Bookmark This Page
If I complained to William Stafford
that I haven’t written a poem in weeks
he’d say, “Lower your standards.”
Natalie Goldberg would say,
“Keep your hand moving.”
Kerouac says dig deep within your soul
and blow freestyle like a jazz artist
But my notes are flat and motivation is flagging
so I google “advice on writing”
and quickly find an ABC formula
but it reminds me too much of CPR
One missed step and someone could die
Kurt Vonnegut’s advice is worth clicking on
I especially like the part
where he says, “Don’t ramble on,”
then he demonstrates that
by saying nothing further
I add the word “poetry”
to my “advice on writing” search and find:
Subvert the ordinary
Don’t explain everything
Feel free to write a bad poem
Solitude is mentioned
Charles Simic suggests closing your eyes
I close the instruction manuals
open poetry like Chinese fortune cookies
looking for a poem on how to write a poem
Advice given to blocked writers and aspiring poets
by Wislawa Szymborska is helpful, she says,
“You need a new pen. The one you’re using makes a lot of mistakes.
Even boredom should be described with gusto.”
~ Colleen Redman
More dVerse poets posting at the Open Link Pub HERE.
April 17th, 2012 12:18 pm
DELIGHTFUL and great advice!
April 17th, 2012 3:15 pm
This made me smile because it is so true. 🙂
April 17th, 2012 3:24 pm
i agree that even boredom can be described with gusto….my only words, write every day…even if you have nothing to say…you never know what might come out of it…
April 17th, 2012 3:30 pm
Yeah so many ways to overcome but what works for one doesn’t always work for another. Still just write no matter what and even if it is nonsense something could come of it.
April 17th, 2012 3:34 pm
And Bukowski would say “screw poetry like you would a woman”. I LOVED THIS POEM!!! My favorite for open link night, right here. Brilliant. You should publish it for sure
April 17th, 2012 3:52 pm
LOL, LOL…Love that last bit of advice!!! Actually I love how you incorparated all the different writer’s advice about ‘writing’….This is wonderful, Colleen.
April 17th, 2012 5:14 pm
Excellent. Excellent. … very well worked and quickly find an ABC formula ‘but it reminds me too much of CPR’ is a great line
April 17th, 2012 8:38 pm
I love it.. I must confess though I used a chinese fortune cookie once to write a poem…Thanks for your fun comments in my blog…it makes me smile ~
April 18th, 2012 3:21 am
Very creative. Love the how-to, self-help writing books-no really, I love reading them. The fact you incorporated so much of the advice, yet shed it all away for the most part was just a great thing to read. Thanks, greatly enjoyed this.
April 18th, 2012 4:12 am
Love the way the name-dropping goes on through the poem, like mentors stepping in, like a literary conscience! I cannot resist an ars poetica, and this one is exceedingly charming.
April 18th, 2012 5:31 am
opening poems like fortune cookies..i like..and also kerouac’s advice sounds good to me…think there’s a poem hidden in the most unspectacular things, we just have to find it..
April 18th, 2012 12:13 pm
To write, live and read and breathe and write. But especially read the best things you can find, that which you don’t understand or disagree with especially.
April 18th, 2012 3:53 pm
This is a delight to read 🙂
April 19th, 2012 12:06 am
[…] 9. Yesterday I googled myself into writing a poem. See HERE […]
April 19th, 2012 8:16 am
How cool is this??
April 19th, 2012 10:29 am
I like this one, Colleen!