National Poetry Month

April is here and it’s National Poetry Month. Poetry is near and dear to my heart because poetry is what I started out writing. According to poets.org:

National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets as a month-long, national celebration of poetry. The concept was to increase the attention paid – by individuals and the media – to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our poetic heritage, and to poetry books and magazines.

Writing Forward will be participating in National Poetry Month this month by celebrating and promoting poetry writing and reading. Each week, there will be a post that focuses on poetry writing including a new set of poetry prompts and a special poetry writing exercise.

About National Poetry Month

National poetry month has been a tradition every April since 1996. Here are some interesting facts about this month-long, literary celebration:

• National Poetry Month was inspired by the success of both Black History Month (February) and Women’s History Month (March).
• It was started by the Academy of American Poets as a way to promote poetry in the U.S. It’s also recognized in Canada. Britain honors poetry in October.
• To celebrate the tenth anniversary of National Poetry Month, in April, 2005, the Empire State Building was illuminated with blue lighting.
• Poetry books are often published in April. Teachers use April as an opportunity to focus on poetry in the classroom. Bookstores have special poetry readings this month.
• Even though we focus on poetry throughout April, we should enjoy, celebrate, embrace, promote, read, and write poetry all year long!

To learn more, visit the official National Poetry Month FAQ.

Celebrate Poetry!

There are lots of ways that you can participate in National Poetry Month.

• Read a book of poetry or listen to some poetry.
• Write some poetry.
• Add a quote from a poem to your email signature.

There are plenty more ways that you can honor poetry this month. The Academy of American Poets has a list of 30 ways to celebrate – that’s one activity for each day of the month!

National Poetry WRITING Month

I’ve heard some buzz in the last couple of years about a little thing called NaPoWriMo – National Poetry Writing Month. This was inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), in which participants write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days during November. For NaPoWriMo, you write a poem a day for 30 days in April. There doesn’t appear to be an offical, active website, so maybe it’s an underground thing.

Read, Read, Read More Poetry

Maybe we should also have NaPoReMo or National Poetry Reading Month, because while I’m all for promoting poetry writing, I think that poetry reading is sorely lacking in the world today. I encourage everyone to try to either write or read a poem each day this month, and then try to keep it going throughout the rest of the year. It only takes a few minutes out of your day and it will have a hugely positive impact on your writing.

How are you going to celebrate National Poetry Month? Do you need more ideas? Need recommendations for books of poetry or poetry writing tips? Want more poetry prompts and poetry writing exercises? Share your thoughts, questions, and suggestions in the comments.

Keep on writing that poetry!

Two Excellent Poetry Resources

You all know by now what a huge advocate I am for collecting writing resources. When it comes to poetry resources, there are some special books out there that will help make you both a better reader and a more well-rounded writer.

Keep in mind that reading and writing poetry require two similar but different skill sets. Some academics argue that poetry is an intellectual pursuit, but that’s only partially true. Poetry is an aesthetic art that uses emotion as a canvas and paints upon it with language. Anyone can enjoy poetry, but studying it at higher levels can help you better appreciate its nuances.

The same is true with poetry writing. Nobody can stop you from sitting down and writing a poem. It will be just as meaningful if it comes straight from your heart as if it comes from years of study. However, learning various techniques can bring your poetry to heightened levels. Such study is also helpful if your objective is to get your poetry published.

Poetry Resources

I was resistant to reading and studying poetry in school because I wrote it so frequently on my own. But once I gave in and signed up for the courses, my poetry started to blossom in ways I never could have foreseen. Classes, however, aren’t necessary (though they are definitely beneficial if you get a good instructor). A few poetry resources can whittle your skills considerably.

Here are a couple of my favorite books on poetry.

The Practice of Poetry is jam-packed with some of the best poetry writing exercises ever conceived. In fact, this book is a compilation of writing exercises that were contributed by many different writers, poets, and teachers. The subtitle reads “Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach,” and many of the contributors are published poets who are also instructors in the craft of poetry writing. Some of these poetry writing exercises are designed to inspire your creativity; others deal with sound and rhythm; and still more focus on the revision process. This book will stretch and flex your writing muscles and open many new doors that you never knew existed. If you want to write poetry but are at a loss for where to begin, this book will set you in motion.

