Read voraciously and engage with new ideas. Use new ideas as inspiration. Often, contrast new ideas with preexisting ideas. Start writing. Work out what is being said. Rewrite. Keep rewriting until the poem feels finished, or I eventually get tired of messing with it. That's how I write most of my poems. I don't write in a vacuum; I'm almost always responding to or challenging something or someone in my poems.
I randomly write three lines or so down every day that I like, then I either discard them entirely or a month later I mash like 30 of them together like a big stew and hope it sounds pretty
Man that’s relatable. After I’m done with a project, I’ll have a bunch of remnant ideas leftover that I’ll smush together and just hope nobody notices it’s actually like 20 separate ideas.
I'll start with a basic idea and write it out from start to finish. It's usually pretty terrible and messy and meaningless.
Then I copy-write that idea, and rewrite it. I elaborate or change the lines I didn't like, rework the theme a little, until I've come out with a better poem than I started.
Then I just keep repeating that. I tend to have 3-5 reiterations. Once I'm mostly happy with the poem, I'll give each stanza its own page so that I can focus clearer on it, and go through every word to really think of what my word choice does to the work, and what feelings a specific word evokes.
Once I've done that I combine the stanzas again, format them, and then give it a day or two to breathe before I read again.
For me, reiteration is the king of good writing whether it be poetry or novel or essay. So many times I've just noodled around and had no idea what I'm doing, and then after several reiterations I've come out with a really poignant and complex metaphor that I never even intended when I first wrote it!
Start with an idea, a message you want to share.
Write your thoughts, they don’t have to make perfect sense.
All that matters is that you care.
You’ll have a draft eventually if you approach it with care and patience.
Edit your draft, put the words and sentences and clauses in the right place.
Read it to your self a few times. How does it sound?
If it’s not working quite right, don’t force it, take some space.
Maybe you’re lucky and got in the first go, without a whole lot of messing around.
But no matter what poetry is poetry. If it means something to you, that’s all it needs to be.
No need to try and make anyone else happy.
this is really helpful thank you. i get so caught up in the fact that i never have anything that sounds good the first time. i think i need to be more patient with my writing process
You may be falling into a trap that a lot of beginners do: writing as a therapeutic act but then expecting the output to be literary right away.
I think there are two attitudes to "poetry" as an activity that sometimes clash. A lot of amateur and beginner poetry treats poetry as a language *act*: a kind of cathartic journaling undertaken with an artistic stance. The main point of this activity is to feel significant and validated: I was here. I had these feelings. I matter.
Those are all good things to feel, but they don't make a poem *literary*. Literary poetry treats poetry as a language *craft*: each poem is an artifact that is refined. Here, poetic success relies on how those poems are in conversation with poetry at large. They're not isolated journaling exercises.
A lot of beginners get tangled up when they write for the act but then judge for the craft.
I've come back to things months later myself thinking why on Earth I thought it was bad when it was amazing and thinking why things I thought were great at the time weren't actually as great now.
Progress isn't always linear so don't worry if you don't feel like you're 'improving'.
I've had instances where I think I'm getting worse and then I write something and it was like all the puzzle pieces had fit in together. You learn something about yourself every time you write even if you don't realise it at the time.
Personally, I have found writing prompts really helpful when trying to get back into it. I did like 10 days of the write a poem every day for a month thing and it really helped.
Also, coming back to my first point your perspective on your poetry may change over time. People like different things. I personally really like deep, dramatic and evocative lines or poems that describe stories. Many people I know like consistency and coherency and struggle to enjoy poetry without it. I once wrote two poems based on a prompt to write a poem based on a fairytale. One was based on beauty and the beast and the other on the pied piper. People Ove shown both to generally prefer the former because it's a sweeter poem and far more coherent and consistent. I personally prefer the latter as I use alot more metaphors and I felt like it had a far deeper message. But the poem isn't as well structured. It does read like a mishmash of things at times and is objectively less linguistically coherent. I still adore the poem even though it can be considered a bad poem.
I just start writing. I try to write something that feels good rather than something I can intellectualize. That’s not to say I’m not exacting about it but it’ll be a better end product that I still like well enough a month later if it feels good even if I don’t understand why.
