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Poetry

Writing Poetry: Use of Verbs

Verbs – a good poem needs action verbs, verbs accurately describe the action. Unless for effect stay away from passive verbs or passive verb construction. Passive verb construction tends to be wordy. Poems need to be terse by definition. There may be a point or a whole poem you want passive, but most poems call [...]

Writing Poetry: Concentration

Concentration – the word as many in English has more than one meaning – 1) the act of focusing all your mental ability – Many poets have experienced concentration as Alan Shapiro once said, “that experience when you sit down at your desk at 10 A.M. and when you look up it’s 6 P.M., when [...]

Writing Poetry: Nouns and Verbs

Making a poem better is often a matter of using stronger nouns and verbs. Nouns and verbs are the flesh and blood of a poem. Adjectives and adverbs are simply the make-up, used to cover up blemishes. Yes, I agree we cannot totally get rid of adjectives and adverbs, just watch how you use them, [...]

Writing Poetry: The Work of Making Poetry

Jim’s How to Write Poetry Posting Making Good Poems is hard work – Let’s look at the word ‘work.’ It doesn’t take much to throw a few words together and call it a poem, but it takes ‘work’ to make those words a good poem, a poem that ‘works.’ It takes work to make the [...]

Writing Poetry: Surprise

Surprise – a surprise in a poem may be just what the poem needs. Many readers expect a surprise at the end of a poem. I know many good poems that don’t have a surprise, but a surprise can work. A surprise accesses the child within, both of the poet and the reader. Show a [...]

Writing Poetry: Pacing

In poetry, pacing is the controlled variations in the poems forward momentum. All poems must have some sort of momentum to drag the reader/listener through the poem. Two things vary the speed of a poem. The first is the reader’s desire to see what happens next. By making the reader desire to see what happens [...]

Writing Poetry: “So What” Poems

I’ve read many poems lately that leave me with, so what? Meaning, why did I read this thing? I had no emotional connection, no desire to reread the poem, no connection at all to the poem. I’ll admit up front before everyone gets upset, I understand that not all poems are for every person. As [...]

Writing Poetry: Tension

In prose, tension is what won’t let us put down a book. In good poetry, it does the same thing. It makes us want to read the whole poem. Tension in prose and poetry is created in various ways: subject matter, plot, etc. There are many ways to increase tension unique to poetry. Today, I’ll [...]

Writing Poetry: Music

Music – In the last few years, many critics have mentioned that they think modern American poetry has no music. They may have a point. Many modern poets place too much emphasis on meaning and little or none on music. A poem needs to have many ingredients to become successful, perhaps the three most important [...]

Writing Poetry: Imaginary Readers

Imaginary reader – when you work on a poem always be aware that poetry is communications. A poem must say something to somebody. You are not writing for yourself. Okay, yes we all occasionally write a poem just for ourselves, but… Ted Kooser recommends that when you set down to write a poem you have [...]

Writing Poetry: Imagery

Editor – This post was previously titled Jim’s Poetry blog post. Today’s blog is on image – What is an image? “Poet’s Dictionary (William Packard) defines image as “A simple picture, a mental representation.” In addition to being seen, an image can also be felt, heard, smelled, tasted, touched or otherwise sensually represented or experienced. [...]

Writing Poetry: Inspiration

Today’s subject is ‘inspiration.’ Where do poets get their inspiration? Inspiration forces poets to write, to say something important, and poetry is their only way to say it. There’s a power to poetry not found in any other art form. Each poet has their own way to access that inspiration, read, travel, write down their [...]

Writing Poetry: Cacophony and Dissonance

Dissonance – Dissonant – harsh-toned, clashing, inharmonious. In poetry, dissonance is the avoidance of patterns of vowel sounds. It is opposite of assonance – the resemblance of vowel sounds in nearby words. Cacophony – Cacophonous –  harsh mixture of sound, generally the hard consonant sounds, hard c, g, p, k, x sounds. Cacophonous sounds take [...]

Writing Poetry: Diction

Diction – the choice of words or phrases in speech or writing; the words of the same social order. IE: high diction – formal writing or low diction – informal words. In poetry, diction has come to mean ‘word choice,’ but actually means much more. Diction is the particular type and style of language a [...]

Words

Words Spin and tumble in my head, Churning, spinning, Building pressure like steam in a kettle, Seeking escape. Words Buzzing in my brain Like a wasp on a window, Watching with alien malevolence Waiting for me to approach, To smother or smash into complacency, Only to be stung as the words demand release. Words Burning [...]

