My Poetry Tips: Some of the Ways I Write My Poetry

Hello there again, interweb.

Score. (and not the “twenty people” kind of score) I managed to do my regular Friday post, without forgetting.

So, our SUBJECT OF THE DAY is, poetry. How do I write that poetry the way I do?

Try this. Focus on some single subject, say, a leaf falling off a tree. Begin a poem based entirely on that event. Describe everything. Use metaphors, similes. Use so much description, you can see it without imagination. See–

A cool, autumn day.

Upon a sleepy maple tree,

fourteen leaves cling.

One relents

to the soft tug of the breeze,

and spins away into the air

without a sound.

It spins,

then hits the ground

no heavier than a feather.

 

Did you do it?

Part of the reason poems touch you so well is the choice of words. ‘Relents’, for example. Some poets spend weeks musing and searching for the proper adjective.

Try again. Instead of thinking about a leaf, look out your window. What do you see? Perhaps a footprint in the snow? And icicle? A lake, or a deer, or a car? Describe it. Use the poem to paint a picture of the event, but with words instead of paint.

Every story thrives on description. Sometimes you use heaps, sometimes you should use none. If you had been to a marvelous wedding that brought tears to your eyes, how would you describe it to a friend? “The wedding was the best I’ve ever heard of” doesn’t quite fit the glove. But “There was a six-foot-tall arch, with silver ribbons, ivy, and roses wrapped around it, in the front of the church.  The pathway was threaded with pale yellow flower petals that gave off a delicious aroma. Instead of an organ, there was a synth.  And when the bride and groom kissed, the priest released a cage of white doves,” would be better. Description!

I got wrapped up in the wedding. Sorry. Bet you did, too. Now I have no more to say on writing poems. Pick something small, and use a poem to allow the reader to think of things in ways they’ve never thought of before.

A small, icy footprint

rests in the new-fallen 

snow.

~Aidyl