Writing Poetry Challenge: Tip 16 ~ Time to Write to Music Like You Never Have Until Now

Before I sat to write this tip – one I firmly believe in – I did a brief perusal of other people’s ideas on the subject. I was pleased to discover the majority of the people I agreed with me regarding the best genre or type of music to listen to while you are writing poetry. 

Even if you read this tip and think it is nuts or you could never do that, I want you to think of two things: there was a time before I became a professional writer that I thought this was hooey also. Secondly, if you don’t give it a go, how will you know?

Tip #16 – Make your poetic musical accompaniment be of the non-lyric variety. No, I am not suggestion muzak, I am suggesting classical music from composers such as Mozart, Chopin,  Brahms, Haydn and many others as well as Celtic Music, Jazz instrumentals, Nature Sounds, music by Igor Stravinsky (if you haven’t heard of him, start listening now… he is so inspiring) etc etc etc.

If you MUST listen to music with lyrics, choose lyrics outside your language. One of my favorite places to find any writing musical accompaniment is RadioSwissClassic. If they have vocals, it is in Italian or German or French. The DJ’s speak… yes, in Italian or German or French.

Remember the Mozart Effect? Well, later researchers have found evidence it isn’t very effective in the long run, but the arousal experienced while listening to a Mozart Sonata increases while listening and up until 15 minutes afterwards.

How can it hurt your poetry to try it?

If you end up trying it (and do so for a significant amount of time) and hate it, then switch it up and listen to music thematically.

Writing love poetry, listen to love songs.

Writing confessional poetry, listen to ballads.

You get the idea.  Now pop on over to these resources to listen to some exceptional music. Then try writing to it. If these classical types aren't for you, Google "Jazz Instrumentals" or "Celtic Instrumentals." You may even surprise yourself with what you come up with while listening to violins and drums. Sometimes it is World Music that does it for me. Experiment, play, write better poetry than you knew you could!

List (and YouTube videos) of the Top 15 Greatest Composersof All Time.

Radio Swiss Classic: Note at the top of the page you may choose what language you want to hear announcements so you can be sure you get a language that isn't your own.

Video of Song (and incredible ballet) of Igor Stravinsky's Rites of Spring.  

Minimize the You Tube videoand listen…. Or watch the images for inspiration and then write and then listen again, without watching video and write…

Now... let's write some darn good poetry!

Have you signed up for OctPoWriMo officially yet? Head over to the Link Up if you haven't yet and join the poets who have decided to commit to writing 31 Poems in 31 Days. Click Here to go the Link Up!

Poetry Writing Challenge Tip 15: Writing the Mundane?

This is not only a great writing warm-up, it is a fantastic way to practice writing objectively in clear, concise language. When you read a poet like Mary Oliver, you will find NONE of her words are wasted. She simply consistently chooses the best words and has confessed sometimes she will write fifty drafts of a poem until she is satisfied.

Tip 15: Write about the most mundane “thing” you can.

In my writing classes, we do this exercise early.

First, set a timer for two minutes.

Second, choose something random that is right around your desk.

Look at it as if you have never seen it before. Pick it up, look at it from all sides, feel it with your cheek or the inside of your arm instead of just your hands. Smell it, close your eyes and feel it without seeing it.

Begin the timer and begin to describe your object.

Do it now! I'll give you space to write. It will only take two minutes! Write continually until the timer goes off. If you have "nothing left to say, look at your object again. Its shape, its size, its color, its texture, what function it is made to serve. Be creative.

One time I had a student say, “I never noticed so many things about my trash can before!” or another favorite is an ordinary bottle of water.

When you observe closely as if what you are seeing is the first time you are seeing it, your poetry will come alive. Keep these “warm-ups” as ideas and lines for your next poem. Sometimes the most effective poem may be about something completely ordinary.

One of my favorite poetry sets is about…. Coffee. Which I drink as I write, every time.

What did you write about today?

Writing Poetry Challenge Tip 13 - Poets and Passion

As I prepare for a month of poetry I am searching for inspiration, ideas, anything to add to or expand my passions. I stumbled upon this woman, Sarah Kay, in search of more videos of poets speaking their words. She reaches into the depths to touch places within herself, exposed and beautiful, that reflect in our own eyes. May she stir your passion for poetry as she has mine.