Writing Poetry: Revision

If you pick up nothing else in this blog, remember this, “Poetry is the art of revision.” Yes, sometimes, very rarely, a poem will come whole. But that only will happen if your mind is open to the muse, the moment. I also believe that you must get the words on the paper when they [...]

Writing Poetry: Using the Five Senses

In my last posting on showing not telling, I mentioned that it is easier to show if you use more than one sense. This blog post is on using the senses, all five: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. We all experience the world through our senses. Use that to your advantage when writing poetry. Sight [...]

Writing Poetry: Show Don’t Tell

Howdy gang, in my last blog I talked about ‘abstracts’ being ‘tell’ not ‘show’, let me talk about showing not telling. It’s likely a cliché to say show don’t tell, but maybe we all need to be reminded of it. If someone came into the room and said, “There’s a dinosaur outside,” maybe we’d believe [...]

Writing Poetry: Abstracts

Hi gang, today’s poetry blog is on ‘abstracts.’ What is an abstract: dictionary – a word denoting a quality or intangible rather than a concrete object. To do with existing in thought rather than matter. Ezra Pound once said, “Go in fear of abstracts.” As a poet and poetry teacher, he disliked the use of [...]

Writing Poetry: Endings and Closings

My last blog was openings, so let me discuss: Closings and endings – in poetry ‘closures’ and ‘endings’ are not quite the same thing. Most poems have closure; the poem wraps up the problem discussed, resolves the conflicts, it closes the rhythm, the sound, the diction. Some poems end; the poem seems to just stop, [...]

Writing Poetry: Openings

Hi folks, here’s another blog on my poetry theories.   Enjoy. Openings – The beginnings of poems, the first lines, are called openings. Carl Sandburg once wrote, “Poetry is the opening and closing of a door…” Probably even more than in a novel or news article, the beginning of a poem, the opening, must make [...]

Writing Poetry: Linebreaks

Linebreaks Poetry lines do not end by accident. The poet determines the length of each line. With what ever else I say, you can break your lines where ever you wish, but line breaks are a poetic device why not use them for your advantage. Before I get to deep into line breaks, I’ll mention [...]

Writing Poetry: Use of Details

Howdy folks, Jim Fowler again with another blog on writing poetry. Have fun with it. Details in poetry – Many people think poetry is too hard. It takes too much effort to understand. It’s mysterious. There are many reasons for that, but I’ll discuss two for a moment. They were taught in school that poems [...]

Writing Poetry: The Importance of Sounds

Here I am again folks, another blog post on the art of writing poetry. This week – Sounds in Poetry Poetry is an aural art form. (In both the definitions). Poetry is made for the ear. Here’s the first three and a half lines of Denise Levertov’s “Night on Hatchet Cove,” (fm; Poems 1960-1967 New [...]

Writing Poetry: Introduction

Hi folks, I’m going to be throwing out blogs on what I think of poetry and how to write poetry. I’ve been having poems published for over fifteen years and been teaching poetry for nearly ten. I edited an anthology of poetry “Heartbeat of New England” (Tiger Moon Productions, 2000). Yes, much of this you can [...]

Poem: Windshield

Hi folks, Jim Fowler back again with another poem. This one was originally published in Pine Island Journal. This one was written while i was attending the Poetry Festival at The Frost Place, Franconia, NH. Enjoy. Windshield Two moths spiral upward in my headlights. I stop to keep from hitting them. I’ve launched jets off [...]

Prose Poem: They Want Them Back

Hi gang, Jim Fowler here again with a new poem, a prose poem. This poem originally appeared in Diner. My prose poems are very surreal but I am also literal, so I try to keep the world of the poem as straightforward as possible, but it is a different world. Enjoy. They Want Them Back In [...]

Here Again with Another Poem

Hi gang, Jim Fowler here again with another poem. This one first appears in Animus #19. I am a Vietnam and Desert Storm vet. The second Iraq war brought back many memories. Here’s a poem. Years Later, Thinking of the Invasion of Iraq I sip my Earl Grey, set the cup on the table, lean back in [...]

Prose Poem: Renowned

Hi folks, here’s a prose poem that first appeared in Space and Time magazine. Have fun reading it, I did writing it.     Renowned The atom, that received the first blue ribbon for existing, still exists. After the awards banquet, the atom caught the red-eye on Big Bang Air, its ribbon around what it calls a [...]

Poem: Hike 10/6/09

Howdy gang, here’s a new poem. I hike in the woods alone a lot and having been educated as an environmentalist, I touch, tear into, study or talk to everything. My wife hates to go with me because of that tendency. Enjoy the poem Hike 10/6/09 Mile one The wind, the western sun, arrange the [...]

