Poetry

What Makes a Poem... a Poem? - TED Ed video by Melissa Kovacs (5 minutes)

List of 168 Poetic Forms for Poets by Robert Lee Brewer of Writers Digest

Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms edited by Ron Padgett

Some Thoughts on the Integrity of the Single Line in Poetry by Antonio Rios

A Primer on the Poetic Line by David Wright in his blog Poetry, Poetics and the Arts

A Broken Thing: Poets on the Line edited by Emily Rosko and Anton Vander Zee

The Art of the Poetic Line  by James Logenbach

Authors Publish lecture by Michael Kleber-Diggs

Kleber-Diggs provides practical tips for bringing sound forward in all literary genres as he explores some of the ways sonic devices can add interest and energy to all creative writing. This talk will gives you tools and strategies for amplifying the impact of your writing, no matter the genre.

Watch video on YouTube or Authors Publish (1 hour)

Glossary of Poetic Terms:

• Ghazal - Poets.org

• Ghazal - Poetry Foundation

Writing Exercise: Ghazal

How to Write a Ghazal

Ghazal Poetry - How to Write a Ghazal, Playlist and Examples

Example ghazals:

• "Hip-Hop Ghazal" by Patricia Smith

• "Ghazal of the Better-Unbegun" by Heather McHugh

• "In Grief" by Shannan Mann

• "Giving-Up Ghazal with Eyes" by Chloe Martinez

• "Sheffield Ghazal 4: Driving West" by Galway Kinnell

• Writing a Sestina - one-page template

• Sestina - definition and examples from Poetry Foundation 

• Sestina - definition and examples from Poets.org

• Example sestinas:

  • Sestina by Elizabeth Bishop

  • Beautiful Poetry by Camille Guthrie 

  • The Mortician in San Francisco by Randall Mann

  • The Jain Bird Hospital in Delhi by William Meredith

  • Sestina for Lost Love by Roselibe Mgbodichinma Anya Okorie

  • A sestina for a black girl who does not know how to braid hair by Raych Jackson

  • More sestinas

Traditional haiku:

• 3 lines, 5-7-5 syllables

• A season word or kigo that is associated with a particular season 

• A flash of illumination; twist or pivot in the haiku that causes a leap of the mind for the reader

• Uses the juxtaposition of two concrete images, often a universal condition of nature and a particular aspect of human experience, in a way that prompts the reader to make an insightful connection between the two

• Often have kireji ("cutting words” or “pause words.”) - "words or phrases are strategically placed at the end of specific lines to create a pause, shift, or contrast in the poem." 

  • "Kireji serves as a form of punctuation (often written as an em dash), signaling a brief moment of reflection or meditation for the reader. It adds depth and complexity to the poem’s structure, enhancing its emotional impact and inviting the reader to contemplate the deeper meaning behind the verses." from Poetry Is Pretentious

Literary magazines that publish haiku and other Japanese poetry forms:

• Modern Haiku

• failed haiku

Haiga: a haiku poem that is combined with an image

Example haiga:

• https://www.modernhaiku.org/issue53-1/haiga.html 

Senryu: a haiku poem that focuses more on human nature / human foibles and also involves humor or satire

• senryu may not include a kigo (season word) or kireji (cutting word) 

Renga: "a long, image-filled poem written in alternating stanzas of three lines and two lines"

• a good renga combines haiku's images and sensitivity to the natural seasons with the humor of senryu

• each stanza "links" to the one before it, but not to the one before that... allows poets to show off their skills at making images and seeing connections between seemingly unconnected things"

• the starting verse includes an image that suggests the season and place where the renga is being written

• for more details on writing renga, see The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms edited by Ron Padgett, pg 148-151

Example renga: 

• "After the Gentle Poet Kobayashi Issa" by Robert Hass

Tanka: a five-line poem, tanka are "mood pieces, usually about love, the shortness of life, the seasons, or sadness. Tanka use strong images and may employ the poetic devices, such as metaphor and personification, that haiku avoid."