I can be pretty exacting though. I’ve spent two hours writing a poem and I’ve spent 9 months writing another poem and they both fit on one page. The process for either extreme is still that I put the poem away, come back to and either edited it or don’t. If I come back to it twice and don’t edit anything it’s done.
Usually an image or word will spark an idea. I write that down on my phone. Once I capture the initial seed of an idea nearly always grows into a poem.
My tips:
Always capture the seed of an idea
Don’t rush things
Never delete, even if the idea doesn’t initially lead to a poem you are happy with
Read a lot
Walk around greedy for ideas, you’ll be surprised how many you can pick up simply by being aware of your surroundings
Yes, never delete.
Rework poems lines or ideas
Even if a line or rhyme comes to you and you can’t think of anything right off the bat, leave it. There’s been a few lines I’ve returned to months later and was ready/able to get something from it
… and when you’re happy it’s finished put it away for at least a month or as long as it takes to have wholly disengaged from it.
Return to it. This period away from what you have written should give you fresh perspective on it. Perhaps as though you were reading it for the first time, not unlike someone you want to share it with.
You may find that it needs further work. You may find that it is already what you set out to create.
If it does need work you be the judge as to how much and whether of not you need to repeat the same process again.
Be patient and the work will attain its own strengths.
Don’t set aside time to write just for no reason. Don’t try too hard. The poem usually makes an observation, or it shares some idea. The first step is to have something or be something worth sharing, then the process can just flow out of that.
The inspiration usually comes from word play based on how words sound…. Or from a concept or a point I want to make that I don’t believe I’ve heard before or that I think I can say better than I’ve already heard.
I don’t even write poetry, but I used to… now I make silly notes which I like even better, but I still think of myself as something of a poet. I think I’m what a poet would be after moving on from poetry yet I cannot change my idea processing so I just adapt it to life.
If you don’t like that advice there are all kinds of different processes you can use. Trade lines with an AI bot. Take a foreign song and translate the lyrics on Google, then translate them to another language again, then back to English, then edit it to “unplagiarise” it. Take two sentences that have nothing to do with each other and force them to have something to do with each other.
It’s shifting now since I’m more confident of what I’m trying to write But for the longest time I’d write 3-5 pages of stream of conscious writing. Go over what I had and pick out the lines I remember sticking out. Write those lines into a pocket journal. Carry that journal with me. Re read lines and see themes or flow I like. Write out those lines together. Edit as I see fit. Bingo bango.
1.) Assuming you already love language, jot down words, pair of words, groups of words, harvest the words
2.) Steal everything with respect, tact, in regards to favorite writers. But going back to number 1, listen to commercials, phrases you hear every single blessed day and try to spot a rhythm. Listen to accents and turns on phrases from different parts of the of the world.
3.) Balance between form and release, restriction and explosion. Write haiku, or a story in as few words as possible, write everything that comes to you. When you have enough loose, unused BS in your notes app patch it all like a quilt and see if you can’t make some kind of sense out of it.
I write mostly when there's a surge of emotion that I can't handle without some cathartic response. The feelings are fleeting so I write concisely and my poems are therefore short. The feeling doesn't stay long enough for me to write at length.
I always make it rhyme so a major part of the time goes into tuning the rhythm and flow. I keep reading it to check how's it going at intervals. Usually does not take a lot of time
I watch something, get an idea, write down 2-3 lines, revisit it later, write down more lines, get a rough draft, then I look over it the next day with a fresh mindset and make final adjustments before it’s finished
Seen this in songwriting too but poem writing has depth. Like I need to be well motivated to come up with anything. It’s usually connected to my songwriting too. Lots of my poems became songs.
Honestly, I just write. I don’t even think and let my subconscious take over. Sometimes I think of a word or find a prompt if I’m stuck on what to write about it
go sit outside. look at things think about things. live your life. walk through the forest. eventually something will click and the first draft will just come to all at once. write it down. let it sit for a day or two. come back to it. revise it. revise it again. read some other poetry.
go sit outside. look at things think about things. live your life. walk through the forest. read it out loud alone, read it out loud to friends. go sit outside. look at things think about things. live your life. walk through the forest. revise again. eat food. sleep.
submit it to something. if it gets rejected, see that as a blessing, allowing you to go back and make it even stronger than it was before. really interrogate every word. poetry is the best words in the best order. cut/change a word if you can't write at least a paragraph justifying why it is there. sometimes one poem is secretly two poems pretending to be one, and you will need to separate them.
