Monday Poetry Post: Ode to Not Writing My Novel
Procrastination level: expert (looking up grad school applications)
Hello there! It’s Monday. For first 10 months or so of this newsletter, Mondays had been the domain of The Monday Poetry Post, a generative exercise of varying formality that went out to all followers. I have toned down the frequency of posts since the publication of my first book (which you can still buy a physical copy of here, if you’re quick, since they’re nearly sold out again) (or a digital copy of here, if you are slow). The reason is, I’ve been trying to wrest control of my novel. It’s…going…fine…!1 But boy, novel-writing takes so much more Brain Juice than literally anything else. I mean it – I forgot what a grumpy, hyperfixated weirdo I become when I am clutching a plot that has to continue with some sense of continuity over 200 pages.
Right now, I’m also in a poetry workshop. I’ve found that when I’m in a mode of concentrated, self-directed creativity (novel) it can be helpful to have “structured distraction), and, as it happens, I lucked into a pay-what-you-can online workshop. I’ll write about the workshop at greater length once it’s done, but for now, I will tell you: I decided to distract myself on Friday by drafting a poem. It was a revision of a previous, half-executed idea, which I had jokingly labeled an ode.
And then, when I needed to produce a poem for class, I thought…wait. Is it an ode?
I thought that, instead of the standard “Monday poetry post” that has been a staple of this newsletter, I would share this with you instead, the process of research that goes into making an idea into a poem.
To help you understand my approach, let me show you a photo of my desk. In this corner:
We’ve got a bunch of pens. We’ve got a mirror, for pre-meeting lipstick touch-ups during my workday. We’ve got a scan of my boyfriend’s brain. And we’ve got my books.
The books on my desk are part of a rotating “research library,” and when I use them, I approach it like a library! I usually start at the index, with an index card (…OHHHH), write down all the relevant pages, and then take notes of further/external readings, which I can look up in other books or online.
Our first stop is that squat little number, the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory. My friend Chloe got me this a couple years ago, and it has been MARVELOUS to have on-hand2 for answering questions and exploring ideas. I like to consult the term I have in mind, as well as any related entries suggested by the dictionary; in the case of “ode,” the corresponding term was “antode,” which put me in a mindset of the ode being a poem that is responded to, not merely a confession but an invitation.
The book provided several examples of odes, which I noted on my index card to look up online. The dictionary used the examples to illustrate thematic and formal evolutions of the ode. The Penguin definition of ode is three pages long, and to be honest, I didn’t quite “get” all of it; most important, for me, was the difference between a “public” or occasional ode, and a “private” or meditative ode. The poem I was working on did not resonate with the idea of occasional verse, so I decided to focus my research on odes that felt more intimate.
Our next stop is one of my new favorites. For my birthday, my boyfriend did the hard work of scouring our bookshelves for all my poetry titles, and finding one I didn’t have. And guess what! He presented me3 with a copy of A Poet’s Craft, by Annie Finch, a book that blows me away every time I open it. It’s so comprehensive, with lots of theory, lots of analysis, but also generative exercises, gentle advice, and inspirational quotes. This giant book had lots of info about odes – an ode-verload – hehehehehe, and, furthrmore, hahahaaaa – and I took the time to write EVERY ode-related page down on my index card. Then, I worked my way through them. Some pages just had snippets of Keats, others had more focused discussions, and some had full-length examples. There were a couple of odes in Finch’s book that illustrated exactly the voice I was going for, the blend of stately language and tender mood, so I noted those, to write down for future reference.
And then, it was time to go online! Remember earlier, when I said that I had poems to look up? Well! I started Googling the poems mentioned in the dictionary, and the full-length versions of the snippets in Finch’s book. And guess what I found?! This wild interactive tool for reading and understanding eighteenth-century poetry, which allows you to annotate the text, gives context for archaic language, and provides data about the formal elements of the poem. It is VERY cool and makes me want to apply for grad schools uhhhh read…more…but in a casual way!
Anyway, I dicked around (technical term!), read some odes, and finally was ready to write. Now, I know that this process sounds long and meandering. But all this research took me around 20 minutes, and that includes the dicking around. And then I wrote a poem, very quickly, and I was pleased with it, because I felt prepared!
If there’s a “moral” to this Monday, it’s to demonstrate the value of owning/reading poetry books, and the benefit of doing a little exploration as a means of inspiration. I haven’t felt, like, y’know, moved by the muse or anything as of late, but you don’t need to be inspired to write. You don’t need something “special.” You don’t need to be in the mood. All you need is a system that can move you in the direction of writing. And then, 20 minutes of casual reading can become a whole poem, a Monday newsletter, and – believe it or not! – an idea for resolving an annoying scene in my novel.
Ok, novel update: It IS going fine but I wish it were going WELL. I’m steadily adding to my word count but I’m still far behind where I want to be! And “where I want to be” is “done a month ago!” I had SO MUCH travel throughout October, and then catching up from the travel, and I’m trying not to reduce myself into a big exhaustion puddle. But then I get mad at myself for not being done, and then I write for a while, and the writing is tinged by my frustration, so it doesn’t SOUND very good…so, How Is The Novel Going? It is going forward and that is quite literally all I can ask at this point! My reward for finishing THIS book is outlining the next one. And buying a set of organizer drawers for all my drafts.
There are a couple free PDFs of the prior editions online – I don’t recommend this, only because it is a pain in the ass to search/notate; rather, get a used copy online if you’re curious about it but reluctant to spend money.
Myles also leaves the most thoughtful inscriptions in every book or notebook he gives me. This book was no exception. And damn!!!!!!!! It’s so chock full of good info!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am the luckiest.