• "five lines, the first and third short and the second, fourth, and fifth a bit longer

• rhythm/syllables of lines loosely counted as 5-7-5-7-7 or even sorter

notes from The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms edited by Ron Padgett

Haibun is a Japanese form that pairs prose and haiku. The most famous collection of haibun is The Narrow Road to the Deep North by haiku master Basho. 

“Why I Write Haibun, or The Holy Trinity of Haibun” by Roberta Beary

“Writing Haibun” by Roberta Beary - YouTube video (43 mins)

“Haibun Not Defined” by Mike Rehling from the literary magazine failed haiku 

"More than the Birds, Bees, and Trees: A Closer Look at Writing Haibun" from Poets.org

Example haibun:

• "February" by a student of brittny ray crowell

• "Is She Using Again" by Denise Fontaine-Pincince

• "Irene" by by Francine Banwarth

• "Chemistry" by Adelaide B. Shaw

• "On Moving" by Jane Huffman

Zuihitsu (随筆) is a genre of Japanese literature consisting of loosely connected personal essays/stanzas and fragmented ideas that typically respond to the author's surroundings. The name is derived from two Kanji meaning "at will" and "pen." (from Wikipedia)

• Japanese for "running brush" or "following the impulses of the brush"

• The title as the organizing principle

• Not the same as stream of consciousness; zuihitsu suggest spontaneity, but it is curated randomness

• Employs images, motifs and variations in syntax and length

• Resist chronology; ordering is based on an unconscious or emotional connection/association

• Intimate voice -- "texting-your-bff voice" -- zuihitsu "gives us room to try out voices that are maybe outright emotional or sentimental, the voices we often hold back in poetry or essays" -- Eugenia Leigh

• "The fragmentation of the zuihitsu welcomes randomness, collage, a piecing (and piercing) of memory and imagination that adds up to a feeling akin to liberation. The liberation of imagination is the body's response to dominance and containment. To build, speak, and write a way through each darkness." --Tina Chang, "Hybrida: a Zuihitsu" 

• Creates a portrait, rather than a narrative

• Can include lots of different types of texts, including:

  • Lists

  • Diary entries 

  • Fragments, single words 

  • Sentences, paragraphs 

  • Emails (texts, DMs) 

  • Anecdotes

  • Conversations, dialogue 

  • Opinions

  • Excerpts of poems 

  • Quotations, lyrics

Authors Publish Lecture: The Art of Zuihitsu with Eugenia Leigh

• Lecture Slides - includes several great quotes on zuihitsu

More Information on Zuihitsu:

• The Zuihitsu and the Toadstool by Kimiko Hahn in The American Poetry Review

• Interview with Kimiko Hahn about zuihitsu

• Mother Language: A Q&A with Tina Chang in Poets & Writers

• Notes on Zuihitsu from the Asian American Writers' Workshop

• Zuihitsu info & writing prompt from Poets Online blog

• Follow the Brush: Making Zuihitsu Poetry from The Poetry School

• Zuihitsu from Poets & Writers

• Zuihitsu: The Literary Genre in Which Text Can Drift Like a Cloud

Example zuihitsu:

• "Zuihitsu" by Jenny Xie

• "Hybrida: A Zuihitsu" by Tina Chang

• Three Zuihitsu by Kimiko Hahn

• The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon 

• The Narrow Road to the Interior by Kimiko Hahn

• Bianca by Eugenia Leigh (title poem is a zuihitsu)

• Zuihitsu: Twenty-one Writers Interpret the Genre from Asian American Writers' Workshop

• "Lockdown Zuihitsu" by Ume Ali (4 minute video)

• The Columbia Anthology of Japanese Essays: Zuihitsu from the Tenth to the Twenty-First Century by Steven D. Carter 

• Hojoki by Kamo no Chōmei

• Essays in Idleness by Kenkō translated by Donald Keene

From Found Poems on Poets.org:

Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.

Blackout or erasure poetry is also a form of found poem or docupoetry.

Examples of found poetry:

• Against Heaven by Kemi Alabi

Blackout poetry is also a type of found poetry:

• Blackout Poetry Maker

Ekphrasis: a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art; writing inspired by a work of art 

"An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. A notable example is “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion." 

