Bearing poetry

[avram]

It’s odd. I’ve written poems before (not terribly good ones), but I don’t have a firm grasp on how to do it. Usually raw inspiration takes me far enough that all my conscious mind has to do is fill in the blanks. But then, I usually write parodies, where I’ve got a scaffolding to work with.

The idea that popped into my head on the way back from grocery-buying isn’t a parody. It’s a realization of a connection between a couple of widely-separated events in the life of a biblical character, and a touch of sympathy with how that character must have felt. I’ve got a few images, and a rough idea of how to use them as repeating lines, and I’ve done enough research to know that neither the villanelle (my repeating lines don’t rhyme) nor the triolet (much too short and constrained) is the right form for it. I may not go with a formal form.

And it’s a bitter thing. It’s probably not doing me good to dwell on it.

So, any of the habitual poets out there have any advice?

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i always return to l. turco's "a new book of forms" for forms galore. but it doesn't matter that much if you have a strong idea for a form anyway; you can always make up a new one. for poems with non-rhyming repetons i would suggest a pantoum; you'll need to rhyme *with* your repetons (and you'll have more repetons) but if you have two to start with they needn't rhyme with one another.

after that, i'd suggest going for euphony. write a poem that sounds good. worry about that as you write, and imho you'll end up with better results than if you aim for emotional accuracy or anything else :)