Announcing the Release of Poet Burgess Needle’s New Collection

Diminuendo Press is proud to announce the release of a wonderful new book of poetry by Burgess Needle. Burgess Needle is inspired by the natural wonders of our planet, the virtuosity of contemporary poetry, love, friendship and the two-edged sword of 21st century technology. After earning a degree at the University of Massachusetts, Burgess joined [...]

Poem: Corridors

Howdy folks, Jim Fowler back again with a new poem. It’s a night poem, and very surreal. Hope you enjoy. One thought of explanation, though I dislike doing that, i lived in Japan for twenty years, so some of their myths make their way into my poems. Werefoxes are a very popular myth. Vixens who [...]

Poem: Villanelle for My Lady

Hi gang, sorry, I’ve been a little out of touch lately, but I’m back. This poem originally appeared in New England Writer’s Network Magazine. Most readers think it’s about my wife, but I had thought it was about nature, but whatever… It makes no difference who it ended up for, I think it works. NEWR, when they [...]

What Is Poetry?

Much to my surprise, a venue that I feared had rejected me actually published me. You can find me in Poetry Magazine in the Spring 2009 features. I’m in good company with Dorianne Laux, Jane Hirschfield, Frank Gaspar and Ellen Bass. These are some of my best poems. But they were written long ago. ************************************************************ It’s not just a [...]

Response to Robert Frost’s “Mowing”

Hi gang, JimF here again. This month i’m posting a poem that was published in NEWN. I’ve read a lot of Robert Frost and one of his poems, “Mowing” has always bothered me, in that he refers to the tool as a ‘scythe’ When I was growing up, my father called it a ‘scythe-and-snath’ as [...]

Prose Poem: Snagged

Hi gang, Jim Fowler here again. This month, I’m going to my surreal side. Here’s a prose poem which first appeared in Diner. I tend to rewrite many, many times, until the poem tells me what it wants to say. As other poets have called it, I write the poem from my unconscious side and edit [...]

Middle of April Update

In the ongoing effort to make Abandoned Towers easier to use and easier to find stuff on, I’ve added a What’s New page. I update that page every time I add something to the website (which is just about every day) so check it frequently. In case you haven’t found it yet, and don’t know [...]

A Haibun: New Places

Hi folks, Jim Fowler here again. This month I have a different form. A haibun. A mix of prose poem and haiku. I’ve had good luck with these. This particular one was published in Frogpond the Haiku Society of America’s journal, issue Winter 07. The trick is to have as big a leap from the prose to [...]

A Sonnet: A Sailor’s First Girl

Hi folks, Jim Fowler here again. There was a comment on my poem (ghazal) from last month, I wished to answer. Yes, you are right, ‘squirrel’ likely is a bad name. My only excuse is that I have used the alias through a dozen or so ghazals. But thinking about the comment, the alias likely [...]

Poetry and Manic-Depression

At my personal blog I just posted a piece on manic-depression and poetry. Poets suffer from manic-depression more than other artists, some reasons for which I offer. My new book, “Unexpected Light,” explores manic-depression among other subjects. In fact, portions of the book were reconstituted from a previous ms. called “Sine Wave,” which was devoted to the experience [...]

A Ghazal: Fighting the Love of Battle

Hi, Jim Fowler here again. This month I’m posting a ghazal, an Arabian/Indian form pronounecd ‘guzzle’ It is a couplet form where each couplet is its own poem on a unifying subject. Traditionally there are a lot of rules to follow. I used the following rules, repeated word or phrase at end of each line [...]

A Prose Poem: Storm

Hi folks, I, James Fowler, have been seriously writing poetry for fifteen or so years and being published for twelve. I write in many genres and forms becuase I believe the poem itself dictates what form it wants, though in my rewrites (many) I try the poem in prose poem, iambics, etc. Here is a [...]

Introducing Poet C. E. Chaffin

Due to the beneficence of Crystalwizard (also known as Kelly), the Grand Poobah of this whole operation, my first book of poetry in 11 years has just been released by one of her publishing arms, Diminuendo Press. It is entitled “Unexpected Light: Selected Poems and Love Poems 1998-2008.” Here’s the direct link: Unexpected Light Nearly every [...]

The Amazing, Revised, All New, Spiderman?

What in the world has happened to spiderman? For those who haven’t been reading the comic books, but have been reading the comic strip, Jan 1, 2009 came as something of a heavy shock. What did Marvel do? You can read all about it by visiting Abandoned Towers at http://cyberwizardproductions.com/AbandonedTowers and clicking on Eric S. [...]

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