You have inspired me to start my 30 day challenge of poetry. I will start tonight. New year, new adventure, this is great goal for me. Today I was just looking for an average length in poetic books. I’m glad I came across you site. Thanks.

Cordially,

Sandy

The forum is here, if anybody’s interested: http://authorsnotes.info/forum/index.php

Thank you! I will certainly give the 30p/30d a try now.

@John

Count me in!

Keep writing, trust your voice, and trust the poets you like to read. A common problem (especially for, but not limited to, beginners) is writing as if poetry is just prose with line breaks. One book that addresses what makes poetry poetry is Sounds of Poetry by Robert Pinsky.

Good luck!
Ellen

While reading your posts, question and answer, my mind is called to a line in David Lynch’s 1984 movie Dune…

“This is part of the weirding way that we will teach you…
Some thoughts have a certain sound…
that being the equivalent to a form.”

All language has a very real shape, both in thought and in essence. The nuances of meaning and sound affect both speaker and listener, writer and reader. Good writers use this; poets blatently advertising it through form, while movelists employit to sublty create the elements of their narrative.

Dancing is never easy, for there is mouch to coordinate and communicate through the movement of the body, and dancers who feel the music always do it best. But the fact that dancers move with the greatest easy simply states that through learning to dance and move to the usic, a dancer gains control over the body that makes all other movement easier to accomplish. The movement is not easier, just the dancer posesses greater skill.

Poets are dancers among writers. The often self-imposed forms of rhythm and repeated souds of alliteration and rhyme become the beat and cadence of their work; the carefully selected words and phrases, the movements of the hands and feet, the tilt of the head, the leaning into the partner and the gentle leading that guides the reader across the floor of meaning.

As a person learns to dance, that person’s improved skill and control in moving will make all movement easier. As a writer learns to write poetry, the writer’s improved skill and control in writing will make all writing easier. If you wish to improve, write.

Jon, I enjoyed your last poetry series. I will enjoy another. I will write each day in response to you propmts, but my previous posts reflect my feeling on publically sharing my poetry.

It’s no problem; glad to do it! Sure, do give it a try–as you said, you are not obligated to share it with anyone. I’ll bet that you’ll find that a lot of it turns out better than you thought it would. And make sure you read them aloud; poetry is meant to be heard! (And this can help with fiction, too!)

Good luck!
Leigh

Thank you for taking the time to answer! I’ll give it some consideration and maybe I’ll even give it a try. Afterall – no one has to read them but me, right?

Hi, and thanks for the question! Off the top of my head, the best advice I can think of I’ll steal from Alexander Pope, who wrote “True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,/As those move easiest who have learned to dance.” The only thing I would take issue with in his thoughts is that writing is easy–perhaps for him, but not for me!

I’m by no means an acclaimed poet (or fiction writer, for that matter), but what helped me was to read lots of poetry, and I started out emulating my favorite writers (that goes for fiction, too). Then, over the years, I moved on to my own distinct voice. There are still missteps, of course, but as Pope said, part of the battle is getting the experience, acquiring that skill (and that comes through trial and error).

If nothing else, reading and writing poetry help you develop your ear.

I hope this answer is not too generic, JoniB. I wrote my master’s thesis on a cycle of music-themed poetry, so I could happily sing the praises of poetry until the sky falls down…which would be far too boring for this forum! ; )

If John decides to do the 30P/30D again, I will do my best to promote it and participate in it. (I would like to show that even nonwriters can benefit from poetry, too!)