Perhaps my all time favorite and definitely my most referenced poetry book is Perrine’s Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. This book is a delightful and comprehensive romp through the deeper intricacies of poetry. It’s suitable for beginners but also serves as a bridge to more advanced poetry concepts. It features tons of wonderful poems by some of the best known and loved poets of all time, including Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Andrew Marvell, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allen Poe, Anne Sexton, Shakespeare, and far too many others to list here. Suffice to say, this gem of a book doubles as an anthology of poetry and is useful for both readers and writers of poetry.

Anthologies

Speaking of anthologies, I would be remiss if I didn’t close this post by mentioning that anthologies, along with literary journals, are the best way to start discovering poets and poems that you’ll love.

Anthologies give you a taste for many different styles and genres within the poetry sphere. My own favorite is Norton Anthology of Literature by Women, a textbook from my school days. It’s a bit biased in terms of gender but it has some fantastic works, excerpts, and biographies. Norton publishes a lot of fantastic poetry anthologies, which you can check out here.

Enjoy, and keep on writing!

Got any poetry resources that you’d like to recommend? Do you have any of the poetry resources listed here? If so, how have they benefitted your poetry writing and reading? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Condensed Poetry Writing Exercises

Many modern poets argue that poetry is most effective when the language is condensed. That means eliminating extraneous or unnecessary words.

It sounds a lot easier than it is. We writers tend to rely heavily on verbiage, especially modifiers (adjective and adverbs) and articles (a, an, the) to add balance and rhythm to our writing, or to simply make it sound smarter, more descriptive, or flowery.

These poetry writing exercises help you look at your writing from a minimalist perspective. Simpify, and remember that less is more.

Poetry Writing Exercises

Language is the heart and soul of poetry. Writing exercises like these help you think beyond your subject matter and pay due diligence to language and word choice. You are encouraged to search for better words and to find the perfect words or phrases for the making of a poem.

Exercise 1: No Modifiers Allowed

Write a short poem (10-15 lines) in which there are no modifiers. You can start by simply writing a poem without worrying about these restrictions, or you can choose a poem that you’ve already writte. Go through your poem and cross out all adjectives and adverbs. Take note of how many strikethroughs there are. Next, revisit your verbs and nouns and see if you can’t replace them with alternative verbs and nouns that better reflect the image you were trying to convey when the modifiers were still in place.

Example: “The drooping tree” becomes “The willow”

Exercise 2: Eliminating Articles

Again, write a short poem or use a poem you’ve already written. This time, go through and cross out all articles (a, an, the, etc.) Notice how many times these parts of speech appear in your piece. Now read it back without the articles. Does it sound better? Do you think you need to put some of the articles back in place for it to make sense?

Example: “The old dresser sits in the corner” becomes “Old dresser sits in corner”

Exercise 3: No Excess

Now try the exercises again – either write a poem or use an existing one – and this time cross out both the modifiers and the articles. Again, make note of how many strikethroughs you have. Then, read the poem aloud and see how it sounds. Better? Worse? Try replacing adjective-noun and adver-verb combinations with nouns and verbs that are more descriptive (for example “runs quickly” becomes “sprinted”). Do you need to put some of your modifers and articles back into the piece? Were you able to find suitable and better replacements for the words you eliminated?

Example: “A bad dream haunts the young man” becomes “Nightmare haunts lad”

Afterwards

In working through these exercises, you will probably find that some modifiers and articles simply cannot be replaced. A chocolate chip cookie is not just a cookie and there is really no other way to say what it is clearly and effectively.

However, these poetry writing exercises will help you discover new ways to spice up your language by choosing words and phrases more carefully and putting more thought into how you use (or abuse) verbiage.

When you work on your next writing project, take the lessons you’ve learned with you and be more selective, more simple.

Do you find poetry writing exercises useful? If you give any of these a try, come back and share what you discovered by leaving a comment.

Devilish, Daring, and Demure: Meet the Hottest Women in Poetry

Today, we’ll be taking a look at three poetry queens and in a couple of weeks I will reveal the kings.

Three Favorite Women Poets

These three women poets are hailed for their acclaimed work as writers, and they are also well known for leading interesting lives. Here, I’ve included a bit of both – short bios and links to a few favorite poems these women poets wrote, plus resources so you can explore the women and their poetry further.