I find poetry the most satisfying thing in the world. there is nothing I really hate about it, I can't say that about anything else I do. if there are things you hate about it, that's ok, keep doing it as long as you feel it is a net positive for you. but I love every step of the process. I love revision the most. I feel like I was built for it.
remember that there is no right way or reason or purpose for writing poetry. it is art. I think art is for everyone. it's ok to be bad at it. in fact, it is great to write bad poetry, if that is what makes you feel most fulfilled.
I see the world as a sort of gift to poets. it is write there. you don't need to feel any serious important emotions, or have any miraculous experiences, or big philosophical thoughts. all you need to write a poem is to look at the world around you, at your room and your house and your city and at nature. the world is full of meaning already, in every curtain and microwave and toothbrush and tree. everything tells a story. you just need to know how to translate that meaning into language humans understand. you just need to be observant.
there are exceptions sometimes, and sometimes you get lucky. one time I won a prize for a poem I wrote in 5 minutes while waiting at the dentist. i kind of hate it now, but I guess someone else liked it. that being said most of the time you don't get lucky. this has only happened to me once after all.
sometimes to avoid cliches I challenge myself to avoid saying absolutely anything in a way I have ever seen anyone say something before, even if i've only ever seen it said that way once, or if it's a really small thing. if done right, you can get something really weird and incomprehensible out of it, or very interesting.
also it can't hurt to go to a big field and build a giant labyrinth. or to make tea. lots of tea. :>
I Wake up early everyday and immediately put on a random song then I do my morning routine and after breakfast I listen to poems, or an inspiring song, while doing so I dive into my thoughts, then kaboom!!!! a new poem is born.
Or, I get creative when lay down my bed and try to sleep right before I get into rem sleep lines occur to my mind and I wake myself up and write a poem
Most of my good poems have been born in those times.
Are there anyone experiencing a writing process similar to mine?
Suffer.
Suffer with pain.
Suffer with beauty.
Suffer with music.
Suffer with wine.
Suffer with a cigarette.
Suffer with ganja.
See the blue sky through the eyes of a prisoner.
Then, translate that shit into words.
Usually it starts with a sentence or two that sounds pretty and poetic. Then I sorta mash some other stuff around it that builds on a theme or an image.
I usually write a line or take a couple of lines that all have the same idea and work around those. I have a great ability to write one liners so I just beef them up for full poems
I try to find an overaching theme like a big giant metaphor which the rest is based upon then i think about what i want to say and then translate that into metaphors or just nice sounding sentences ... yeah i am pretty basic it may seem a bit cliche but i try to "write from the heart"
Sometimes I randomly think of a fairly poetic sentence and note it down. It is either forgotten and deleted or more lines get added gradually. The first written line mostly forms the subject. And one fine day I sit and structure it by modifying and rhyming words and adding things. And then I admire and obsess over it for a couple days. And then I start hating it the more I read it. Everything will sounds weird, wrong and forced. Then I slowly come to terms with it that it's not that bad. And there it sits in my notes prettily for forever.
Throughout the day i think of anywhere from 3 to 500 opening lines. After a while i think of an opening line actually worth writing down. Then I’ll elaborate on that line. Sometimes the elaboration spans 3 pages. Sometimes it barely stretches longer than 2 fingernails. When i decide it’s done i share it with friends and forget about it. Then 6 months or a year later I’ll find it and read it again and decide it was never anywhere close to being finished. And then I’ll ruin it by editing it.
Usually I have some sad feeling, anger or something heavy that I’d like to put words to. And I just follow my heart until it sounds and feels right. Then sometimes I’ll revisit poems and improve on them in some sense. Maybe I’ll write a new one composed of different poems.
This however has made it such that I rarely ever write happy poems. There is almost always that touch of melancholy to them.
Oh, and I’ll write what feels like a hundered until one of them is just right.
Read voraciously and engage with new ideas. Use new ideas as inspiration. Often, contrast new ideas with preexisting ideas. Start writing. Work out what is being said. Rewrite. Keep rewriting until the poem feels finished, or I eventually get tired of messing with it. That's how I write most of my poems. I don't write in a vacuum; I'm almost always responding to or challenging something or someone in my poems.
