Poetry as a Daily Practice
A few weeks ago, I attended a one day poetry writing workshop at Stanford. The session provided tips, techniques, terminology and skills that can make poetry a daily creative practice for anyone and everyone. I enjoyed the class very much. I can see some of these techniques working for songwriting as well. Here are a few of my takeaways you might find handy:
Make word lists: When you are totally stuck and feel like a new idea for a poem will never ever occur to you again, you could start making lists of words lingering in your mind. They do not have to be related. They do not have to be abstract. In fact, the more specific they are the better. Examples: Spring, freedom, the red wheelbarrow.
Make word clouds: Take a word (may be from the list above), write it at the center of page. Then begin writing related words around it. Then write words related to those around them. Keep going for a fixed amount of time or until your run out of steam. As you scan the words you may find that certain combinations intrigue you. In my cloud for the word Spring, I ended up with three related words that, when put together, intrigued me: sweet subtle sorrow.
Try Erasure Poetry: Take a chunk of prose and erase all the words you don’t want it. The words left over make your poem. This is still poetry, but it is easier to start with because there is no blank piece of paper staring you down.
Often poetry thrives under restrictions. And here a few ways to restrict the scope of your poem.
Make it an Ode: Odes directly address the reader. Back in the day, they were primarily for praise. Today that is no longer the case. In both cases, however, they do tend to be nostalgic.
Restricting to a Form: Try the haiku, sonnet, the single word repeating ghazal or the line repeating pantoum
To keep writing poetry, it is important to experience it as well. So it is good to read it out loud. This will give you a chance to understand how various poems can be experienced. Is it primarily sonic? Here are a few good resources to kick off or take your poetry further:
Poetry Foundation: With a magazine established in 1912, the Poetry Foundation, is a great resource for poets of all levels. They even have mobile apps!
Poets.Org: This is the site for the Academy of American Poets. It lists all the poetry forms in detail and also has a magazine.
The Making of a Poem (Book) : A great book that thoroughly notes various poetic forms.
Blues Poems (Book): A great book of poems in the blues form. This book is likely a good starting point for songwriters.
It is always easier to accomplish things as part of a community. In the SF Bay Area, the Writer’s Grotto runs several events. The Writer’s Studio has events across the country. I also heard good things about The Port Townsend Yearly Writer’s Conference.
Finally, if you are interested in live spoken word (what’s the difference?) events checkout: Nuyorican Poets Cafe (NYC). I am still looking for good spoken word places in SF, San Jose, Oakland. Share your suggestions.