Aphra Behn

She lived during the 1600s so you might assume she was a prim and proper lady who did whatever her husband or the king told her. You would be wrong. Aphra broke all the rules and her ability to shock and surprise lives on pretty vividly in her poetry.

During a time when the few women poets were upper class and wrote only as a hobby, Aphra established herself as Britain’s first professional woman writer. Ladies, take note, because Virginia Woolf said, “All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.”

I can’t say I agree with Virginia one hundred percent (isn’t that a natural right rather than an earned one?), but Aphra, even after over 300 years, definitely stands out in the crowd of historical writers. Not only because she was a spy, a playwright, and the first paid female writer, she was also deliciously dirty and wrote poems that were blatantly erotic and peppered with humor. Of her, Anne Finch said, “a little too loosely she writ.” We like that in a seventeenth century chick.

Selected reading (i.e. my favorites): The Willing Mistress, The Disappointment, The Libertine

If you don’t crack a sly grin at the end of each of these poems… well… read them again!

Emily Dickinson

photo credit: Confetta

Who hasn’t heard of Emily Dickinson? Before J.K. Rowling wowed the world with Harry Potter, Miss Dickinson was the most famous woman writer to have ever lived. And not just because she wrote great poetry.

Emily bucked the social expectations of her time by never marrying and becoming an eccentric agoraphobic who always dressed in white. Despite her odd ways, she was much beloved and known around town as the Amherst Myth.

Emily was born and raised in Amherst, Massachusetts during the 1800s and it was clear by the time Emily became an adult that she was marching to the beat of a different drum, which is why many people are surprised to learn she had an extremely normal childhood and grew up in a happy, affluent family. Yet Emily gave up a life of normalcy to pursue her one and only love: poetry.

She locked herself away from the Victorian world whose expectations she rebuffed and threw herself into books and writing. Not much is known about her love life or whether she had one but one thing is certain: Emily Dickinson was wracked with unparalleled literary intensity.

The majority of her poems were found after her death, untitled but neatly written and bound. They are usually numbered or titled by their first lines. Emily Dickinson is also a poet whose biography and poetry play well off each other, building a special mystery that will draw you in wondering who this enigmatic woman really was.

Selected reading: (271) A solemn thing, (288) I’m Nobody!, (384) No Rack can torture me, (441) This is my letter to the World, (569) I reckon — when I count at all, (712) Because I could not stop for Death

There’s a lot of Dickinson poems to explore. This is a very small portion of what she left us. Most of these are short, quick reads.

Dorothy Parker

Dorothy Parker is probably the writer most loved by dress-wearing feminists. She was cool, dry, and witty beyond measure. She put her own flaws under a magnifying glass and wrote about them, letting the world laugh at her, but there’s a sense that somewhere inside, Dorothy Parker was not laughing.

She is the woman who smiles and nods niceties while whispering obscene, comedic insults against all of society under her breath. I imagine when she cast her eyes over a person, she saw beyond the visible and I’d bet she could give a look that made anyone on the receiving end feel uncomfortably naked.

Dorothy catapulted to fame during the 1920s and 1930s after she coined “Brevity is the soul of lingerie” for an ad. Her job? To write photograph captions for Vogue. After that, she went to work for Vanity Fair. She was also a prominent member of the Algonquin Hotel’s Round Table, which means she was in with the in-crowd. She also helped shape the New Yorker, which is no small accomplishment and doesn’t look too bad on anyone’s resume, even these days.

Like many writers, Dorothy experienced turbulence in life. She married bisexual writer, Alan Campbell, with whom she had several breakups and reconciliations. After an abortion in 1923, she attempted suicide (the first attempt of many). She and Campbell earned over $5000 a week in Hollywood at one time (that was a lot of money in those days) and were later blacklisted as communists during the McCarthy era.

Her poetry is delightfully wit-tickling and her quotes are unforgettable ( she wrote “men seldom make passes / at girls who wear glasses”). Though much of her work expresses a particular sense of self-dissatisfaction, it’s clear that Dorothy Parker’s dissatisfaction went beyond self and extended to all of humanity, especially the gents. However, she delivered it with language that smirks and smarts and satisfies.

Selected Reading: Comment, Interview, Resumé

* * *

Now it’s your turn. Who are your favorite ladies of poetry? What attracts you to a poem or poet? Obviously, I’m drawn to the rebels, the rule-breakers, and the eccentrics. Do you prefer women poets over male writers or does it matter? Take a look at your book or poetry collection and see if it’s gender balanced.

