Writing Blog

20231011 How I Write A Poem

October 11, 2023, 10:30am

I received some curious feedback recently about one of my poems.

I was told that rhyming poetry is passe and I was trying too hard to have rhymes and a constant rhythm.

Well, reviewer, I write Australian bush poetry style, which has a constant rhythm and rhyming scheme. It would be like telling someone who wrote a haiku that the first line was too short with only 5 syllables. It is not the form!

This brings me to this thing: How I write my poetry.

Now, if you hate rhyming poetry with a rhythm, then this is not for you. Sorry. I don't mind some of other forms personally, but I prefer to read and write what I read and write.

First, I need an idea.

Poetry, for me, comes from one of three things:
* personal experience (I find I write autobiographically easier in poetry than any other form)
* humour (because rhymes can increase the humour quotient... plus I love me a parody!)
* social commentary (because I find it easier to couch criticism in rhyme than in essay form)

So, when I get an idea or see a prompt that sparks an idea (like the Merit Badge activity prompt which sparked my recent poem about Halloween: "Halloween Down Under" ), and I get a rhyming couplet come to my head, then I go.

Yes, most poems tell me they're going to be poems by a rhyming couplet appearing in my mind.

Then I set out to write a poem to tell the story I want, and all I think about in the first draft is the end rhymes.

Second draft involves me fixing the rhymes, adding lines to clarify the story.

The third draft is the hardest, because this is where I look at the rhythm - the syllable count and where words work in their order to give a rhythm. I often need to leave it for a day or so before I tackle this, and it can take a few days to get it right... in my mind.

Then I wait for a day or so more (usually), and hit the fourth draft, where I again re-clarify the meaning, fight against forced rhymes, check the rhythm, etc. I read it out loud a few times, and if it does not work spoken in my own accent, then I need to fix it.

And - voila! - A POEM.

It rhymes, it has constant syllable count. If you don't think that is poetry, bite me.

Anyway... how I write poetry.