There has been an increase in interest in the experimental poetry series that I began recently, and so, after a hiatus, I am back again with some more ideas about how to jump-start your poetry writing. All the previous posts in the experimental poetry series are linked below. Click on the links and they will take you to the posts in question.
I have heard it said by some of my poetry friends that setting a time limit on the writing of a poem can wonderfully focus the mind. One of our published Wheelsong authors swears that if he hasn't finished a poem by the time 15 minutes has elapsed, he dumps it and moves on. A little severe perhaps, but the method works for him! Now, this may create some pressure on you, or you may feel a little stressed because you have set yourself a time limit. A sense of urgency can often bring out creativity in poets, but it may just as easily stifle creativity. You probably won't know until you try it, but timed writing not for the faint-hearted.
Method 18: If you want to try this technique out, my advice would be to have a title or a theme in mind before you start. Set a timer to go off at a time of your choice. Begin writing, and keep writing until the timer goes off. At this point, you might wish to go off and spend some time doing something else. When you return, a few hours or even a day or two later, take a look at what you have written. It may make little or no sense, or it may be a fully formed poem! Usually it's something in between, and you may have fragments that can be transformed into two or more poems.
Steve Wheeler
Previous posts in this series
Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry
Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness
Experimental Poetry 3: Fake Translations
Experimental Poetry 4: Overlapping Voices
Experimental Poetry 5: Random Prompts
Experimental Poetry 6: The Movie Method
Experimental Poetry 7: Unexpected End Rhymes
Experimental Poetry 8: Calligrams
Experimental Poetry 9: Anarchic Poetry
Image by Garry Knight on Flickr
i think this is a fantastic idea, I do this often I call it a dream dump. When I wake up every morning before any thought come in I wrote for 5 minutes and what comes out comes out and I write a piece usually
ReplyDeleteEvery single day from that sometimes more. Fantastic idea, love this one!
Thsnks Pete. Glad to hear that others are already writing to a time limitation. It really does create an imperative for many writers.
DeleteExperiemental Poetry 10: Timed Writing
ReplyDeleteIn keeping with the topic itself, I have chosen Time as my theme.
LOYAL WRONG
by Fatamira
In what Moment did Eons pass
taking to amass Time,
Where lit candles on church mantels
counted seconds in a crime?
Flicker, flicker like wristwatch ticker;
Remind, remind to rewind;
The hour ever surrounding a breath
Where death is but a snuff away;
Liken to a winding staircase climb
Where step by step seals a rhyme;
Click, click, compares to tick as
Destination nears;
~
Does not Eternity's hum strum
Forever and a day?
And, giant store-mount clocks
like Big Ben halt the walk to stay?
~
Why buy Time in what needs be done
And, not by way of completions sum?
Do you count next breath's exhale
as inhale rounds the corner?
~
No, no said Autumn to Winter
The stopwatch has no pleasure;
But, come, come sundial's Sun
Satisfaction is in the measure
~
Time is but a pendulum swung;
Man tied to a layman's pride;
Uncoil mankind's loyal wrong
And, sweet serenade the present!
©️ 2024 Karin J. Hobson
Universal Peace & Love 🪷
Impressive... and against the clock too!
DeleteThanks Steve, really nice to come back to these challenges. I have just written this poem (or the makings of one) in 15 minutes during an LWS Writing Hour, with the help of a random word generator which suggested the prompt "Showcase".
ReplyDeleteSHOWCASE
How to showcase a talent?
Put it in a plexiglass museum box,
with a little card
stating its historical importance?
Or else
maybe
without self-editing,
modesty, false importance,
humbly work
every day,
put your heart out there,
unprotected by security alarms
or safety mechanisms.
Just you and your heart
walking down the road,
giving yourself
to all you meet
Show and tell,
don't hide away.
That's the essence
of why you are
artist, writer, sculptor,
weaver of musical mantles.
Put your gift in a padded cell
and it will suffocate you and
the reason you are here.
Haul it out with the trash,
saying it's no good, it's no good
OK, if that's how it feels.
But don't be afraid
to go back
and try again.
Bow your head,
search again the flicker,
the spark that brought you
to this place,
and then
humbly, coaxingly,
set to work again.
Nothing more,
nothing less,
just doing your
heart-born,
heart-borne thing,
unmindful of destination,
audience
acclaim
making no apology,
polishing
refining,
because you
are your
own showcase
Composed on the bus journey from Milton Heights to the Oxford Redbridge park and ride. Slightly cheated as the killer last line occurred to me as I got off the bus. (Also the title came later).
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Staring at moon lunacy, experts warn
Intermittent Fasting linked to heart disease, experts warn.
Sudoku causes Alzheimer's, experts warn.
Putin to nuke UK, experts warn.
Baked beans make greenhouse gases, experts warn.
Election debates linked to smashed TV screens, experts warn.
Plague of ants about to take over world, experts warn.
Playing Monopoly makes you a capitalist, experts warn.
Collapse of civilisation imminent, experts warn.
Average IQ about to plummet, experts warn.
No evidence exercise beneficial, experts warn.
Electric vehicles likely to explode, experts warn.
Planet Earth on collision course with Mars, experts warn.
Tabloid headlines bad for mental health, experts warn.
Experts' warnings can be wrong, experts warn
(c) Iain Strachan 27-vi-2024
Brilliant. I'll ge featuring this on Live Poets
Delete