Finding Your True Poetic Voice and Why it’s Crucial to Experiment With It

 

Hello growing poets! Have you ever read poetry from another artist and said to yourself “I wish I could write like that”? Have you ever struggled to find unique approaches or “ technical specialties” to further broaden the uniqueness of your work of art? In this blog, I will discuss a few ways to help ensure consistent originality in your work no matter what form you decide to use (including freestyle). 

1. (Explore Unfamiliar Themes)

Try challenging yourself to write about topics outside your comfort zone. Delving into new themes can spark creativity and lead to unique perspectives, ideas that help distinguish your voice. It’s overall crucial to experiment to find a solid foundation for your body of work. 

2. (Engage in Free-writing)

This is another handy technique used in multiple different ways, but a notorious way is to set a timer for ten minutes and write without stopping. (You can do this without a timer.) This stream-of-consciousness approach can at times unlock hidden thoughts and feelings, revealing aspects of your voice that may not surface through structured writing. Although not always an effective approach, when it is, I find people really make impactful work. I compare this to being a musician; sometimes the songs you create the quickest and with the least thought end up having the most soul. Something to definitely ponder on. 

3. (Create a Personal Lexicon)  

Do you ever come across a word that you don’t know what it means in a poem? Does this at times make you lost at the inner poem’s meaning? Have you ever read a poem so well written that you understood what a word meant because of the context of its placement even without knowing the definition? I find vocabulary to be essential in adding originality and flavor both to your works. A recommendation to utilize this would be to develop a list of words, phrases, or images that resonate deeply with you. What I used to do is write a word down I’d come across not knowing the meaning and then writing the definition until the word becomes memorized. Incorporate these into your poetry to create a signature style that will majorly reflect your individuality. A thesis can be a handy friend for this aspect as well. 

4. (Experiment with Sound, Rhythm, and Counting Syllables.)

   

Play with the musicality of your words through Alliteration(Repetition of initial consonant sounds)

Assonance (Repetition of vowels sounds within words.)

Also, try counting syllables (Units of sound in a word.)

Always seek new creative ways to enhance your poem’s flow. This exploration of sound can lead to a distinctive flow that enhances your originality and poetic voice.

5. (Reflect on What Resonates With You)

   

Identify poets or works that inspire you and analyze what draws you to them. By understanding your influences, you can consciously weave elements into your own style while ensuring it remains distinctly yours. For example, look at poems that resonate with you and try to pinpoint why that particular poem resonates with you? Was it a part of the rhythm? Poetic devices or implied techniques? 

6: (Never Slave To a Poetic Form or Rhyme)

Sometimes using structured approaches, forms and techniques can be fun and effective but also breaking the rules can at times be more effective. Have you ever read a poem and felt a word was placed only because of its rhythm even though it adds nothing to the construct of the piece of art? This is often called force rhymes and most of us have done it prior at one point or another. When in this rut find and focus on a word that benefits your poem and adds more value to it as a whole than just the rhythm. Oftentimes, in my own work I do this and I’ve found that you can use a word that has nothing to do with the rhythm and if effectively used not only can it add value to the poem as a whole but also can maintain the flow of the poem just as effective as a rhyming word. 

I use all of these methods in my own writing and I would encourage you to experiment with these handy topics and techniques. If applied correctly and effortfully I can GUARANTEE these will help you not only improve the originality of your work but you will also find your poetic “voice” as well as finding your footing in this vast poetic world. 

By: Brandon Adam Haven 

Photo from: Brandon Adam Haven