Sources: The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: The Traditions in English and included links.

Types of Poems: English Sonnets

Sonnets are the most well known types of poems, largely because the most famous English writer of all time, William Shakespeare, had a penchant for writing them. But that was about 400 years ago.

In modern times, sonnets, and many other types of poems have fallen out favor. Today’s poets tend to prefer free-form poetry, often without any rhyme scheme or discernible pattern whatsoever. So, why would we study these outdated forms, and why should we bother writing our own poetry in such forms?

The answer is quite simple. Sonnets, along with Shakespeare himself and a host of poetic forms, are all part of our collective, writerly history. In addition, writing in form (even if just for practice) provides rules and boundaries. If you can learn to write well within form, then you will write even better outside of it.

What is a Sonnet?

A sonnet is a fourteen-line poem that follows a strict rhyme scheme and focuses on a single thought, idea or emotion. Most sonnets are found in lyric poetry, or poetry that conveys personal feelings and is sometimes set to music.

The word “sonnet” comes from the Occitan (a romance language out of Southern France and surrounding areas) word sonet and the Italian word sonetto. Both of these words mean “little song.” So, a sonnet is essentially a little song.

While sonnets follow rhyme schemes, there is no general, particular rhyme scheme that a sonnet must follow. There are also no metrical rules, though most sonneteers use iambic pentameter. Different variations of sonnets may provide rules for structure and rhyme scheme, such as the English sonnet or the Italian sonnet.

English Sonnets

English sonnets are among the most famous, thanks to Shakespeare, who wrote 154 of them. English sonnets are also sometimes called Shakespearean sonnets. They are fourteen lines long and each line consists of ten syllables written in iambic pentameter. The structure of an English sonnet is a set of three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. Often, the couplet summarizes the entire poem. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.

Here is an English sonnet written by Shakespeare himself, annotated to show the rhyme scheme and spaced to show quatrains and couplets. Keep in mind that English pronunciation back in the 16th and 17th centuries differs from today’s. Know that words like temperate and date would have been spoken in strict rhyme.

Shall I compare thee to a summers day (Sonnet 18)
William Shakespeare

(A) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
(B) Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
(A) Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
(B) And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.

(C) Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
(D) And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
(C) And every fair from fair sometime declines,
(D) By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.

(E) But thy eternal summer shall not fade
(F) Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
(E) Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
(F) When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,

(G) So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
(G) So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Other Sonnets

While sonnets are all fourteen lines long, the structure varies. In addition to English sonnets, there are Italian sonnets, Occitan sonnets, Spenserian sonnets, and modern sonnets. Each of these types of poems sets forth rules for form and structure (for example, the Italian form is an 8-line octave followed by a six-line sestet). Additionally, there are variations within each group.

Writing Sonnets and Other Types of Poems

Working in form is good practice for poets and for readers. Form poetry offers a number of benefits, including structure, memorability, and focus.

When you practice writing in form, you face a specific challenge within the boundaries of language. If you sit down to write an English sonnet, each of your lines must be ten syllables. While this sounds limiting, it provides boundaries that you can understand and work within. Sometimes, having too much freedom is overwhelming and intimidating. With form, the rules are clear and because you know what’s expected, it’s easier to launch into a poem and complete it.

In addition, because the form is laid out for you, it’s easier to spend more mental energy on the poem’s content. There is much to balance when writing a poem – language, rhythm and meter, word choice, subject matter, imagery. With rhythm and meter out of he way, you can center on other aspects of the poem.

Many of today’s poets either shy away from form-poetry writing or view it with disdain. However, form writing is a beneficial discipline. You could compare it songwriting, in which similar limitations are set but are necessary to the patterns and musicality that make a song attractive and memorable.

Have you ever experimented with writing poetry in form? Are you willing to try writing a sonnet? Are there other types of poems you prefer? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment.

How to Memorize Poems

Two things impress me beyond measure: people who can point out every constellation in a clear night sky, and people who have memorized poems and can recite them.

To truly appreciate a poem, you have to read it more than once. In fact, any poem should be read twice before you judge it or try to determine whether you like it or not.

With each reading, the poem will reveal additional nuances, sub-text, and deeper meaning. Once you find a poem you like (not always an easy task), it will give you new and greater pleasure each time you read it. Eventually, phrases and perhaps entire lines will stick and the poem will become increasingly familiar.

