I'm working on an article and wanted to come to you all to get your ideas.

So...you want to write a poem.

How do you start?

What are your favorite ways to approach writing a poem?

Thanks for any feedback or ideas you care to share!     

Open your mind
Put your heart in gear
Take the brakes off of your emotions
Then just let the words flow from your fingers on the keyboard.

 Dear Marney,

    I love this question, because there is real mystery at the heart of it - as there is at the heart of many poems!

I've been thinking about it for the last few days and realized that sometimes I do not consciously want to write a poem; at times it seems instead that a poem wants to write me.  I recognize this desire when some musical language comes into my mind - a phrase of alliterative words, for instance, or a phrase with a pronounced rhythm.  I often find this happens to me when I am walking or sometimes doing the dishes - both activities with gentle motion and the opportunity to unhook my mind from focused thought.  At those times, I find myself sometimes repeating that phrase over and over and waiting to see what words or images will arise that might join with it.  I say "words or images," because I've realized that both of these come to me at different times - and the words come mainly for their aural qualities and the images are like flashes of sight married to feeling.  I realize that might sound confusing; it's hard to express it exactly.  So this kind of poetry writing is like a rope-ladder descending from the clouds, and my job is merely to follow it rung-by-rung and see where it leads.  And you know, what's wonderful about these rope-ladders is that they always lead somewhere!

On the other hand, when I do consciously want to write a poem, I like to start with some word or topic and let my mind wander and free-associate.  These can be very simple and I truly believe we can write a poem about anything in the world - no exceptions!  Catsup?  Yes, certainly.  Gravel?  Sure.  Giddiness?  One of my favorites.  So a poet could literally close her eyes, spin three times, open her eyes and write a poem about the first thing she sees.  The humidifier?  Go for it.  That burnt down orange candle?  Good idea.  The same goes for bibliomancy - divining the future (in this case of a poem!) by choosing a word randomly from a book.  I like to start from this kind of general lead and see where it takes me - often by free-writing, describing, playing with metaphor and simile, or investigating the feeling associated with it. 

And this is where honesty and authenticity come in.  If we are honest about our own experience, and if we write that experience honestly, the poem is fresh and alive.  It doesn't matter about rhyme schemes or technical accomplishment.  I have heard five-year-olds describe the snow in six or seven words that were purely exhilarating in their bull's-eye accuracy and their emotional honesty.  It can take your breath away!  So starting from a desire to communicate something true (and that doesn't mean literally true, of course) often leads you to a poem, too.
 
Marney, I could write for another hour on this fun topic!  There is so much to think about and consider and enjoy here.  I guess in the end, though, I'd say that the desire to write a poem is a desire to live in the world in a certain way - with attention, with appreciation, and as a full participant.  When I am writing poetry regularly, I feel that I am a card-carrying citizen of Planet Earth and I'm doing my job of noticing and sharing the wonder of being alive. This is about the most exciting thing I know!

poem-ingly,

KateSinging



 

My daughter writes them alll the time.  Scribbles them on notes, journals,  posts them on line, or leaves them on voice messages, or  as she says dot, dot, dot. 

For me, it is much harder. They begin to bounce around in my head for a bit, and sometimes they come out, and but most of the time they just dry up and blow away.

I am working more on getting them down, or at least the bit that starts bouncing so that I can come back to it. I find that this feeds the growth process. Even if at the end of the week I have only starts, that is more than I had a month ago.

How to Approach A Poem.

Should I sneak up on it and pounce? Should I use my best manners and quietly wait to be seen? 

Writing poems can be so second nature, it's hard to think of their beginnings.

Often, I intend to write prose, and when I've finished I see phrases that work better in a poem format.
Sometimes re-phrasing or re-working a paragraph transforms those words into poetry. 

More often I write words and phrases that come to mind, let them roll off the pen and onto the paper
Fast, really fast with hardly any time to think between.  I'm always amazed at how many connections appear without effort.

My most used fall-back techniques are found in my journals and I do this in two ways.
First, simply reading the entries in my main journal sparks ideas - a word or train of thought works its way into a verse.

Second, I am a word collector.  I always have a tiny Moleskine journal in my pocket or pack.  I reserve several back pages for my 'collections' where I collect words, phrases, bits of quotations, questions, anything that makes me take notice or pause.
Sometimes it's the vision I see when I speak the word, other times it's simply its lyrical quality.
Poems are best if read aloud and I find that if I read the word list aloud, mixing and matching, I often touch upon an inspiration.

Looking at my journal now, these are my first 10 'inspiration starters'.

museum of very small objects
life journey on a postcard
frenzy
what do you keep in containers?
illumination
manhole cover
constellations
Blues Brothers, Blues Sisters
hobo
two dollar bill
remnants

An odd collection, but I never know which one will take me where... often one will take me on the path towards poetry, maybe a few lines, maybe a completed poem.  You just never know quite how it happens.

Bo
 

Marney, I have no advice on this because when I write what I call a poem, it just blurts out onto paper with little technically correct format. I never plan it and sometimes I only change a word or line and it's done.

One of my few and favorite from last year was blurted out on paper after your BrainDancing II webinar. I have no idea where it came from, but I understood why it happened.

Inspired. 

I start poems and rarely complete them, probably because I don't like to stick to a set of rules (except for FIBs). I have a poem started that I wrote in my art journal out of nowhere last week. I love it so far, but it isn't finished. I wish I had a writer to collaborate with me, get a feel for it and add to it, bringing it to life! That would be fun!

For me, it is much harder. They begin to bounce around in my head for a bit, and sometimes they come out, and but most of the time they just dry up and blow away.

Dear Rennata,

I just had to say that your description of how a poem comes into your mind/heart and leaves again is itself a poem:  "most of the time they just dry up and blow away."  That's beautiful and I love your lively language of sneaking up and pouncing on a poem.  I wonder if it would be fun for you to use these juicy phrases in making a poem about poem-making?

And for the record, I'll all for the pouncing -

KateSinging 

To approach a poem, Marney???? what to do mean?????

 a poem comes, a poem is a poem;

it' s a current idea, a vision, a thought, a dream,

something beautiful, something unfair, something ugly, a poem is work.....

 you  work that idea and say it to somebody, who? your reader, your public...

A poem is a conversation with myself, it  is a STORY, my story:

The story of my emotional, social and political coming of age as a woman in this world,

with all the problems, the good and the bad...

a poem is remembrance, witnessing...the things I cannot forget,

those things are my way of approaching a poem

 with them I approached it and write it.

I give it existence and it appears in the paper.

From GOYA