Writing poetry
Writing poetry
Day 28: write a metapoem, a poem about poetry.
What a gift! When I wrote the poem about drawing a portrait (on day 22) I was struck by how similar the process is to writing poetry, and wanted to come back to that idea once this challenge is over to explore it further. Turns out, the time is now! I've decided to use certain phrases from that poem as the basis of this one.
I sit in my usual chair by the window
Light and inspiration close,
My tools laid out around me
Large lined notepad, gel ink pen,
Thesaurus to aid my failing memory
Coffee ready for when I need to stop and think.
Open the book, pick up the pen,
Start with the easy part -
Write down what I want to express.
Then take the plunge,
Note down a word, a phrase
If I'm lucky an opening line,
See where it leads me.
One line follows another until
The hint of a shape emerges,
Ideas sticking and stalling the flow
On their way from brain to page.
Sit back, screw up my eyes
Focus on the whole, not the detail.
Look out the window, listen to my gut
Then write again.
Decide to risk some colour -
A metaphor, analogy, a sideways step
A non-poetic phrase to jar the mood -
To bring balance to the page.
When the first draft is finished
I sigh, and stretch, and flex my fingers,
Sit back and look again.
This line too long, that rhyme too strained
This verse off course, a motif needs more prominence.
Everything is fixable, to a point.
It's hard to know when to stop,
When revisions will obscure
Rather than reveal.
I always stop too soon.
I post my fledgling poems online
Hoping that the care I've taken
To capture a thought, and share it
Will reach out, will prompt a recognition -
"Yes! That's just how I feel!"
© Copyright 2019. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
Day 28: write a metapoem, a poem about poetry.
What a gift! When I wrote the poem about drawing a portrait (on day 22) I was struck by how similar the process is to writing poetry, and wanted to come back to that idea once this challenge is over to explore it further. Turns out, the time is now! I've decided to use certain phrases from that poem as the basis of this one.
I sit in my usual chair by the window
Light and inspiration close,
My tools laid out around me
Large lined notepad, gel ink pen,
Thesaurus to aid my failing memory
Coffee ready for when I need to stop and think.
Open the book, pick up the pen,
Start with the easy part -
Write down what I want to express.
Then take the plunge,
Note down a word, a phrase
If I'm lucky an opening line,
See where it leads me.
One line follows another until
The hint of a shape emerges,
Ideas sticking and stalling the flow
On their way from brain to page.
Sit back, screw up my eyes
Focus on the whole, not the detail.
Look out the window, listen to my gut
Then write again.
Decide to risk some colour -
A metaphor, analogy, a sideways step
A non-poetic phrase to jar the mood -
To bring balance to the page.
When the first draft is finished
I sigh, and stretch, and flex my fingers,
Sit back and look again.
This line too long, that rhyme too strained
This verse off course, a motif needs more prominence.
Everything is fixable, to a point.
It's hard to know when to stop,
When revisions will obscure
Rather than reveal.
I always stop too soon.
I post my fledgling poems online
Hoping that the care I've taken
To capture a thought, and share it
Will reach out, will prompt a recognition -
"Yes! That's just how I feel!"
© Copyright 2019. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved
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