Read enough of them enough times and pretty soon you’ll find that you memorize poems with great ease.

Memorize Poems

Think about music. If you listen to a song over and over, you’ll soon be singing along like a rock star. Now, try that with a poem.

To get started, pick up a book of poetry and find a poem that resonates with you. Avoid anything too lengthy. You don’t want to tackle a three-page epic poem your first time around. But don’t take the easy route either. Memorize poems that are short, but not too short.

For example, don’t choose a nine word poem by Dorothy Parker:

News Item

men seldom make passes
at girls who wear glasses.

-Dorothy Parker

Choose a poem you’ll have to read a few times and study it for a bit.

Tips for Memorizing Poetry

Here are some tips that will help you memorize poems:

• Find poems that are less than one page long
• Look for poems that rhyme, since they are easier to remember
• Memorize poems that you love
• Read the poems out loud, over and over
• Write down the poems or type them out
• Make a copy or print the poem and hang it near your desk or on the bathroom mirror so you can read it frequently
• Recite the poem you’re memorizing throughout the day — a great way to take breaks from the computer

If you find it difficult to memorize poems that you love, then try looking through some children’s poetry, which is much easier to memorize (Mother Goose nursery rhymes, for example).

I usually memorize poems by sheer repetition – reading them over and over. I memorized several of Shel Silverstein’s poems back when I was a kid, and I know most of “The Night Before Christmas” by heart. There are also quite a few of those Mother Goose nursery rhymes that I can still recite from memory.

But that’s all kid stuff. I’m going to memorize the following poem this weekend:

Her Kind

I have gone out, a possessed witch,
haunting the black air, braver at night;
dreaming evil, I have done my hitch
over the plain houses, light by light:
lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.
A woman like that is not a woman, quite.
I have been her kind.

I have found the warm caves in the woods,
filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,
closets, silks, innumerable goods;
fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:
whining, rearranging the disaligned.
A woman like that is misunderstood.
I have been her kind.

I have ridden in your cart, driver,
waved my nude arms at villages going by,
learning the last bright routes, survivor
where your flames still bite my thigh
and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.
A woman like that is not ashamed to die.
I have been her kind.

-Anne Sexton

I think it’s a little long but it’s one of my favorites. Do you ever memorize poems? Which ones do you know by heart? Do you have any favorite poems, even if you haven’t memorized them yet?

If you have any additional tips for how to memorize poems, please share your insights in the comments.

Slam Poetry Links and Resources

In August, we explored the world of slam poetry with An Introduction to Slam Poetry and a look at Slam Poetry’s Wonder Woman.

Before that, we also met the Lewd, Loud, and Proud Men of the slam world.

Are You Ready to Get Your Slam On?

Now it’s time to really let the slam poets out of their cages. Here are some links and resources to information and resources on slam and performance poetry.

Slam Poetry Websites

Wikipedia may not be a primary or reliable resource but the moderators usually keep the facts straight and include lots of references. Check out the poetry slam entry.

Visit the mother ship, the National Poetry Slam website. It’s jam packed with news and information.

I haven’t had a chance to really dig into Spoken Word Art, but the site features a blog and it looks like a prime resource for learning about performance and slam poetry.

Slam Poetry Audio & Podcast

Indiefeed Performance Poetry hosted by Mongo is my all time favorite podcast. If you only click on one link in this post, make it this one.

Slam Poetry Video

Visit Urbana Poetry’s YouTube page to watch tons of awe-inspiring live performances.

It’s one of the most well known performance poetry productions: The Def Poetry Jam. The site is currently down for maintenance, but it’ll be back up soon so be sure to bookmark it. In the meantime, you can watch it if you have HBO or you can get Def Poetry Jam DVDs at Amazon.

Committing Poetry in Times of War is a film that explores freedom of speech for poets and artists and the violations of those freedoms.

Slam Poetry Reading

Amazon has so many slam poetry books that I couldn’t pick just one. You can learn about the history of slam, what it’s about, or find works by poets.

There’s Always More

Do you have a slam or performance poetry resource to share? Tell us about it in the comments. If you check out these links and resources, come back and let’s talk about them. Have a favorite? Find one that turned you off? Share and discuss all things slam poetry!

And don’t forget to keep on writing.