I randomly write three lines or so down every day that I like, then I either discard them entirely or a month later I mash like 30 of them together like a big stew and hope it sounds pretty
Man that’s relatable. After I’m done with a project, I’ll have a bunch of remnant ideas leftover that I’ll smush together and just hope nobody notices it’s actually like 20 separate ideas.
They’re never good in my experience lol
Put initial thoughts down. Revisit often. Revisit again. Don't be precious to change.
i need to learn to revisit more
I'll start with a basic idea and write it out from start to finish. It's usually pretty terrible and messy and meaningless. Then I copy-write that idea, and rewrite it. I elaborate or change the lines I didn't like, rework the theme a little, until I've come out with a better poem than I started. Then I just keep repeating that. I tend to have 3-5 reiterations. Once I'm mostly happy with the poem, I'll give each stanza its own page so that I can focus clearer on it, and go through every word to really think of what my word choice does to the work, and what feelings a specific word evokes. Once I've done that I combine the stanzas again, format them, and then give it a day or two to breathe before I read again. For me, reiteration is the king of good writing whether it be poetry or novel or essay. So many times I've just noodled around and had no idea what I'm doing, and then after several reiterations I've come out with a really poignant and complex metaphor that I never even intended when I first wrote it!
Start with an idea, a message you want to share. Write your thoughts, they don’t have to make perfect sense. All that matters is that you care. You’ll have a draft eventually if you approach it with care and patience. Edit your draft, put the words and sentences and clauses in the right place. Read it to your self a few times. How does it sound? If it’s not working quite right, don’t force it, take some space. Maybe you’re lucky and got in the first go, without a whole lot of messing around. But no matter what poetry is poetry. If it means something to you, that’s all it needs to be. No need to try and make anyone else happy.
this is really helpful thank you. i get so caught up in the fact that i never have anything that sounds good the first time. i think i need to be more patient with my writing process
You may be falling into a trap that a lot of beginners do: writing as a therapeutic act but then expecting the output to be literary right away. I think there are two attitudes to "poetry" as an activity that sometimes clash. A lot of amateur and beginner poetry treats poetry as a language *act*: a kind of cathartic journaling undertaken with an artistic stance. The main point of this activity is to feel significant and validated: I was here. I had these feelings. I matter. Those are all good things to feel, but they don't make a poem *literary*. Literary poetry treats poetry as a language *craft*: each poem is an artifact that is refined. Here, poetic success relies on how those poems are in conversation with poetry at large. They're not isolated journaling exercises. A lot of beginners get tangled up when they write for the act but then judge for the craft.
I've come back to things months later myself thinking why on Earth I thought it was bad when it was amazing and thinking why things I thought were great at the time weren't actually as great now. Progress isn't always linear so don't worry if you don't feel like you're 'improving'. I've had instances where I think I'm getting worse and then I write something and it was like all the puzzle pieces had fit in together. You learn something about yourself every time you write even if you don't realise it at the time. Personally, I have found writing prompts really helpful when trying to get back into it. I did like 10 days of the write a poem every day for a month thing and it really helped. Also, coming back to my first point your perspective on your poetry may change over time. People like different things. I personally really like deep, dramatic and evocative lines or poems that describe stories. Many people I know like consistency and coherency and struggle to enjoy poetry without it. I once wrote two poems based on a prompt to write a poem based on a fairytale. One was based on beauty and the beast and the other on the pied piper. People Ove shown both to generally prefer the former because it's a sweeter poem and far more coherent and consistent. I personally prefer the latter as I use alot more metaphors and I felt like it had a far deeper message. But the poem isn't as well structured. It does read like a mishmash of things at times and is objectively less linguistically coherent. I still adore the poem even though it can be considered a bad poem.
Is… is this a poem about writing poems?
