So I'm not very good at writing poetry. I can never find the words that really encompass what I'm trying to say so my poems always end up sort of generic and boring. It's really frustrating to me because I try really hard to make something that has that hook that every single other person seems to have. So I decided to look up 'tips on poetry' or something like that to see if I could learn anything or at least have a little fun.
The first thing to come up was legitimate instructions, and they go like this:
Here are 5 ways how to write poetry:
- Capture a moment. One trap I can sometimes fall into is that I try to write the big poem or the poem filled with ideas (like love, hate, etc.). ...
- Steal a conversation. ...
- Describe something or someone. ...
- Respond to something. ...
- Use someone else's line.
So I don't know what I was expecting but I was hoping for something a little funnier? I guess. I don't really find these tips all that helpful, but then again I didn't really expect to find some kind of formula. I guess it must be something a person either has or doesn't have, so I don't really think there's anything I can do except keep writing until it doesn't look like something out of a factory.
dudette! check it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.writing.upenn.edu/bernstein/experiments.html
also, like your previous post, write about whatevs gets your brain magnifying glass a-burning: movies, sushi, snakes, words, little accidents, Dr. Who, wool, paper making, photons, an aunt, Pokemon, everything! i suppose those are the what. the "how" can be anything... big words, small words, free verse, some kind of arbitrary rigid structure, like a palindrome or villanelle or liogram or only using words that start with "s"! i sometimes try to let the topic inspire the form or the how, which is not always obvious. if you're worried about being generic, then invent some rules/ways of being the opposite, and finding how writing can be FUN. that's gotta be a part of it! and we can always chat about this in class, please! goo luck!
Hi Raeanne!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally in the same boat. Sometimes an idea just pops in my head, but other times I really have to hunt for some inspiration. I think that no matter what you write about, it's probably been done before; however, I think it's how you make it your own that really counts. Also, no one else on this earth has had the same series of experiences that you have had, so write what you know. You stubbed your toe in your bedroom? Write about it. Your boyfriend didn't laugh at your hilarious joke? Write about it. At least that's what I do when I'm really stuck. Maybe half the ideas I write about actually turn into something usable. I hope that helps you out!