--Ekphrasis, Poetry Foundation

Ekphrastic writing might include:

• Describing details in a work of art

• Capturing a feeling, emotion and/or idea in a work of art

• Exploring ideas and experiences related to / inspired by a work of art

• Imagining backstories to the artwork

• Responding to questions about what you notice in the artwork

More about ekphrasis: 

• Ekphrasis: Poetry Confronting Art on Poets.org

• What Is Ekphrastic Poetry? How Poets Engage With Art on ThoughtCo - includes approaches to ekphrastic poetry, examples, analysis, and an ekphrastic poetry exercise

• The Ekphrastic Review - an online literary magazine of ekphrastic poetry

• Ekphrastic Bookself - incomplete listing of books featuring ekphrastic writing

• The Ekphrastic Writer: Creating Art-Influenced Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction by Janée J. Baugher

  • ideas for ekphrastic writing might include any combination of :

    • addressing the artwork in its entirety

    • treating only a detail of the artwork

    • narrating the artwork

    • personifying the artwork

    • interpreting the artwork

    • objecting to the artwork

    • addressing the artist

    • giving voice to the artist

    • describing the artist's process

    • supposing the goings-on inside the studio

    • imagining the life of the model 

    • giving voice to the model (like a persona poem)

    • remarking on the artwork's static construct (art as artifact)

    • remarking on the individual moment of viewing

    • exploring notional ekphrasis (imagining a nonexistent piece of artwork and writing about it)

    • writing the absent

    • responding to the artwork's essence or mystique

    • adopting the artist's artistic style

    • describing the form or shape of the artwork

    • describing sound elements of the artwork

Some ekphrastic poems:

• "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats

• "Musee des Beaux Arts" by W.H. Auden

• "The Starry Night" by Anne Sexton

• "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" by William Carlos Williams

• "Nike of Samothrace" by Mark Irwin

• "Chardin’s Pitcher, Two Eggs, a Casserole, Three Herrings, a Copper Pot, a Slice of Fish, and a Jug" by Shelley Benaroya

• "Diego On My Mind" by Pascale Petit

• "Looking at Photos" by Jesús Cos Causse

• "What Breath Gives Back #8" by Patricia Smith

• "Brueghel’s Two Monkeys" and "Rubens’ Women" by Wislawa Szymborska

• "Blue Book" and "Vignette" from Belloqc's Ophelia by Natasha Trethewey

• More ekphrastic poems on Poetry Foundation

• More ekphrastic poems on Poets.org

• Still Life With Two Dead Peacocks and a Girl by Diane Seuss, inspired by Rembrandt's painting of the same name

• Unshuttered by Patricia Smith, inspired by 19th century photos of African Americans

Ekphrastic Writing Prompts

Freewrite for at least 10 minutes, exploring thoughts and ideas inspired by a photograph or other work of art. Select a one of your personal photos, or choose a photo or work of art from the following collections: 

• Works of Art

• Google Arts & Culture

• Powerful Photos

• National Geographic Photos 

• a music album cover

• a picture from your instagram

• a picture from your phone

• Frida Kahlo paintings or artwork from another artist whose work you admire

Draft an ekphrastic poem or paragraph that is inspired by a work of art or photo. 

Ekphrastic Poetry Exercise based on Frida Kahlo painting & poem "Diego On My Mind" by Pascale Petit

List of websites with great artwork for ekphrastic writing:

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• Houston Museum of Fine Arts

• Los Angeles County Museum of Art

• Smithsonian Art & Design Website

• Smithsonian American Art Museum

• The Louvre

• Art Institute of Chicago

• Guggenheim

• Museum of Modern Art

• Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

• Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago

Ekphrastic Challenge - Art Inspiring Poetry

Each month, Rattle sponsors the Ekphrastic Challenge which features "a new piece of art to inspire your poetry. You’ll have one month to write and submit your poems. Each month, two winners—one chosen by the artist and the other by Rattle’s editor—will receive online publication and $100 each."

