Hi, and thanks for reading! Today is Monday, so we’re going to talk about poetry.
If you want to go directly to the poetry exercise, and skip all this “recipe blog” backstory, scroll to the next subhead.
I’m reading Writing Poetry to Save Your Life, by Maria Mazziotti Gillan. I bought it at the same time as Glitter in the Blood: A Poet's Manifesto for Better, Braver Writing, by Mindy Nettifee. Essentially, they’re both craft books, but they’re focused on coaxing out real emotions and using processes to encourage vulnerability in your poems. I found Nettifee’s book very helpful, because every chapter addresses how her approach to drafting a poem can create a different outcome, in terms of mood/subject/depth. Maria Mazziotti Gillan’s book isn’t having quite that effect on me, but there is one aspect I find very helpful.
In her chapter on writer’s block, Gillan explains that she uses prompts to jump-start her writing when she gets stuck, stressed, or mired down by real life. I have definitely been letting “real life” get in the way of my writing life recently! Which is sort of funny, since my writing life feels more “real” than my obligations, responsibilities or chores.
The whole back section of the book – pages 84 to 196 – is “prompt blocks.” They’re grouped together in short lists of five. The idea is you start with the first block of prompts, choose one at random, and write about it for 20 minutes without thinking. Then, you edit and revise and use what you’ve written. Then, the next day, you move on to another block of prompts and repeat the process. Here’s what Gillan says about the process:
These prompts offer you the magic carpet that will take you to the cave inside yourself. It’s dark in there, and scary, but that’s where your poems and stories are.
I’m not sure if I buy into this “dark scary cave” metaphor, but I do agree that these prompt blocks are a great way to hard-reset your brain when you have been thinking about credit card payments, travel logistics, recipes, and other monotonous Life Math for far too long.
Exercise: Writers’ Blocks
This is a 30-minute exercise, but to start, set a timer for 5 minutes.
Below, you’ll see three “boxes” of five prompts each. These are all from Writing Poetry to Save Your Life. Start with the first “box” and choose one prompt that speaks to you – maybe it’s something you want to write about anyway, maybe it’s something you never ever wanted to write about, maybe it just sounds fun. Whatever!
Free-write about that prompt for five minutes, without revising or editing yourself at all. Just let it stream out of you.
After your five minutes are up, move on to box number two. Pick another prompt – it can have a connection to the first one you picked, or not. Repeat the five-minute writing process. Remember, don’t edit yourself as you let words flow out.
Box three. Repeat above. Five minutes.
When you have three big blobby streams of text, set a timer for 15 minutes. We’re going to use this as the basis of a poem. Go through those pages, and highlight your favorite phrases. Cross out the stuff you don’t like! Eliminate every word you repeat/use again, or, start every line of your poem draft with the word you used most. The important part is that you’re using these big sections of seemingly-disconnected text to explore what’s going on in your mind, on a subconscious or unexamined level. Fitting them together will be kind of like Tetris, but that’s fine. It doesn’t have to be elegant, it just needs to fit.
You can re-use the prompt blocks/boxes as necessary. You can interpret them as broadly or specifically as you wish. You can eventually work through all 15, or you can try re-using the same prompts, in different combinations or different orders. The choice is yours.
BOX ONE
Write about cheap shoes.
Write about a disaster that happened to someone else.
Pick a celebrity and tell them about your life. Address them directly in a letter. Don’t be afraid to be funny.
Complete this sentence: I am most alone when…
Write a list of 10 items in the room. Cross out 5 and describe the items that remain.
BOX TWO
How did your heart get to be this way?
Write a scene or poem that includes: a plastic bag, yellow linoleum, banging window shutters.
Who is your favorite character from Sesame Street and why?
This is the story of the last time I _____ by myself…
Write about home economics or shop class.
BOX THREE
When is the first time someone called you “bad”?
Feed someone you know.
I think I’m turning into a slut.
Write about someone who has stood in line next to you at the store.
Use all these words in your freewrite: crocodile, ocean, dragonfly, skitter, erupt, fiery, discombobulated.