing a poem.

***
Lynda McKinney Lambert’s
7    Revision Rules for Editing  Your Poem

ONE:
Here is my first thought on this topic:  I often think of inspired advice 
that Beat Poet, Allen Ginsberg, introduced   into my consciousness  when I 
was a teenager  in high school. He said something like this, “First thought, 
best thought.”  OH, that caught my attention!

I have often tried to read his work and imagine that it might be his first 
(best) thought. But, I wonder about that! I do like the idea, though it 
opens the door for the production of a lot of unedited, immature poets to 
publish some really bad stuff that will come back to bite them later on. 
But, then, a lot of insipid poetry is out there, too, and it has been edited 
to death and it is still quite bad.  So, my feeling is that you can look 
over the poem you just wrote and ask, “Is this my BEST thought?” If it is 
your best thought, and it was your FIRST thought, then maybe it’s ok as it 
is.  I think your own inner critic can best guide you in deciding what to do 
next with the poem. The trick is that you learn to sit quietly long enough, 
and listen with your inner guide to know for sure what it might be saying to 
you.

TWO:
Read your poem over and then over again – several times.  Are you hearing 
any words or lines that are not important to what you intend to convey in 
the poem.  For me, less is more, and I get out my metaphorical scissor to do 
some cutting.  I can be ruthless, whacking out entire phrases or even entire 
quatrains if they don’t fit my idea of what I mean to say with this poem. 
What is the essence, or core, of this poem? Look close until you find the 
structure that holds it together. Well, I hope you do have some structure 
there to hold it together. If not, it will collapse in the editing process.

Go back and seek out any phrases that are redundant and/or cliché.  A poem 
is probably the only place where you can intentionally use repetition, 
though, for maximum effect. When you do this, of course, you are being 
didactic and you are forcing your reader to dwell on a particular word or 
phrase – so ask, “Is this what I intended to do?”

THREE:
Take your time writing the poem.
You do not need to  “get’er done”  in one day.  You can take weeks, months, 
and years, in developing the poem if you need to do that.  No need to rush. 
You might not yet have all the information you will need to proceed. You 
might have to do lots more reading; lots more growing; lots more silent 
meditation, until it all comes together for you. Be patient with the 
poem.ead your poem again and this time, listen to see what the mood is that 
you have created. You will find this happening within the first two or three 
lines – pay close attention – can you identify the mood there?

FOUR:
Avoid being a copy-cat writer.
Ask:  "Does this sound like I speak?"Or is it someone else’s voice you hear 
when you begin the poem? Write exactly as you would speak. If you don’t use 
all those words in your everyday life, then they do not belong in your poem. 
Cut them out!

FIVE:
Is the choice of form you selected the best form for this poem.
Are you trying to force your end words into a rhyme scheme – if so, you will 
box yourself in, grab for words that rhyme instead of reaching for the words 
that give emotional impact.   Maybe what you really want to say does not fit 
well with a quatrain form, or a haiku, or sonnet. Maybe you need to be more 
creative in how you are putting together your picture in the poem.
Don’t be afraid to try it in several ways before you find what fits best.
You may even find that what you thought would be a poem, really turned out 
to be a short story or even a prose poem. Don’t be afraid to follow the flow 
and see where this creative work wants to take you.

SIX:
Choose a theme that is familiar to you?  And, then do a lot of research to 
gain even more insight into your topic.  Write about what you know. For the 
poem to have a “truth” to it, the poet must write about what she knows 
intimately from her own world experiences.  What is your passion?  This is 
the key ingredient for the success of your poem.

SEVEN:
Examine the Visual layout of your poem.
This final tip is what makes your poem a QUEEN!
The poem is a visual layout of a collection of words. Don’t forget that the 
poem has a “look” to it as well as “sound.”
You want to think of it as a sculpture – it will be viewed from different 
dimensions, and perspectives.   Examine your line lengths and think about 
how they all look when viewed together on the page. You want to be 
consistent – watch the lengths of the lines because they help to create the 
content of your poem.  This is my final tip, but in many ways, I believe 
that this particular aspect is what can make or break the success of your 
writing.

Remember, your poem will be situated on a page – in a book, we hope! The 
page borders become the frame in which your poem will be on display to the 
world. I like to think of a poem as having a presence on the page exactly as 
the Mona Lisa has a presence in her frame as she sits in the museum.  A poem 
is a work of art, after all.

Note:  The Allen Ginsberg Project, where you can find all things Allen 
Ginsberg.  http://allenginsberg.org/#!/

***

-----Original Message----- 
From: Chelsea Cook via stylist
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2014 11:33 AM
To: Jackie Williams
Cc: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Poem: Autumn plans

Hi jackie and all,

Wow! Thanks for the positive comments and feedback on this poem. I really 
appreciate it.
To answer your clarification questions, I am indeed female. The boy I 
referred to in the first stanza is an allusion to Homer Hickam. This poem 
was partly inspired by the film October sky.
Do you guys have any suggestions for cleaning up or compressing the poem a 
little bit? Does it need it? With so many words, it is very hard to pick and 
choose if any need to be cut out or rearranged.
Thanks,
Chelsea
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