This is something I struggle with. When writing fiction the process seems easier somehow; write a random scene, see where it goes, or start a scene with a thin plot in mind. But with poems I find I'm a little lost when it comes to inspiration and methods, and for that reason would be interested to hear others' approach.
I follow my mind, usually after a riddle emerges, or a 'clever-ass' idea while swinging my shopping bags. So, for excitement on Friday I walked back home along the beach. I remember thinking how pretty this doggy was scampering over the sand, and how when I was a little boy I would have run away from the doggy The first lines emerged: How once I ran from dogs how now I run to them and then sunlight sparkled through the window, I felt the light of creation in my fingers, I wrote on... I hold a little paw And ask him to be friends The days I chase for widows the days I chase the wind the days I close the window and sleep here all weekend And then again on rising I know the game is on I hunt the world for losers I sing our special song. I posted it to a crit zone & someone said it was the worst poem they'd seen for a long while. That's all.
I go out walking with a voice recorder, I live in a rural area so I can walk down the middle of the road or across the fields without paying attention to anyone or anything. I do the same for developing ideas for writing. Some of my writing is ok and getting better, but my poetry makes Vogon stuff look good. I get the impression it's an intensely personal issue 'how' to write poetry. If I ever venture out of the realms of Vogon material I'll post it here first.
I sometimes have a line or two planned out before I write, and sometimes I have no idea what I'm going to write until I sit down to write it Another thing I like to do is look at paintings (online usually) and try to draw inspiration from them. A lot of my poems start that way.
Well, I'm 13,026 words into my narrative poem Paradise Mourned. The only tools I use are: Blank Verse, Repetition, Contradictions, and Basic Imagery.
I think Carlos Williams was heavily inspired by paintings. He did a whole series inspired by Brueghel's works.
I pick a specific form and stick to it. I am very good at writing correct poetry. That is not the same thing as good poetry. I don't write much poetry, however, I do feel like it's a good challenge for the brain to write something like a sestina here and there.
I don't have the intelligence for that. And I always imagined that is the ONLY way - and so poetry can go its merry way. But then along came the 'Facebook poets' - a new scene in the UK which is almost a parody designed to irk old men.
I ain't much of a poet, but what stuff I write seems to come more or less out of the blue. Yesterday, I was completing a long car trip, and sunset found me still a hundred miles from home after ten hours on the road. I was looking at the cars behind me on the freeway and noticing how many of them had headlights that were burned out or misaligned. It occurred to me that here was a metaphor for the people inside the cars, hurtling through the dark, their lives broken or their perceptions out of adjustment, relying on the lights of others to guide them home. "There's a poem in there somewhere," I thought. I'll kick it around inside my head for a while and see what comes together.
I just sit and write i dont have a set of rules and why i should write it just happens. sometimes i could be doing something like cooking or washing up and the first two lines just come up and so i go and type them and see where it takes me.
Now writing Poetry ain't so tough,but always remember to first light up Now that you're high we can begin, grab a pen or a page and spread your wings Think of a word it's really that simple, Circles my word so lets think of another Circle the purple green lemon and lime, the snake in the grass is going to get your behind. It works really well when your speaking gibberish, give it a try green lemon up high. Now you'll say it means nothing but I beg to differ, who's to say if my mustache is bitter? Bitter the chitter chat shaking the dog, he ran out from the critter who chitchatted along Poets are ego--- tistical brats, they find meaning in anything but logic and fact! I sit on a porch with little to no draft, I'm getting real hot and this poems full of crap! FIN That's quality, slap a signature on that bad boy and you'll go places my friends. Peace out.
