Tuesday, March 31, 2015

NaPoWriMo Eve

I'll keep this post short, at least relative to my usual verbosity.  Tomorrow will be the first National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo) post, of thirty to come this month.  In the last week or so I've been playing with ideas, taking notes, and generally working to simultaneously open my senses to the world around me and turn myself inside out to reflect on what I see. 

This is hard work.  As the saying goes, the reason someone writes a two-page report is that he does not have time to write a one-page report.  A poem represents that one-page report, compacted and restructured 137 times.  Creating a good poem means making every word count, and placing it in exactly the right context, with the right tone and structure underlying it all.

Even more, my usual process involves playing with an idea in my mind for weeks before I start composing.  Once I start, I draft the poem and sculpt it until I feel I've done all I can with it.  Then, I leave it alone for a week or two, to intentionally separate myself from the poem before coming back as a reader.  Finally, I work through it from that perspective and either (a) fine-tune it, (b) overhaul it, or (c) scrap it entirely.

Obviously, this approach does not yield a poem a day.  In fact, the poems that went into Declaration took years to complete.  For the next month, that will be the point.  Achieving this will require taking chances and pushing poetry out in ways that fall far outside my comfort zone.  I like being comfortable, but I hope that this exercise leads to poetry more raw than my usual.

Finally, as the point of this blog remains working to improve writing, I will offer discussion of the poetry along the way: discussion of choices I make and why, with an eye toward beginning to demystify the process of writing, as well as poetry itself.  This requires some delicacy, as part of the joy of reading poetry lies in exploring a poem.  But I hope, by the end of the month, both to have grown as a poet and given some insight into what I'm thinking as I write it.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

New Project for National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month in the United States, so designated as of 1996 by the Academy of American Poets.  With that in mind, for the entire month I will be writing a poem each day and posting it here on the blog.  I've considered the concept for some time, but now it feels right.

One may well consider this an exercise in vanity from a man hitting his fortieth birthday next month, and I won't dismiss the notion out of hand.  Nonetheless, this blog exists with a primary purpose of exploring improvement in writing.  For several reasons, this task should drive this purpose home.

What Is a Writer?

I've seen various descriptions of what a writer is, and all hold water to one degree or another.  But the most important aspect that makes someone a writer is not an innate trait, but rather is behavioral: a writer is someone who writes.  Daily focused writing improves writing skills.  Ideas matter, and ways of thinking about the world matter.  Without writing them down, though, the greatest thinker can never be considered a writer.

Poetry in particular seems apt here.  Word choice and syntax remain crucial in every form of writing, but nowhere do they as completely define the work as they do in poetry.  Writing a poem every day, and writing one I might willingly publish online, will require close care and focus in ways cranking out blog posts might not.  Accordingly, this should help me become a better writer.

Building a Routine

I hope in the process of this exercise to better establish my own writing routine.  No one feels like writing every day, but repeating behaviors is crucial to turning them into regular activities.  Whether this involves daily writing, flossing, or checking of blood sugar levels, repetition begets routine.

Moreover, I hope to demonstrate to other writers the value of a writing routine.  I do not expect every offering to have the same value.  In fact, I suspect several poems along the way will fall short of what I would prefer them to be.  That said, some of my best poems have emerged from prior failures, and other good work has resulted from decisions to change course mid-poem, ending with something almost entirely different in theme or structure from my initial intent.

All of this qualifies as part of the writing process.  Just as Edison discovered over 1,000 ways not to make a light bulb, a poet might discover hundreds of thousands of ways not to write a poem.  I expect to demonstrate a few of those this April!

Growth from Experimentation

My poetry tends toward the deliberate side, both in the pacing of the writing and the pace at which I write.  I do not consider this a weakness, but staying in the same place as a writer can inhibit growth.  When I work with writers, I try to encourage them to push outside of their comfort zones, whether on style, subject, point of view, or any other area where they become entrenched.  This is an opportunity to do the same, both to improve myself and to show the technique in action for others.

The Plan

My plan is simple: 30 days, 30 poems.  I will comment as I go, building into these posts the context and the thought processes that go into the poetry.  Some days may involve ekphrasis, formal verse, or stream of consciousness work, and some discussion of what I am doing and why should add value for readers.

Ultimately, my goals here are to grow personally and to demonstrate ways to grow as a poet.  Perfect poetry, to the extent it exists at all, will not spring directly from this project.  The value here, as it does in any routine, comes from building and laying bare a process that gives beginnings to what I hope will eventually become strong work.