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comment by _refugee_
_refugee_  ·  3473 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: How would you advise someone to begin writing poetry?  ·  x 3

(side note: I'm editing this like, all day long dudes, stay tuned)

My advice in the form of "I" statements.

I would read a lot of it. I would ignore a lot of what I read. I would make sure not to erroneously believe that all poetry is Wordsworth and Byron, aka I would read some Bukowski and Ferlinghetti for good measure. I would know that poetry does not have to rhyme. I would experiment. I would have fun. I would go out on a limb and write weird things that don't make sense. I would go for stream-of-consciousness. I wouldn't worry too much about reading too much poetry - but like I said, I'd try to read it if I was trying to get good at it.

I don't know. Pen to paper. You don't need a plot for a poem. Poems with plots are special kinds of poems; "narratives." A poem can just describe something.

I would read Frost and Dickinson. I would try to figure out what poets I hate, and then why. That is as much value as figuring out what you love in poetry and why and it has the benefit of being easier.

I would not embrace making mistakes, I would simply try not to quantify what I was writing in terms of "mistake" or "not a mistake." I would try and simply write to write and approach what I produced and its potential quality after the fact, maybe way after the fact. Don't worry about "good." Worry about - is it fulfilling? Is it enjoyable? Do you, maybe, learn new things about language or yourself while doing it? Are you pushing boundaries? Are you breaking every "rule"? (Don't expect things where you break all rules to be good, by any means, but break them anyway - to see what happens when you do.)

I would use the internet for prompts if I needed them. I would veer away from basing poems too much on one thing, like my internal emotions and whether or not I was feeling stable. I would not lie to myself about inspiration.

I would write a lot of list poems because list poems are fun.

I would read Lana Turner Has Collapsed!





coffeesp00ns  ·  3472 days ago  ·  link  ·  

This is exactly what I say to musicians, just replace names like "Byron" or "Frost" with "Haifitz", "Perlman" and others.

StevieRay  ·  1159 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Or use an anagram solver https://www.crosswordsolver.com/anagram-solver to create pseudo names and alter egos

StevieRay  ·  1159 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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StevieRay  ·  1159 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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nowaypablo  ·  3472 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Scriabin baby, Scriabin is where it's at.

e- you meant literal musicians, i thought composers. oops.. i just realized every non-popular classical musician I know is famous in a very small circle, there's seemingly no middle ground between Perlman, Lang Lang and Yo-Yo Ma and my uncle's old roommate.

coffeesp00ns  ·  3471 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Oh man, Scriabin was such a crazy dude.

Classical music is a world of very small circles. Most string players have no idea who famous wind players are, and they only know famous string players (other than those of their own instrument) if they're paying attention.

I can almost guarantee that you have no idea who Joel Quarrington is (which is a shame considering the beauty of his playing), let alone who Hal Robinson or Ed Barker are.

You may never have even heard of Gary Karr, who is like, the grand-daddy of solo bass in the 20th century.

Crazy stuff right?

nowaypablo  ·  3472 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ref, I read the O'Hara, and then I read a lot more of the O'Hara. Love it, thank you so much .

We just started reading Dickinson in class and I was surprised to find it intriguing, she's a ball of wonderful crazy; I'll check out Frost.

Thanks for the advice, sincerely. I'll see if I can make something out of this. Wish me luck, Jedi master.

_refugee_  ·  3472 days ago  ·  link  ·  

O'Hara is from what's known as the New York School of Poets and you might like their other stuff: Dean Young, Kenneth Koch, John Ashbery, but don't jump in on it if you don't want. Also I may have thrown Dean Young in there without him really belonging but he fits in there in my head.

I also think you might like Lawrence Ferlinghetti and I've been trying to find a good one to recommend to you. I quite liked his book "A Coney Island State of Mind" but my poet friends were more mixed on him. Retired Ballerinas, Central Park West

I'm also insanely fond of Louise Gluck. However, I think she is most impressive when her poems are read in their book format, and less so singly. Here is my favorite Gluck - April

"I wish what I wished you before, but harder" - Richard Wilbur, The Writer