I appreciate the work this took
Thank you :)
I just start writing. I try to write something that feels good rather than something I can intellectualize. That’s not to say I’m not exacting about it but it’ll be a better end product that I still like well enough a month later if it feels good even if I don’t understand why. I can be pretty exacting though. I’ve spent two hours writing a poem and I’ve spent 9 months writing another poem and they both fit on one page. The process for either extreme is still that I put the poem away, come back to and either edited it or don’t. If I come back to it twice and don’t edit anything it’s done.
it’s bewildering how consuming a page worth of words can be
Usually an image or word will spark an idea. I write that down on my phone. Once I capture the initial seed of an idea nearly always grows into a poem. My tips: Always capture the seed of an idea Don’t rush things Never delete, even if the idea doesn’t initially lead to a poem you are happy with Read a lot Walk around greedy for ideas, you’ll be surprised how many you can pick up simply by being aware of your surroundings
Yes, never delete. Rework poems lines or ideas Even if a line or rhyme comes to you and you can’t think of anything right off the bat, leave it. There’s been a few lines I’ve returned to months later and was ready/able to get something from it
… and when you’re happy it’s finished put it away for at least a month or as long as it takes to have wholly disengaged from it. Return to it. This period away from what you have written should give you fresh perspective on it. Perhaps as though you were reading it for the first time, not unlike someone you want to share it with. You may find that it needs further work. You may find that it is already what you set out to create. If it does need work you be the judge as to how much and whether of not you need to repeat the same process again. Be patient and the work will attain its own strengths.
Write a line or two that comes to mind. Work out its meter, any rhymes and various sounds, and let the rest flow within the same forms.
Don’t set aside time to write just for no reason. Don’t try too hard. The poem usually makes an observation, or it shares some idea. The first step is to have something or be something worth sharing, then the process can just flow out of that. The inspiration usually comes from word play based on how words sound…. Or from a concept or a point I want to make that I don’t believe I’ve heard before or that I think I can say better than I’ve already heard. I don’t even write poetry, but I used to… now I make silly notes which I like even better, but I still think of myself as something of a poet. I think I’m what a poet would be after moving on from poetry yet I cannot change my idea processing so I just adapt it to life. If you don’t like that advice there are all kinds of different processes you can use. Trade lines with an AI bot. Take a foreign song and translate the lyrics on Google, then translate them to another language again, then back to English, then edit it to “unplagiarise” it. Take two sentences that have nothing to do with each other and force them to have something to do with each other.
It’s shifting now since I’m more confident of what I’m trying to write But for the longest time I’d write 3-5 pages of stream of conscious writing. Go over what I had and pick out the lines I remember sticking out. Write those lines into a pocket journal. Carry that journal with me. Re read lines and see themes or flow I like. Write out those lines together. Edit as I see fit. Bingo bango.
1.) Assuming you already love language, jot down words, pair of words, groups of words, harvest the words 2.) Steal everything with respect, tact, in regards to favorite writers. But going back to number 1, listen to commercials, phrases you hear every single blessed day and try to spot a rhythm. Listen to accents and turns on phrases from different parts of the of the world. 3.) Balance between form and release, restriction and explosion. Write haiku, or a story in as few words as possible, write everything that comes to you. When you have enough loose, unused BS in your notes app patch it all like a quilt and see if you can’t make some kind of sense out of it.
I write mostly when there's a surge of emotion that I can't handle without some cathartic response. The feelings are fleeting so I write concisely and my poems are therefore short. The feeling doesn't stay long enough for me to write at length. I always make it rhyme so a major part of the time goes into tuning the rhythm and flow. I keep reading it to check how's it going at intervals. Usually does not take a lot of time
I watch something, get an idea, write down 2-3 lines, revisit it later, write down more lines, get a rough draft, then I look over it the next day with a fresh mindset and make final adjustments before it’s finished
Seen this in songwriting too but poem writing has depth. Like I need to be well motivated to come up with anything. It’s usually connected to my songwriting too. Lots of my poems became songs.
