Having only written a handful of poems in my life, I wouldn't call myself an expert in the language of poetry. However, I was fortunate enough to have read Wesley McNair’s “Advice for Beginning Poets” from his book, Mapping the Heart: Reflections on Place and Poetry. After weeding through the essay, I found that there was a cornucopia of different recommendations that I could apply to my own pieces of work. Here are the four most helpful points that I personally found to be beneficial to my writing:
“Write out of love”
This was the first thing McNair states in his essay, and I believe it’s because of how fundamental love is to poetry. If poetry is written without love, there is no connection to the words. It would just be a juxtaposition of lines and spaces on a page with no semblance to how the reader can interpret the work.
“Don’t start writing a poem too early”
When I start writing poetry, I automatically want to jot down the the first few words that pop into my head. It becomes almost like word vomit instead of a scenic landscape of memory that I was going for. To even just take fifteen minutes and do a free association exercise would benefit me a lot more than just writing the first few lines that come to mind.
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| This girl could benefit from planning her sentences ahead. |
“A poem must mean at least two things at once.”
Often times, when I write my poetry, I just have one topic in mind and just focus all my creative energy on expressing my perception without taking into consideration the other perspectives I could be taking into account. If I paid attention to potential meaning in my poem, the final product would be more thought provoking and endearing instead of uninteresting.
“Write your poem”
This one may sound like a no brainer, but what McNair is getting at here is that you can’t simply just think about writing a poem, you have to write it almost immediately. This is a problem I deal with on a regular basis. I procrastinate and then my creative ambition is forgotten. The feeling you felt when walking through a meadow on a chilly autumn morning can be altered if it isn't memorized on a sheet of paper afterwards.
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| This artist was able to capture the feeling of a chilly autumn morning effectively. |
While my poetry still has a way to go, “Advice for Beginning Poets” certainly gives me the tools I need to be successful with my poetry for the future. (Pictures were brought to you by Carli Morgan of thekathleenshow.com and litka.devaintart.com)
