Pushing the Boundaries

Yesterday I was in the studio recording a series of short radio shows in my Poets Corner slot for CrossRhythms Radio. The show is divided into two short sections with a music track played in between. In the first section I provide some background and context for my poem choice, and in the second section I perform the poem. It's simple but effective and the shows go out every weekday afternoon. 

In one of my shows yesterday I talked about experimental poetry and told the story of how I became interested, and then inspired by avant garde poets and writers. Here's the story again for those many of you who will never get the chance to listen to the show.

I was in my late teens, and had been writing poetry for a short while during my school years. Now in my first job at a local college, I was seconded for a week or so to work in the college library. It was quite a large library in several floors, and the book stacks were huge. One of my tasks was to preserve some of the paper back books by removing their covers, and then rebinding them in hard covers, with the original paper outers incorporated into the new cover. It was fun, although fiddly, and I always managed to get my fingers covered in glue. 

During this time, the library was disposing of many of its old stocks of books. These included poetry and other literature. I spotted a pile of old poetry books and asked one of the library staff what was happening to them. She replied that they were being thrown out, and that if I wanted any I should just take them. I carried a boxful home with me, and I still have most of them in my collection. 

Some that caught my eye included works by e. e. cummings, Charles Bukowski and Philip Lamantia. These great American poets wrote amazing out-of-left field poetry that left me gasping for breath. I never knew that the English language could be manipulated in such inventive ways! Then I read the work of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who created vast lyrical landscapes of metaphors, similes and wordplay that inspired me even more.  

Soon I began to write in similar ways, not in blind slavish copying, but through experimentation and trial and error. I began to perform my new experimental poetry live, and got more positive responses than I did negative ones (you'll always get both). I'm now at the point in my poetry life where I feel I can push the boundaries continually to try to find new ways of experessing myself and new ways of manipulating the English language to create new wordscapes. 

My interactive textbook Creative Deviance and more recently my poetry collection eXp exemplify this creative risk taking and showcase what I have found to be possible. I hope in time these books will inspire poets to push their own boundaries just as cummings et al inspire me to push my own.

Steve Wheeler

Photo (c) Wheelsong Books Ltd

SPECIAL OFFER: If you purchase a copy of Creative Deviance directly from Wheelsong Books: wheelsong6@gmail.com you will also receive a copy of eXp absolutely free. 

Experimental Poetry 2: Stream of Consciousness

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

Previous Post

Experimental Poetry 1: Found Poetry

Punctuation In Poetry

It’s easy to just ignore punctuation and just say it’s your style to leave it all out. I know… because I have for years! Hey… that’s just my style! 

However, as I’ve gotten older, I have found that the use of particular punctuation marks really help the reader to separate ideas, organize flow, and accentuate particular themes. 

One thing that has always got me is what the difference is between colons and semicolons. Semicolons (;) are used between two complete sentences. They simply take the place of conjunctions like and, but, so, or, nor, for, yet… and so on. Colons (:) are used at the end of a statement to introduce a list of related ideas.  So there definitely is a difference.

Commas (,) might also introduce a quagmire… yet they aren’t all that complex. They simply separate words and phrases before a conjunction (like and or but), as well as separated introductory phrases such as “Before the game, I got a hot dog”.

Dashes (-) can be used as commas- but they should be used discretely. Another matter of style there! They look just like hyphens (-) which pair compound words like merry-go-round or user-friendly.

Many of these are more geared toward writing outside of poetry, yet it is good to be aware of what you can use to elevate your writing when you are a poet.

Question marks (?) are used in poetry for dramatic effect at the end of a sentence or phrase in an interrogative (or inquiring) manner. Exclamation marks (!) also place a dramatic effect in an exclamatory way… to stress passion or urgency. Look out!

Apostrophes (‘) are used to mark possession. You put the apostrophe after a plural noun such as “students’ grades” as opposed to one “student’s grades”. They replace words as in  “Johnny’s”, meaning “Johnny is…” They can also mark contractions and quotations within quotations. 

Quotation marks (“) surround words or phrases to inform the reader of something spoken or copied, as well as to quote as unique or ironic. In poetic prose, they always go BEFORE the period.

Ellipsis (…) is a curious beast. It marks the omission of a word or words. The use of it as a pause is not really grammatically correct, though I think that the ever changing grammatical world we live in considers its use to indicate there is more to be said… especially within the texting format. I use it as a dramatic pause in my poems- it’s simply another matter of style, really.

I’ve not seen much use of parentheses () in poetry, though it can be incorporated. They are usually utilized for information that is not essential (but a good footnote) to a sentence. See how I did that?! 

Lastly, minimizing capital letters tends to annoy grammatical purists. Using capital letters is proper and I will not refute that. However, it is also a manner of style. I personally do this too. It’s bad I know. But what the hey, it worked for e.e. cummings!

These punctuation marks are more than just doodles on a keyboard! They are ammunition to use in knocking down obstructions of understanding between the poet and the reader. When you know how to properly use punctuation marks, it only increases the tools you need to get your message successfully clear and precise.

I hope this is helpful! Please feel free to add anything I may have missed, and thanks for reading!

Matt Elmore