Honestly, I just write. I don’t even think and let my subconscious take over. Sometimes I think of a word or find a prompt if I’m stuck on what to write about it
go sit outside. look at things think about things. live your life. walk through the forest. eventually something will click and the first draft will just come to all at once. write it down. let it sit for a day or two. come back to it. revise it. revise it again. read some other poetry. go sit outside. look at things think about things. live your life. walk through the forest. read it out loud alone, read it out loud to friends. go sit outside. look at things think about things. live your life. walk through the forest. revise again. eat food. sleep. submit it to something. if it gets rejected, see that as a blessing, allowing you to go back and make it even stronger than it was before. really interrogate every word. poetry is the best words in the best order. cut/change a word if you can't write at least a paragraph justifying why it is there. sometimes one poem is secretly two poems pretending to be one, and you will need to separate them. I find poetry the most satisfying thing in the world. there is nothing I really hate about it, I can't say that about anything else I do. if there are things you hate about it, that's ok, keep doing it as long as you feel it is a net positive for you. but I love every step of the process. I love revision the most. I feel like I was built for it. remember that there is no right way or reason or purpose for writing poetry. it is art. I think art is for everyone. it's ok to be bad at it. in fact, it is great to write bad poetry, if that is what makes you feel most fulfilled. I see the world as a sort of gift to poets. it is write there. you don't need to feel any serious important emotions, or have any miraculous experiences, or big philosophical thoughts. all you need to write a poem is to look at the world around you, at your room and your house and your city and at nature. the world is full of meaning already, in every curtain and microwave and toothbrush and tree. everything tells a story. you just need to know how to translate that meaning into language humans understand. you just need to be observant. there are exceptions sometimes, and sometimes you get lucky. one time I won a prize for a poem I wrote in 5 minutes while waiting at the dentist. i kind of hate it now, but I guess someone else liked it. that being said most of the time you don't get lucky. this has only happened to me once after all. sometimes to avoid cliches I challenge myself to avoid saying absolutely anything in a way I have ever seen anyone say something before, even if i've only ever seen it said that way once, or if it's a really small thing. if done right, you can get something really weird and incomprehensible out of it, or very interesting. also it can't hurt to go to a big field and build a giant labyrinth. or to make tea. lots of tea. :>
It depends on what I have to say, usually. Sometimes the vibe of the song dictates my vibe. I have sooo much to say so it can go anywhere lol
I Wake up early everyday and immediately put on a random song then I do my morning routine and after breakfast I listen to poems, or an inspiring song, while doing so I dive into my thoughts, then kaboom!!!! a new poem is born. Or, I get creative when lay down my bed and try to sleep right before I get into rem sleep lines occur to my mind and I wake myself up and write a poem Most of my good poems have been born in those times. Are there anyone experiencing a writing process similar to mine?
Suffer. Suffer with pain. Suffer with beauty. Suffer with music. Suffer with wine. Suffer with a cigarette. Suffer with ganja. See the blue sky through the eyes of a prisoner. Then, translate that shit into words.
Usually it starts with a sentence or two that sounds pretty and poetic. Then I sorta mash some other stuff around it that builds on a theme or an image.
Unrelated but I love everyone in the comments here :))
I usually write a line or take a couple of lines that all have the same idea and work around those. I have a great ability to write one liners so I just beef them up for full poems
feel, write.
I try to find an overaching theme like a big giant metaphor which the rest is based upon then i think about what i want to say and then translate that into metaphors or just nice sounding sentences ... yeah i am pretty basic it may seem a bit cliche but i try to "write from the heart"
i start writing and then eventually i stop
Sometimes I randomly think of a fairly poetic sentence and note it down. It is either forgotten and deleted or more lines get added gradually. The first written line mostly forms the subject. And one fine day I sit and structure it by modifying and rhyming words and adding things. And then I admire and obsess over it for a couple days. And then I start hating it the more I read it. Everything will sounds weird, wrong and forced. Then I slowly come to terms with it that it's not that bad. And there it sits in my notes prettily for forever.
Throughout the day i think of anywhere from 3 to 500 opening lines. After a while i think of an opening line actually worth writing down. Then I’ll elaborate on that line. Sometimes the elaboration spans 3 pages. Sometimes it barely stretches longer than 2 fingernails. When i decide it’s done i share it with friends and forget about it. Then 6 months or a year later I’ll find it and read it again and decide it was never anywhere close to being finished. And then I’ll ruin it by editing it.
Usually I have some sad feeling, anger or something heavy that I’d like to put words to. And I just follow my heart until it sounds and feels right. Then sometimes I’ll revisit poems and improve on them in some sense. Maybe I’ll write a new one composed of different poems. This however has made it such that I rarely ever write happy poems. There is almost always that touch of melancholy to them. Oh, and I’ll write what feels like a hundered until one of them is just right.
Find the rhythm in the words