You the Poet“I have so
appreciated this time to write and reflect. Thank you
for your thoughtful presentation, your warm acceptance
of me and for sharing from your heart. I also appreciate
the way you look direct into my soul. Thank you.”
—Carol, school
teacher, Delta, Colorado
“Rosemerry is a fine teacher—she
reaches out, she coaxes, she encourages, she listens,
she shares her passion. Poetry just comes alive through
her.”
—Laurie Wagner Buyer,
poet
Writing a poem is like taking a brief vacation in the backyard of our minds.
Although we enter a familiar world—coffee machines, weeds, successes at work,
unreturned love, raising children—poetry reframes what is commonplace and gives
us a new entry point for understanding. Unlike learning facts, writing a poem
appeals to our intuitive mind. The answers aren't laid out as in a simple math
equation. In fact, in poetry, there may be many answers suggested.
On this page, you’ll
find columns I’ve written about the art of poetry, as
well as exercises for energizing your own poetic
practice. If you do any of the exercises, send me what
you wrote!
Musings on Poetry: Columns about the Art of Poetry
Speaking from
the Hated Place
One wonderful
side effect of a poetic practice: It can lead us
toward great compassion, as past US poet-laureate
Louise Gluck exemplifies in her poem “Witchgrass,”
pasted below.
There are so
many groups of people that as a society we try to
marginalize, weed out, separate ourselves from, and
ignore. Old people. Sick people. Crazy people.
Homeless people. People of different races.
Entire Article Here
Rabbit Brush:
What Renders Us Human
At 4:30 a.m., I
was the first person in Seattle to arrive at gate
N-15 for the 6 a.m. Denver flight. I slunk into the
black plastic chair, my feet propped up on my
carry-on. The next passenger to arrive was a man in
a leather-brimmed cap. He found a seat kitty corner
from me across the aisle.
For half an hour, we had the terminal
to ourselves. We chatted about fog, dying
grandparents and airport security before talk turned
to poetry.
Entire Article Here
Ideas for Critiquing Your Poem (And Other People’s
Poem’s, Too)
Things to Consider:
- Are you trusting your reader? Believe in your
reader’s intelligence.
- Is it novel? Is there a sense of discovery?
No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the
reader.
- Did you say something worth saying? What is
the point? Are you focused?
Entire Article Here
All is Write with the World:
Where Nature Meets Human Nature
For centuries, poets worldwide
have written about the natural world’s wonders.
Thich Nhat Hanh celebrated how “water flows from
high in the mountains.” Gary Snyder exulted being
alive “on a mid-September morn/fording a
stream/barefoot.” The Eskimos reveled in “the arch
of sky and mightiness of storms.”
And what about you? You know what
it’s like to stand beneath a night sky so clear that
you want to sing to the stars. You have been humbled
by mudslide or flood.
Entire Article Here
Down, Girl! How to Converse With Your Inner Critic
Let’s say that while
dreaming about how to boost your business, you come up
with a few new ideas. But before you flesh them out, a
raspy voice enters your head and says something like,
“That is so stupid,” or “That will never work, you
dummy.”
Some folks call
this voice the inner critic.
I call it the inner
rottweiler: a powerful, merciless predator that knows
how to bite into your most vulnerable places and render
you helpless.
Entire Article Here.
Pulling White
Rabbits Out of the Air
Last April I was in
Tulsa doing a poetry program in the schools. I asked the
kids, “What is a poet?” One of the boys in sixth grade shot up
his hand and said, “A poet is someone who says some
words, and then something happens.”
Entire Article Here.
Negligee and the Art of Poetry
Victoria’s got a secret. Well,
actually two.
Secret Number One: Sex sells. The
company pulls in about 4 billion dollars a year in
total sales.
Secret Number Two: A little lingerie
goes a long way. Regardless what’s underneath the
silk robes and garter belts, that glimpse of flimsy
red lace or thick straps of black leather lets the
imagination meander in a myriad of mysterious,
delicious ways.
Entire Article Here.
The Art of the Practice: Poetry Exercises for You
to Try
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Feeling Out of Control? Write, Write, Write