Did you know that poetry is
undergoing something of a revival? According to Susannah Herbert, Executive
Director of National Poetry Day, one in 33 of all UK adults wrote at least one
poem last year which amounts to about two million people writing poems, although
presumably not all at the same time. That is nearly double the number that were writing
poems in the 1990s. New platforms are emerging for poets faster than you can
say “I wandered lonely as a cloud”, with the gate-keepers of the traditional
publishing houses being sidelined in favour of internet groups, social media (especially
Instagram apparently), cafes, You Tube, theatres, poetry slams and clubs.
It seems that it has never
been a better time to be a poet, so if you fancy joining the ranks of paper or
performance poets, here are a few tips on writing poems that you might find useful.
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| You don't need a publisher to be a poet |
1. Don’t feel you have to finish every poem that you
start to write. If it’s not working, leave it and try something else. The work
you have already done may spark off something else in your subconscious that
could lead to a new and better poem later on. Nothing is wasted.
2. Use the
brainstorming technique if you want to write a poem on a particular theme. For
instance, if you’re keen to write a poem on Brexit (and who isn’t?) put the
word ‘Brexit’ in the middle of a sheet of paper and spend a few minutes writing
down every single thought that comes into your mind. Don’t censor anything at
this stage. Let your subconscious mind come up with ideas, then wait for a
while to see which ones your conscious mind directs you towards.
3. Keep an open mind and be prepared to step out of your
comfort zone with a poem if you feel it is leading you that way. The poem will
work itself out in the end if you trust your instincts, although it might not
be the one you were expecting to write.
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| Step out of your comfort zone |
4. Don’t worry too
much about metre, rhyme, metaphor and all that “poetry stuff” you were taught
at school, especially in the first draft. Pretty much anything goes these days
with poetry and although mastering such conventions can improve a poem’s
intentions and help to engage the reader more fully, it is important that they
serve you and not the other way round.
5. Read other people’s poems or listen to poets
performing their work. It sounds obvious but if you enjoy writing poems (and if
you don’t, then please take up hang-gliding instead) you need to enjoy reading
or hearing them too.
6. Don’t be anxious about poetry. There are far more
important things to be anxious about. (Did I mention Brexit?) As the American
poet Allen Ginsberg said, “It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what
you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.”
So if you feel ready to make your private world public, just go for it.
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| Allen Ginsberg (Photo Credit: Ludwig Urning CC) |
And
just to prove that I can put my money where my mouth is (although as a poet
there is not a lot of that about unless you happen to be the next Allen
Ginsberg), here is one of my own poems.
Some Nights
Some nights, you just need burgers and chips
with cool-perfect onion rings,
slices of damp tomato
and sticky toffee pudding for afters.
Some nights, you just need dark, dreamboat sleep,
soothed by the somnambulant sirens
of the shipping forecast,
to a place where even dreams have ears.
Some nights, you just need steam-warm, silk-snagged skin,
pressed into the mirror of your thighs,
helping you to forget that today
someone laughed and pointed at a rainbow.
Copyright 2007 Melissa Lawrence, first published in The New
Writer magazine.
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