Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Poetry exercises
Did anyone else have a really hard time with the exercises in Sleeping on the Wing? I felt so constrained trying to write like someone else in a particular style. I don't want to write like Dickinson or O'Hara! They are amazing poets but I prefer to find my own way. It was hard to fit my writing into those narrow boxes with specific topics/styles and even worse it felt so formulated. I understand the point of working towards a connection with these poets/poems and I did enjoy a few of them but my overall feeling was frustration. I just wanted to share that. End rant. I am looking forward to workshop and revisions although I doubt I'll choose the exercise poems. I won't say that for certain because who knows perhaps I'll mine a gem out of them yet! Tiny seeds of inspiration that could grow into something more "me" and less "them."
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Yo Julie I feel ya girl. I also despised doing those things for each poet. I understand associating poets with different poetry techniques and writing like those poets practices using those techniques but, geez I felt like it was a buzz kill to poetry. You should read my post up there and let me know if you have studied any of that stuff before.
ReplyDeleteI find that doing the poetry activities in class based on other specific poems also result in poor work on my part. Something about it makes my enthusiasm for writing drop, as if even if I complete the task, my end result won't be original enough to be worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteTo combat these feelings, I've found it helps to think about how you can take the idea of the assignment and twist it to a way that fits your style a little more. For example, remember the poem where we had to write from the point of view of an object or idea? I wrote mine where the object was aware that a poem was being written about it, and it was telling (me) the poet that it didn't know enough to be writing the poem. It was humorous, and I enjoyed it more than I would have otherwise. My end result was a better poem than forced pretty personification, (or I believe it to be.) for me specifically.
Try walking on the path that the assignments suggest, but look in whatever direction suits you while you walk.
It drives me nuts too! I want to write like ME, not someone else! I feel like my work losses so much when I have to fold it all into the little confines of the box of another poet's mind. I enjoy reading the other poets.. for the most part.. but not writing like them. Whenever I have a Muse spur when writing like another poet, I feel like I have to change the content so much that my final product is simply horrible.
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