Writing Poetry in the Dark, Roundtable 2: Playing with Form and POV

 Hello Friends and Fiends--

As we prepare for the release of Writing Poetry in the Dark, I wanted to continue to educate and spread some more wisdom via the courtesy of our brilliant contributors, all of who have left their mark on the genre in the most wondrous of ways.

Today's Writing Poetry in the Dark roundtable celebrates Linda Addison (writing in various forms), Christina Sng (writing the speculative haiku), and Timons Esaias (approaching POV in poetry), who discuss form, shape, and POV in speculative poetry. Their essays in the book are masterclasses on how to approach the speculative poem, and they encourage both traditional and untraditional takes on how to write and build the poem from scratch.

I hope you'll enjoy our conversations and maybe consider picking up a book or two on your way out.

Best,

Stephanie M. Wytovich

SMW: What is something you had to learn the hard way with writing poetry, i.e. a teachable moment in your career?

LA: Early in my career, I was publishing poems that were short (6-9 lines, mostly free form) and in my comfort zone. I took a workshop with Veronica Golos in New York and she challenged me with one of the first poems I turned in saying: “You can probably publish this, but I think you can do better. You could write a longer poem, create deeper imagery.” That comment stopped me in my tracks because up until then I was focused on just writing and getting published. I made the decision to expand my poetry beyond the initial writing, go deeper and try different forms.

CS: I used to repeat words in a poem and I never saw them. Now I do, thanks to Stephanie editing my first collection and pointing it out. Often, these blind spots never get spotted until someone else sees them because your brain has already registered them as relevant. So, have your work looked at by another set of eyes as often as you can. They will help you find these blind spots and fix them.

TE: My education had given me the strong impression that the purpose of poetry was to impress people, and that the more complex and obscure the work was, the better. I took one of those poems to an open mike (or mic, as we spell it now) and quickly discovered that no, when reading to the public one's purpose is to entertain. Be clear, be understandable, save the precious stuff for the print literary journals.

SMW: What poetry collection would you recommend to someone interested in studying poetry? This can be speculative poetry, literary poetry, classic, contemporary, etc.

LA: Whew, my bookcase is full of collections that inspire me. I usually suggest the following two publications, published each year because they contain a mix of poets and forms: Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA) Rhysling Anthology, and the Horror Writers Association (HWA) Poetry Showcase.

CS: I always recommend Sylvia Plath’s Ariel as a masterclass for all poets.

TE: For a practical study of current poetic practice, I would suggest one of the Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry editions. There have been three that I know of, and any one of them will do. This will counteract the tendency of our education system to teach you how to be an Elizabethan poet, followed by maybe schooling you on how to be a Victorian poet. To write in this century, one ought to study poets of this century. Then go back into history.

I am also asked for the best manuals, and my answer is Ted Kooser's The Poetry Home Repair Manual, if you're writing today's poetry, and Lewis Turco's The Book of Forms, if you're writing form. If you want to immerse yourself in a varied set of opinions about things poetic, one still cannot beat Donald Hall's Claims for Poetry, 40 years old though it be.

But verily I say unto you, read Bashō's The Narrow Road to the Deep North, for it shows the Way.

SMW: One piece of advice for all our poets-to-be.

LA: Write down everything that comes to you, without deciding if it will turn into full poems. I’ve been journaling since 1970 and these thoughts, reactions, bits & pieces have become seeds for poems I’ve published and possible future work.

CS: Write for you, first and foremost. Everything else will follow.

TE: Be willing to tear a first draft into separate poems. We often try to do too many things at once in an early draft, and sometimes those things don't fit together. (Oh, it's great when they do, but...) Rather than assuming that parts of the poem must die, and forever be cast into darkness, gently pull the strands apart and assume that each might be an excellent poem on its own.

Note that there is nothing wrong with using the same line, or same image, in two poems. Your biographers will consider it clever.

If you enjoyed this interview and appreciate the work we do here in The Madhouse, you can show your support for the blog by "buying a coffee" (or two!) for our madwoman in residence: me! As always, I thank you for your time and support and I look forward to serving you another dose of all things unsettling and horrifying soon.