I found myself in contemplation this morning over my own experience of the ways in which a poem comes about.
While I think the answer to this contemplation might well be a movable feast, this morning’s conclusion was that much of the process comes down to two things: inspiration and structure.
Inspiration
It goes without saying, I think, that inspiration has to be involved in any artistic creation – visual, textual, or written. So, exactly what served today as an inspiration for a poem?
In recent times, I have been very focused on clouds and the sky as subjects for written work. In photographing clouds and subsequently writing poems arising from studying the pictures I have come to associate the sky with images in my mind of an ocean. Sometimes it has been impossible for me to recognise clouds because the image I ‘saw’ was of ocean and waves.
One of the first places I look now for inspiration is up at the sky.
Nothing but clear blue and a fierce sun. By way of background, at the time of writing, we are in the deeps of Summer where I live. Our daily temperatures have been in the area of 45 degrees Celsius. Our nights have been in the mid 20s until the wee hours of morning.
Still. It is what it is.
My mind took me once again to thoughts of the ocean, up in the sky. An unbroken blue ocean.
My first attempt to capture something of what I could see and feel went like this:
this ocean
is the sky aboveI …
adrift
I am
no boat
no oarjust my hand
trailing
in the blue
Structure
I’m not a great one for poetic structures. Those who have read my work know that it’s rare for me to stray from free-verse. I get itchy and irritable if rhyme and form come too close to my writing place.
However.
One experiment with structure that I have much enjoyed over a period of perhaps two years has been to to write with a restriction. Seventeen syllables, to be precise.
Not haiku or haibun or or any variant of eastern poetry, simply my free verse with a seventeen syllable restriction.
The above piece of work has 25 syllables and is, to my mind, neither fish nor fowl. Too short to be a long piece. Too long to be a short.
The task then became one of iteration and reiteration to try to achieve the gist of the first take, above, in a seventeen syllable frame, and with an image that would enhance the words, while reflecting the inspiration.
The result is below. I can’t place a judgement on the adequacy of the work, but I find it helpful to unravel the thinking that led to the end point.
I hope you enjoy the process, too.
I trail blue
ocean
sky
adrift
I am
no boat
no oar
one hand
trailing
in blue
~
I thought this was very interesting, Frank. I always write about how I feel. My poems give insight into what has upset me or made me happen at any given time. I write in rhyming verse, freestyle, haiku and tanka mainly.
Thanks Robbie. I usually concentrate on constructing the poem, but it can be quite interesting to go the other way and work backwards to how it came about.
Frank, this is a wonderful post on your creative process. Inspiration comes to me in many forms, often from a song. I write, read out loud, change, write more, read aloud again and on and on until it sounds right to me. I loved your statement, “I get itchy and irritable if rhyme and form come too close to my writing place.” Thanks for sharing your process.
Walt, thank you so much.
I’ll attempt more of this kind of unraveling in future posts. The importance of music can’t be overstated, to my mind.
Free verse must sing and rhyme needs to make itself invisible (my mantra).
I use music in my head to guide my writing all the time. Can’t write well without it.
I see the big difference between your poems and mine, you think about yours and plan them out, I think of a word and try to make it rhyme 🙂
I should try this plotting and structure thing one day!
There’s room for us all, Scott. I laugh myself silly at some of your poems.
Not much wrong with that.
Inspiration and structure, certainly. Obviously I can only speak for myself, but so much of my poetry comes from associations that pop up in my head once I’ve begun the writing process.
Yes, Mick. This goes with that goes with … and associations build the poem.
I intend to do more of this unraveling of my own processes here.
It’s a powerful tool to understand the way you (I) tick.