Museum Field Trip: Ekphrastic Writing & Discussions Inspired by Art

FRONTEXTO project by Octavio Quintanilla

• FRONTEXTOS: Text/Image/Resistance — Mixed Media by Octavio Quintanilla from The Museum of Americana

• 'Frontera and Texto': An Interview with Writer Octavio Quintanilla from Luna Luna Magazine

• Octavio Qunitanilla's artwork on Instagram

• Published work online by Octavio Quintanilla

Film & Poetry

REEL Poetry annual film festival hosted by Public Poetry

The Creative Writing Prompts page includes poetry writing prompts, workshop lessons, and writing exercises.

In this Authors Publish lecture, Meghan Sterling explains several ideas and tips for writing fresh imagery in poetry.

In this Authors Publish lecture, Ellen Bass discusses how to engage emotions with your writing without being sentimental. She discusses several readings including the poems "Wedding Cake" by Naomi Shihab Nye and "In a Time of Peace" by Ilya Kaminsky.

In this Authors Publish lecture, Darren C. Demaree discusses the many possibilities to a poem -- including music, energy, title choices, politics, entry points, and more. In addition, he'll also share how to use the parts of poetry to sustain a generative writing practice. 

Video

Slides

Fourteen Choices of Poetry:

1. Music

2. Energy

3. Titles

4. Form/No Form

5. Language/Vernacular

6. Emotional

7. Personal/Impersonal

8. Vantage Point

9. Truth, Lies, and Everything

10. Landscape

11. This Modern World

12. The Bright & Shiny: Pop Culture in Poetry

13. Bells & Whistles

Darren is the editor-in-chief of the Best of the Net Anthology, the editor of Ovenbird poetry, and a widely published and award winning poet.

"Where Poems Hide: Finding Reflective, Critical Spaces Inside Writing Workshop" by Amy Seely Flint and Tasha Tropp Laman

Poetry and critical literacy creates curricular openings for teachers as they support students in writing about the issues that matter to them. Based on "Georgia Heard's strategy of poetry doors--heart, observation, concerns about the world, wonder, and worry," poetry provides an "unobstructed view of [students'] concerns, thereby opening doors for critical classroom conversations and potential future inquiries."

By incorporating poetry workshop with the study of texts that explore socially significant issues, teachers can facilitate critical reflection, which Paulo Freire states is a form of social action. "Poets and poetry have been integral to social movements... we see poetry as a form of social action--a speaking out." 

Poetry "embraces not only the personal, but also positions students to be advocates for themselves and the world in which they live."

Writer's Workshop approach:

• encourage students to choose their own topics

• teach mini-lessons

• incorporate text sets, including mentor texts and texts that explore "socially significant issues in communities and the world"

• confer with students

• publish student work

Benefits: 

• students are more engaged in writing

• allows students to "be themselves and embrace their own experiences"... poetry invites the personal in ways that narrative and analytical writing cannot; through poetry, students reveal more about their feelings, fears, and lived experiences

• teachers "knew their students better than ever before"

• "poetry offers a powerful medium for students to reflect on language, culture, experiences, and memories... because of its unique qualities: brevity, rhythm, focused content, strong emotional connection, and powerful imagery"

• over time, students "build the habits of mind of writers and develop a strategic vision for the writing they will do"

• poetry "embraces not only the personal, but also positions students to be advocates for themselves and the world in which they live."

Tips:

• Provide opportunities for students to read and write multilingual texts; "linguistic diversity offers an avenue for taking on and conveying multiple perspectives." Multilingual writing can also bring authenticity to a poem.

“Two Modes of Disclosure: A Meditation on the Craft of Poetry” by H.L. Hix

"Poetry, Love, and Mercy" by Carl Phillips

Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder

Authors Publish lecture by Kwame Dawes discusses the dangers and responsibilities of voice, self, and narration in poetry. What happens when the poet distances themselves from the narration or speaker in the poem? For example, when the "I" is removed from the poem? Where is the poet in the poem? How does the poet take responsibility for what is said in the poem?

Watch the Lecture  (1 hour)

See also: Literary Citizenship lecture by Kwame Dawes (30 minutes)