30 Poems in 30 Days Index
October 4, 2007 by John Hewitt · 5 Comments
Below is an index to our 30 Poems in 30 Days Project.
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Why you should write poetry
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Writing About Yourself
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Writing About Issues
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Poetry of Place
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Persona Poems
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Developing Your Voice
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: About Forms and Lists
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Elegies and Memories
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: A Brief Glossary of Meter
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: The Good the Bad and the Meter
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Courting Controversy
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Syllabic Verse
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: What is Your Writing Process?
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Repetition
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Imagism
- 30 poems in 30 Days: Review Your Old Work
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: The Constraint as a Tool
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Joining the Community
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: About the Line
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Staying Positive
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Progression
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Breaking the Rules
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Confessional Poetry
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Say What You Want to Say
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Poetry Contests
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Free Verse
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Finding New Ways To Stay Inspired
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Word Choice
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: A Little Advice
- 30 Poems in 30 Days: Collaboration
30 Poems in 30 Days: Collaboration
October 3, 2007 by John Hewitt · 19 Comments
This is Day 30! of 30 Poems in 30 Days
All Good Things
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Groucho Marx
We’ve reached the final day of our little poetry project. It has been quite a journey, at least for me, and I really appreciate those of you who took the time to post your poetry. I wasn’t sure, when I started this, whether or not I would get any participants and I was happy that a few of you chose to come along. It would have been a much harder journey without your poems and comments.
This will be the final day of the poetry project, but it won’t be my final post on the topic. When we started, I promised to discuss publishing options, especially low cost ones, and I will be writing about that over the next few days. Today, however, will be the final day of assignments.
The people who have chosen to write their poems and to comment on the poems of others have demonstrated my final lesson, the value of collaboration. Working with other poets is a good thing. Creating a community is a good thing. As I said, this would have been a much more difficult and longer month without the contributions of others. Reading other poet’s work has been invigorating. Reading other poet’s comments has been instructive. Having an audience of peers to discuss poetry with has helped me improve as a poet, and I hope it has helped others.
If you have the chance to work with, or just make friends with other poets. Take that chance. They will help keep your focus on poetry and on writing, which over the long haul can be more valuable than any criticism or praise.
Please tell me what you thought of the project. I would like to keep the energy. I am considering at least a weekly poetry post, complete with assignment, but I am open to other ideas. Please tell me what you think.
Today’s Poetry Assignment
I feel like ending with something technical but random. Don’t include any word with a single “A” in it, but do include at least one word with two “A”s in it.
Today’s Featured Poet
In keeping with our attempt to bring in international flavor for the final days, I am including Daniel Ladinsky. Ladinsky is an American poet but has lived in India and the Middle East for many years now. His work includes translations of the 14th century Persian poet, Hafez, who wrote in the ghazal form. Ladinsky is a somewhat controversial figure because many of his translations are not considered literal, and are thought to me more like responses to the original poems.
Books
- Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West
- I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
- I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
- The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz
Poems
30 Poems in 30 Days: A Little Advice
October 2, 2007 by John Hewitt · 13 Comments
This is Day 29 of 30 Poems in 30 Days
Six Quick Tips
We are almost to the end of our 30 day journey through the world of poetry. I still have several poems left to write and I am determined to do it, so I am not going to delve too deep tonight. Instead I am going to leave you with six quick tips to take forward with you.
- Nobody said writing poetry was easy. If they did, they probably weren’t very good at it. Accept the challenge. Embrace the challenge.
- Set aside time at least once a week to write poetry. It is easy to get out of the habit. I know.
- Poetry is therapeutic. Poetry can be a great way of dealing with anger or sadness. It is good to write your way through something, whether the poem itself is good or not.
- Buy at least one book of poetry a month. Try to support new poets and don’t be afraid to try someone you don’t like at first. You CAN learn from poets you don’t like.
- Look for ways to do something unexpected in your poetry. It is good sometimes to take a poem someplace that the reader did not see coming.
- Sometimes when you are stuck for something to write, it is because you are not doing enough things that are worth writing about. Take the time to live and embrace life, otherwise you may well run out of material.
Today’s Poetry Assignment
Write the final line of your poem first, then figure out a way to get there.
Today’s Recommended Poet
In my quest to add a little more international flair to the poets I am recommending, I went looking for someone from England to read today. I found a interesting poet with what I consider to be a similar style to mine (he isn’t that big on punctuating his poems either). I haven’t read a lot of his work yet but I think he is worth investigating. Take a look:
Poems
Books
30 Poems in 30 Days: Word Choice
October 1, 2007 by John Hewitt · 14 Comments
This is Day 28 of 30 Poems in 30 Days
Choose Your Words Wisely
Some poets write what they feel and spend very little time thinking about which word to use. They rely on instinct. Other poets spend a considerable amount of time trying to choose exactly the right words. They analyze and consider every word. I’m not going to advocate one method over the other. In my opinion, it is up to the poet to determine their approach to word choice. I am certainly in the middle of the road with my approach. I care about word choice, and I will often consider the benefits of one word over another, but I would consider myself completely sidetracked if I spent more than a few minutes deciding on whether or not one word is more perfect over another.
