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| Hello, I'm Jayne! Welcome to my poetic explorations. My goal with these newsletters is to take us on a journey through the forms, devices, and concepts that make poetry so powerful. Sometimes, a series of newsletters will interconnect, while other issues will stand alone. I strive to ensure they are informative but fun and do my best to spark your curiosity. Don’t forget to check out this issue's curated selection of poetry! |
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I like my friends like I like my poetry: slightly feral, often covered in glitter, and refusing to explain themselves. They also rarely make sense before coffee, insist the ghosts from their past are purely decorative, and maintain eye contact for just a bit too long when discussing existential dread.
If that sounds bizarre to you, welcome to this week's newsletter—where we're leaning all the way into the absurd. If you've ever written a line of poetry so weird you almost deleted it immediately, you're in the right place. Why? Because sometimes, putting weird stuff on paper is the best way to capture the chaos and unpredictability of life.
Absurdism, with its playful disregard for logic and its flair for the bizarre, is practically an invitation to double down on that weirdness. Why settle for a mildly passive-aggressive text from your roommate when you can have a smugly judgmental toaster critiquing your life choices? Bonus points if it unironically chastises your love of carbs. You can turn your neighbourhood association meeting into a conspiracy of pigeons plotting which car to poop on or work through a financial crisis through the POV of a disgruntled library ghost who insists you've racked up decades of overdue book fees. The weirdness well never runs dry—if you’re willing to drink from it.
Keep in mind that it's not about being nonsensical just for the sake of silliness. By embracing the absurd, you can reveal uncomfortable truths or simply remind us not to take everything so seriously.
What Is Absurdism in Poetry?
With absurd poetry, you want to make just enough sense to keep the reader intrigued but still make no sense at all. It's like when the five-year-old you met at your friend's cousin's barbecue insists they saw three raccoons dancing with a pack of squirrels on the back of a T-Rex. It makes no sense, but they presented the case with such unsettling conviction that when their parents told them to hush, all you could say was, "No, no. Let them finish."
Absurdist poetry revels in this kind of irrational storytelling, often combining surreal imagery, illogical scenarios, and dark humour. It draws on existentialist philosophy, particularly the idea that searching for meaning in a chaotic universe is, itself, absurd. Much like a court jester, absurdism allows you to have a bit of fun critiquing society, exploring existential dread, or pointing out that the emperor isn't just naked—he's also wearing socks with sandals.
Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussy-Cat” may seem like whimsical nonsense, but its playful rhymes and surreal imagery also gently mock the seriousness of courtship traditions. Plus, let's be honest, it takes a bold poet to toss "runcible" around like it meant something.
T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" flirts with the absurd by pairing profound existential musings with questions about eating peaches and rolling one's trousers. A reasonable exploration if one is both profoundly sad and struggling with fruit logistics.
"Howl” by Allen Ginsberg uses surreal and absurd imagery to critique societal norms, capitalism, and conformity. Moloch is especially absurd, depicting a monstrous deity that consumes individuality. “Moloch whose mind is pure machinery! Moloch whose blood is running money! Moloch whose fingers are ten armies!” Nothing like some Lovecraftian capitalism to keep my nightmares consistent.
How to Embrace the Ridiculous in Your Poetry
Working with the absurd can help shake some of the trepidation of exploring 'touchier' subjects, especially politics and societal norms.
Start with "What If?"
If you want to take a jab at society's contradictions, try a wildly improbable premise that reflects the subject matter. What if an ouroboros decided an election? What if the Statue of Liberty swam back to France, tired of standing on her feet all day? What if the Queen's corgis leaked gossip to the tabloids? What if the clouds held meetings to discuss exactly how much sunlight kept people optimistic but not likely to skip out on work and head to the beach?
Mix High and Low:
Combine lofty language with absurd images to critique power and hypocrisy—much like Shakespeare did. In Hamlet, the idea of a king becoming worm food is both grotesque and a pointed reminder of mortality's democracy: "A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm." You, too, can pair existential musings with, say, a council of pigeons, cockroaches, or rats debating tax policy.
Now, go shake the absurdity tree and see what truths fall out—assuming it doesn't grow legs, grumble about late-stage capitalism, and storm off muttering about starting a podcast. |
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Poetry: March 05, 2025 Issue [#13017]
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