The patient life of writing poetry (and how to start, if you're curious)

So, you write poetry, or want to. I am very sorry for you- what a precarious hobby of choice. Unfortunately, I am right there with you.

I'm going to take this post to unload some thoughts I have about organic writing processes and the careful ways to navigate them. Take away from this whatever you want, it's a personal process and yours could be entirely different than mine.

I guess the cleanest place to start is here:

I don't like definitive statements because I think they can be proven wrong. I make them because it's an effective way to communicate.

For that reason, I am not a poet, but I do write poetry. Being a poet is a full time job and I work in a gig economy. That said: I'd like to do it for money. I'd like to publish a book and I'd love for everyone to read it. Writing is, basically, the only thing I've ever been undeniably good at- so I continue to seek validation through it.

It begins with an idea

When I was writing my collection for my senior capstone, one of my professors told me that writing poetry feels like needing to pee. It's urgent and necessary and if you don't do it, you'll be very uncomfortable. If you have something to express, you might need to write poetry. Or at least express it.

The art, to me, is the way you explain it. And that can be beautiful in any way that resonates with you. If it resonates with others, your poetry will be popular. If it doesn't, it is still significant and necessary. It can be very plain and upfront: this is how I feel and I am explaining it to you. It can be a metaphor: I'm watching a spider struggle in a sink but really I feel fragile in the feminine form. It could make no sense to anyone but you.

The thing about writing is that it is a frustratingly organic process. Ideas are hard to come by, sometimes. And then there's the motivation, of "oh! I had an idea!" and the reality of rolling up out of the depression caterpillar to grab your journal 10 feet away. And suddenly, the idea is fleeting, and I am a person with ideas, but not a poet.

Sometimes I do write them down, just not every day. I find this helpful, because some of my ideas need a bit more incubation time before they're the real idea that they are meant to be. Sometimes I was meant to stay in bed, and fail, because it's fodder for me, something to talk about and leave cracks in for people to cozy up to.

How to have an idea

I've heard that you have to take gaps between writing so that you don't get out of touch with reality. Writers who spend too much time writing then end up writing exclusively about writing; while we love to talk about it, other people don't really care. Other people don't really want to read. But I guess it depends what your goals are.

If you're short on ideas, there are thousands of ways to inspire some. The easiest one here is to read, and then reflect. Those reflections usually have something in them. And then your poem is already in conversation with a literary work and therefore is immediately a part of the literary world. How amazing is that.

But reading isn't always reading. Reading can be looking at paintings, or sculpture, movies, tik tok/twitter/instagram. Whatever floats your own dang boat.

I hope this isn't a cop out but I sometimes just like to just listen to music. I have this hobby where I listen to music and wait for the songs that resonate with me most and then listen to them too many times. Once the lyrics are stuck in my head, I let the ideas ruminate and become mine. Then, I can talk about it my way.

And the way I truly started writing poetry is prompt writing in my poetry workshop at school. I've struggled to find good prompts online, or at least ones that inspire me, so usually I use my professor's personal website where he uploaded the prompts from my class (if you're seeing this, hi Professor Keplinger). And while you're at it, read his poems. They always change something for me and I love that about them.

And the finishing of ideas

Your ideas are almost always more complicated than you originally think that they are. They have connections to ideas you haven't thought yet- they lead you down paths that you sometimes follow to the beginning of new paths.

The key to poems, a little bit, is knowing when a convoluted end is better than the continuation of that path. Might someone reasonably be able to follow the same paths you're taking? I like to assume the reader thinks the same things as I do. It lets me skip explantation.

Your poems are statements not essays. You don't need proof or evidence to experience your reality. Tell us your reality and let us live in it with you.

And when you're writing, don't get caught up in the order of things, or perfection, or organized messiness, or syllable count or rhymes or anything. The ideas will take their natural form. Sometimes it is about getting the pieces of the puzzle in front of you before putting them together.

I write poems in my journal like this:

And I guess this leads me to the last idea I'll have in this post: I miss workshop and talking to other poets about their new poems so much. If you've read this far, or skipped ahead, I am thinking about starting a little group of people who have poems they want to share or work on. Little monthly zoom calls or something. Beginner friendly of course, I'm only 2 years into poetry and I know it to be true that you can start or restart whenever you want. If you've read this far and want to join, def dm me, but if no one cares I'll just let this rot in the deep depths of internet purgatory (in a nonchalant way).

And the real finish is when you get published, a sweet taste I haven't had yet

I was told by my mentor once that I should expect a life with a lot of waiting. I've been good at being patient with myself, and the process, but I need to be better at being patient for myself here. Truthfully, idk whats going on in the publishing world. But thats okay! I'm 23! Life is long and writing only matures with age (is what I tell myself, waiting to hear back and usually never hearing anything.)

But, this moment in my life is immortal and important. This is the moment before I am anyone, so I get to decide exactly who I am and want to be. While I'm so nervous, its kind of a beautiful freedom.

Anyways, if you're interested or have ideas or reflections on this post, feel free to reach out on social or email or messenger pigeon.