How Does a Poem Begin

Great post, JC.

I have no control over the conception and birth of a poem. Inspiration comes from out of nowhere and seems to hit at the most inopportune times. During a romantic meal. In an elevator. While urinating. (Those three aren’t generally happening simultaneously, please note.)

Like you, lines seem to prompt me. For my poem “Newsworthy,” it was “I write poetry/from small town Arkansas.” I knew that was my jumping off point. For the original “Fag/Hag”, it was “I had no will/and she had no grace.” First lines come at me like sniper fire, unexpectedly. I’ll be walking down the street and one will come at me from the top of a neighboring building. I try and duck, roll out of the way, but I’m usually hit in the head, the heart, or the guts and I have to write. I bleed words all over the pavement.

I can’t take credit for my poems. Just looking, listening, dreaming. Gifts, really. Unfortunately, often these gifts arrive when I’m sleeping/trying to sleep. But what’s a little narcolepsy when it comes to Art? Oh, and the geeky part of this is that I end up jotting things down in little notebooks. Obsessively. And muttering while I walk, like a crazy person . . .

thanks for raising this point.as far as I’m concerned, to start a poem is not the issue , it ‘s how to close it.I sometimes run short of poetic fuel to put an end to a poem.as for the start , it’s often the first inspired line that triggers off the rest.I also adopt the techniques of prompts and I collect all the material and starts writing.sometimes , a poem takes a whole week to see the light, and at times , 30 minutes are enought to give birth to a poem.

My experience is more like Bryan’s. I find it hard to say, “Today I’m going to write a poem about rain.” First lines just happen and ideas sort of play like movies in my head. My cranial critic throws the bad stuff out (hopefully). Sometimes I can write five poems in a day and mostly pretty good stuff, and sometimes I can’t write a poem a week and if I do, it’s horrible. Is it brain chemicals or is there really a muse?

Nice post, Jessie.

Pearl

Hmm…what could I do with wound Rose, what could I do…

There is a room, on the other side of this reality, and in that room there are drawers and drawers full of poems, stories, musical compositions, sculptures, paintings etc and when you sneak past the guard at the door (who happens to be a ghost with dead cred), you will have access for life.
At that point you can say, gee, I’d like to write about that ugly kid in third grade and then WHAM! a drawer opens and out pops a lovely verse about this kid’s buck teeth and scabby knees from climbing trees and getting impetigo. Your memories are harmonized with the words, sounds and emotional pictures are drawn until you have a poem or story. Of course, the dark side of this moon is that it renders the entire creative exercise meaningless. It’s much better to sweat for it I think, it gives it value.

Ironic. Just blogging about something similar. Good topic. I am truly an inspirational writer buffeted about by my many moods. I am also an insecure writer, so fall prey to that inner voice that whispers, ‘you can’t do this.’ Then I hear the call, the muse, the tug of the moon to write. I am a doodler – collect snippets in a moleskine journal I carry with me. At times they magically piece themselves together at others they are simply lines with vanishing points. I am starting to journal again – 1 page a night. I used to get many an inspiration by writing just for the emotional release. It helps to know those words won’t be judged. I am also trying to read/review others more. Like you mentioned, I often find inspiration there as well. I have poems that I have been editing for years – as if I need to live and hurt a bit more, before they can resonate with truth. There are some I have edited only to find I have the original verse memorized and maybe I need to rewrite back to those first lines.

Ideas for poems just pop into my head when I’m not actually thinking about writing. I can’t take credit for them, they just appear; usually a single line. That’s it.

I write it down in a notepad, especially if we’re working or else I forget it. If I forget my notepad then I just let the words go, or else I end up kicking myself all day.

If I sit down and try to write a poem without that initial gift, I just don’t get anywhere. The spark has to be there.

The weird thing is, when I’m writing prose I can do that just by sitting there and waiting. With poetry it always starts with the gift, no other way, no matter how long I wait lol.

Weird eh?

No, I totally get that. I have managed to make myself write a few poems that turned out well but I think there is something about poetry that is truly only a subconscious level whereas prose is more in the front of your mind, more of the everyday that you can access.

(i say this as i say no i’m not writing a poem today, or a story but i do have another essay idea if i can figure out how to start it)

Granny and I are loving that you are loving her sweet Jessie. HUGS Psst! Granny knows all about that room with the stories and poems, and she bribed that guard for me with some damn fine cookies.

Hi Jessie
I don’t always need inspiration for a poem but it does help.
Poems very often come to me when I am in a very quiet place and I just start writing.
Voila a poem is created
Been writing since I was 10 years old and love it

Good post
Thank you!

Margie

Thanks for the mention.

A lot of my poems begin with a false start. I write a verse or two and then realize that the poem really started a few lines in from where I thought it did. The knife writes just as well as the pen.

Go for the one you want to do. If I force myself, I just give up lol

Nothing’s worse than forcing yourself to do something you aren’t really enjoying.

Gosh I just got home from open mic and to all these great comments! I think we all are hit from different directions. I needed a few lines for a poem that came to me first in a title- a rather silly way of doing things, but then I know if I keep up a momentum eventually it will arrange itself for me to look at the lines, and then slice and dice as paulandrewrussell said.

Kind of like my title which could totally go in so many directions for me-

‘Don’t Bury Me In Texas’

Humor from my father and husband who I know- feel strongly about the title, so its funny to me, and I can make it funny, or sad…

But then I identify with stray bullet words/lines coming from me off the grassy knoll…

Great post!

For poetry, I can only write when I’m inspired, and that’s the kicker. Inspiration can strike at any time. I just read Queer Lefty’s interview of Bryan, and there’s some great dialogue in there about this very subject. Bryan does a great job describing how it often seems to come at the most inopportune times: driving in traffic, washing off in the shower, or on the cusp of sinking into sleep. The best analogy ever, though, was Queer Lefty comparing poetic inspiration like getting an erection in public: it’s just there. What you chose to do about it (or with it) is up to you.

I also write short stories and other fiction; for this, however, I just have to be in the mood. The inspiration/though about the story which I’m writing has already occurred, it’s just a matter of me using creative energy to push it forward and propel it. Whereas poetry writing for me is driven by a flash or spark of inspiration, my other creative writing is akin to something that starts with a spark but then needs to be maintained with kindling and seasoned firewood. It takes time and patience, but for both you never know what’s going to become the tour de force behind your writing, or when it will strike.

Andy – you should see my “retired” documents!

I found my way to this blog through Poetry Hut–great post! Jessie, I think I recognize you from Read Write Poem.

I have established a writing routine for myself as a poet because those times when a poem just tumbles out whole from the heavens is so rare for me that if I wait for it, I would probably only write one poem a year, if that.

After that initial creative spark, or image, or line buzzes in my head, I find that most of what follows for me in the creation process is basically sheer manual labor–slow, painstaking work that does not actually feel all that creative. Then there’s another leap of inspiration, or a problem is suddenly solved as though by magic, or an elegant solution that jumps out from my fingers onto the page. I don’t know what to compare it to…maybe mining? Clink, clink, clink, and then bam! There’s a shining ruby.

I do have times where even when I show up to the page, nothing happens. That’s when I try to go do something physical, to get out of my head and into my body. Often times the best writing happens for me while my body is fully engaged in some activity. It seems to help open my mind up and remove mental blocks.

Hi just came across your site and have been browsing around some of your entries and just wondering why you selected a WordPress site dont you find it difficult to do anything with? Been thinking about starting one.