This is the second post in my series on experimental poetry. There are many poets who, down through the ages, have tried to push the boundaries of poetry beyond what is expected, and in some cases, what some might consider acceptable. But poetry, as I will keep saying, has no rules. Look at the work of poets such as Ezra Pound, e e cummings and Edwin Morgan, and you will see this is true.
One of the ways to break out of a poetic rut is to forget all the rules and techniques you already adhere to when you write (Yeah, I know. It's not easy), and just write freely and without any constraints.
Method 5: Stream of Consciousness is a technique where you simply write (or speak into a recorder) at random, using whatever comes into your mind. Better still, try writing without even thinking - unconsciously. Perhaps the results will be unusable or gibberish. It doesn't really matter. You are creating something. Just keep writing and do it very fast. Let your mind run away with you. Sooner or later there will be something that emerges that you could never have created by simply sticking to your tried and tested methods.
This method might result in some really strange and original poetry, but even if it doesn't, the very act of writing freely without thinking too much will loosen you up as a poet, and allow you to exercise and develop your writing agility. Who knows, it might even make you stand out from the poetic crowd!
Steve Wheeler
Photo from RawPixel used under a Creative Commons Licence
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Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry
Thank you I needed this encouragement today
ReplyDeleteExcellent
ReplyDeleteI tried this and it worked wonders for me. I merely wrote exactly what I thought without any fiddling about. Thanks for the tip Steve! It’s flowtastic!!!!
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not I begin a lot of poems this way where I almost brain vomit onto a page for a few minutes and pick the fragments apart then a couplet will spring and so on and out of that word spew will spring 3-4 poems from that one moment many times. Excellent stuff
ReplyDeleteHere's my attempt:
ReplyDeleteDahlias spurting signs
Over the meadows
flying, flying crying
Rivers flowing growing
Mingling with other flora
The daisies, tulips, forsythia
Ah! these beauteous flowers
Dinosaurs in the wilderness
Of experience of simultanaety
Where all is merged
All combined
To the One
Universal whole
That may be God.
Totality.
In between trees, stars, galaxies
Evading the slack nodes of black holes
The scatter of dark matter
The dark energy
That blows the universe apart
To reveal who knows what behind
Ah, here in random unknowing writhing
Where human comprehension
Falters, divides, falls back
Descrying what we know as real
Entering into an unknown deal
Seal the real with the mystic feel
Of the sea of infinite
Whatever.
I do something similar--"writing" random thoughts in my head as I make the 2+hour journey between LA & SB counties. I have discovered some poems this way. The trouble then is to memorize then, once found, so I can record them once arrived.😁
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing way to write. It's difficult to let go and just pay attention to whatever pops in your mind. An inner voice wants to take over to impose order. You learn a lot about consciousness when you tryto stop self-directed pragmatic thinking.
ReplyDelete