Dear Jessica,
Please! Tell me how to write a poem!
Sincerely,
Eager and Unsure
Dear Eager and Unsure,
The brevity of your question tells me you are already well on your way to writing a poem, because the first rule of writing poetry is this: get to the heart of the matter. So, here’s your heart and here’s why it matters: you want to know how to write one of these pesky poems you’ve been hearing about, and you’re not sure where to start. The good news is there’s rarely a wrong way to write one, but the better news is I’ve been toying with them for well over twenty-five years and I’ve got some great ideas on how you can get started.
I like to think of poetry as field notes, quiet and quick observations of the world we find ourselves in. Poets function as archivists, keeping track of what’s happened and sharing it with others, taking extra care to catch the things that are often missed. Once, on a walk, I saw two lovebirds strolling through my neighborhood, hand in hand. One woman was gesticulating wildly, smile wide on her face, eagerly pointing out the local architecture. The other woman was simply staring at her, mesmerized, her partner too swept up in conversation to notice. To me, the poem was the unmet glance, the subdued admiration, the love that was felt enough that it didn’t need to be said.
Poets function as archivists, keeping track of what’s happened and sharing it with others, taking extra care to catch the things that are often missed.
So how do you turn that into a poem?
Maybe you start like this:
“The women were walking, hands clasped like a promise/taking turns admiring the beauty of their street/the homes, the trees, the garden beds bursting like an outdoor window display/but another glance and the picture becomes clear/their whole world was pulsing in the safety of one well-kept look/safe as a secret no one needed to keep.”
It’s a rough draft, to be sure. But what was my approach? I start by saying what’s happening, plainly: the women were walking. I follow that with a simile, (the IT girl of poetry), tying together the theme of their apparent love for each other with a comparison to something solid like a promise. Then I build their setting out with images, of the homes, the trees, the garden beds, before bringing it back to another simile. Finally, I bring the stanza to a close with a larger observation about their relationship, but it’s all based on something I’ve seen and extrapolated on. Observation, imagery, observation, imagery, on and on, rinse and repeat, finally ending on a larger theme.
The exciting thing about poetry, for me, is that anything can warrant a poem. There’s no moment to small, no event too ordinary. So you can write a poem about your daily commute, or paying bills, or running to the grocery store. You can write a love poem to sensible shoes, or a dramatic ode to the trauma of the dentist’s office. But whatever you do, whatever you write, try to remain in the position of the observer.
Be gentle with yourself and don’t overthink it; if it feels like a poem, than it is one. Fall back on imagery and find the details others might have missed. Who knows? Maybe you’ll show them something incredible they’ve never noticed in the monotony of their daily life. After all, that’s at least half the fun of writing poetry. And I can’t wait to see the world through your eyes.
Love you,
Jessica
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