Tip 13: Pull out a poem that you have written and experiment reading it out loud. Vary the tone, the emphasis. Does it reach deep places within you? Pour your passion into your poetry and dare to write your truth onto the page. 

We are less than two weeks away from the beginning of this challenge. I hope you are seeing the many possibilities your poetry can flow onto the page. If you haven't signed up yet and would like to join us in this wondrous opportunity to explore the world of poetry, please do.

A place to discover poems of Love, Life, Truth, Passion. 
Discover how to read your poetry out loud. Poetry 180. 

Writing Poetry Challenge Tip 12 - Stirring Your Passion

I watched the video Graffiti Verite 6: The Odyssey: Poets, Passion, and  Poetry on Netflix (no longer on Netflix) and was transfixed to the screen. 31 poets speaking their truth of their passion, their poetry. My stomach tightened as I felt a familiarity with these poets that was out of time. My blood pulsed in my veins as I listened and felt their heat. My creative juices began to move and flow.

Wanda Coleman chants her poetry with such vigor that I feel it in my heart. FrancEye speaks into why she writes her poetry to discover who she is. Who am I? Do you know who you are?

Shahe Mankerian shares his passion with his students. He believes a red pen to poetry is like the page bleeding to which no band-aid can fix. No more red pens to poetry.

Tip 12: Take time to watch this fascinating documentary that is like no other and then make notes of what comes up for you; what begs to come through you in your own poetry.

Grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine, sit back and see what world this video opens for you. 

Have you signed up to participate in this Poetry Challenge? The time is drawing near, sign up and join us in this wonderful adventure into words.

Read other poetry with Passion in Poems  

Poetry Writing Challenge: OctPoWriMo Tip #11 - The Joy of Changing Perspective

Here’s another way to find new ways to play with your poetry and make it even more intriguing and fun than it is now.

Tip #11 – Change Perspective in Your Poem to Spark New Ideas Some poets write only in the first person because "this is how I always write." The same is true of poets who write in third person or write as an omniscient voice, seeing and knowing all and then narrating for the reader. OctPoWriMo provides an opportunity for us to grow as poets. 

Another way to switch it up is to change past tense to present tense and vice versa.

Check out how I switched it up with my poem below. It was originally written as a “Dead Woman” poem, following the form popularized by Marvin Bell in his Dead Man Poetry.  

Wherever  you see “She” in this poem, it used to say “The Dead Woman.”

Incomplete  Editing Left Undone

She sits at the keyboard, wondering what the next thing to accomplish will be.

Should it be the poem that brings silent awe at the final word?

Should it be the haiku or the cinquain or should it be the script?

She looks at the candle, flickering, meant to provide ambient aroma and light.

She attempts to not be annoyed by self made clichés.

She would swear her fingers were pushing the keys.

She knows this is not possible when the body has no weight.

She edits her fifth line, deletes a word that doesn’t work.

She thinks it is herself who doesn’t work anymore.

She attempts to tune out the BBC, humming relentlessly behind her.

The man who haunts her life still sits, remote control in hand,

he laughs with that annoying hack hack hack

she has despised for the last twenty-two years.

She was never successful at completely tuning out her annoyances.

She steps through the blue wall that marries the river rock to the outside world.

She leaves the poem and her candle behind which the haunting man doesn’t notice.

How would this be different if the main character was “The Dead Woman” rather than “She”? I realized in the rewriting it is more haunting and creepy this way. There are hints the main voice is not alive, not still human, but when she walks through the wall… to me that is where everything shifts.

Ironic, without The Dead Woman how a living, haunted man changes for me, too.

The other way I play with changing perspective is to change first person, confessional style poems into the third person. I find when I change them to “not about me” suddenly a different energy takes over and usually makes the poem more true, more rich, more meaningful.

The poet in me knows I can change names, change genders, change whatever I want to in order to make my creativity flow… just like you can.

Let me know how your new poems turn out, and what those new poems spark for other new poems.

Be sure to register for OctPoWriMo if you haven't yet. Here's a link for you to sign up now.

Information about Marvin Bell, inventor of The Dead Man Poetry Form

Interesting article about Point of View in Prose: Check it out and borrow ideas.