Let’s cut. I edited a prose poem from 237 words to 99. It was much better for it. I didn’t think I could do it, but it got easier and easier to lose things that weren’t working. So take a piece of flabby, unsuccessful writing and see what you can lose from it, trim it to see the real beauty under the fleshy flesh.
Syllabic verse: count syllables. It can help shape the poem. I had a poem yesterday that was doing nothing, so I thought maybe syllabics would help. I counted the first line: 12 syllables. I counted the second: also twelve. The first four lines were all twelve. This was educational. It’s a better poem now. Like rhyme, syllabics force you to reconsider your word choices. Try it with a floundering poem, not that you have any of those.
Eye of newt: Write a spell to make something happen or to change something. Be sure to use lots of relevant details to help the casting.
Pretend that when you were born, you came with an instruction manual for your parents. What would it say?
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One of Chancellor’s prize winning poems from the fall contest issue of Peninsula Poets by Nancy Cook of St. Paul, Minnesota.
A prize winning poem in the category “Evening” from the fall issue of Peninsula Poets, the annual contest issue from The Poetry Society of Michigan.
One of the winning poems in the “nature” category from the fall issue of Peninsula Poets.
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From the fall issue of Peninsula Poets, one of the prize winning poems in the “Family” category of The Poetry Society of Michigan’s annual poetry contest.
This year’s runner up for the Founder’s Prize in the Poetry Society of Michigan’s annual contest was Marion Frahm Tincknell who paints us a vivid picture of something lost.