There are six general ways to influence and analyze your choice of words. The type of poem you write can make a difference in your choices. A poem with a metered form is going to involve choices about rhythm. A visually structured poem will entail a greater emphasis on appearance. A persona poem will require an increased focus on style. Beyond form, there is the individual style of the poet, which leads to subconscious word choices. Below are the six methods that you can use to determine word choice.
Meaning: The meaning of a word can be important in several ways. Obviously you want a word with the correct definition, but there are other considerations. Sometimes you want to reflect on the alternate meanings of a word in addition to the contextual meaning of a word. For example, you can say “we were filming the movie” or “we were shooting the movie”. Both phrases are correct in context, but the word shooting brings in other images because it has alternate meanings. Filming is the more precise word, which may be what the poet wants, but shooting has connotations of both violence and achievement (shooting a gun, shooting for the stars) that filming does not. These differences can have an overall effect on the poem, especially if reinforced with other word choices elsewhere in the poem.
Style: Another consideration is style and usage. Some words are more formal than others. For example, “cannot” and “can’t” are essentially the same word, but cannot is the accepted formal usage and can’t, like all contractions, is considered informal. Even more informal usages, such as slang or colloquialisms like cain’t, create a much different effect.
Rhythm: The rhythm of a word is essentially its meter, which I have discussed in earlier posts. It is the general pattern of the word, stressed syllables versus unstressed syllables. Even if you aren’t attempting to write a poem with a formal meter, you may find that you want a particular rhythm, especially for words on the same line.
Sound: The way a word sounds is always a consideration in poetry. The following words all mean essentially (though not exactly) the same thing: apron, bib, smock, pinafore. Each of these words has a different sound. Apron and pinafore have softer and longer sounds compared with bib and smock. If the exact meaning of the word isn’t your primary concern, then you might choose one of the four because it fits your sound requirements. It may rhyme, be alliterative, be assonant or add any of a number of other qualities to your poem.
Length: The length of a word can have very definite effects on a poem. The eye and even the voice tend to move more quickly over short words than long, even if the total number of syllables per line is the same. Short words tend to present as more active than long words. Long words tend to present as more formal and intellectual than short words.
Appearance: The final consideration in word choice is how the word looks on the page. For some poets, especially those who work with visual structures, this can be important. The words “little” and “modest” have similar meanings, the same number of letters and the same stresses, but the letters of the word little are (overall) taller and narrower than the letters in modest. For a visually-oriented poet, this can determine which word gets used.
Today’s Poetry Assignment
Write a poem that either uses no words longer than five letters or no words shorter than five letters.
Today’s Recommended Poet
Jenny Mueller’s first book of poetry, Bonneville
Poems By Jenny Mueller
30 Poems in 30 Days: Finding New Ways To Stay Inspired
September 30, 2007 by John Hewitt · 9 Comments
This is Day 27 of 30 Poems in 30 Days
The Search for Inspiration
Sometimes I get stuck for ideas to write about. It is easy to get stuck in a rut as a poet. Staring at a blank page or a blank screen can be intimidating. Here are a few ways, presented in the tried and true list style, which can help you get started.
Call a friend and talk about old times
Collaborate with another poet
Exercise
Give yourself a deadline
Give yourself permission to write badly
Go someplace new
Interview yourself
Just start writing anything that comes to mind as fast as you can
Listen to your favorite music
Look at old photographs
Meditate
Read a magazine or a newspaper
Read someone else’s poetry
Read your own poetry
Review your old work
Start with a title
Take a swim, bath or a shower
Take a walk
Try another medium such as drawing or painting
Try something new
Today’s Poetry Assignment
Use one of the methods from the list above as inspiration for your poem. if you post your poem, be sure to write down which method you chose.
Today’s Poetry Assignment
If you truly want to get the poetry world all riled up, write a book of prose poems. If you don’t believe me, just read some of the reviews of Karen Volkman’s work. Better yet, go read the work yourself and see if YOU get riled up.
Interview with Karen Volkman
Karen Volkman: Poetry’s Latest Punchline
Karen Volkman - Vacancy’s Ambassador
Poems
[I have a friend. My friend is a sky.]
There Was a Stare
When Kiss Spells Contradiction
Books
Spar
Crash’s Law
