Getting Poetry Published

It's Not How You Write, It's How You Re-Write: The Art and Craft of Revision, Susan Rich

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:39:55 +0100

As I walk something relaxes in my body, the rhythm of putting one foot in front of the other in quick succession gives me something other than words to focus on. I’m freed from the judging eye of my computer screen; the day seems full of possibilities. I feel foolishly happy. I am a writer in the world. I think of myself as following the fine tradition of Wallace Stevens who, it was rumored, wrote all his poems in his head as he walked an hour each morning to his office where he sold in...

Advice on Editing Poetry by Grace Wells

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 12:27:22 +0100

Poetry is composed of many different elements; one of its main foundations has something to do with expressing a maximum of meaning with a minimum of words. The distilled essence of a poem is only reached through tireless editing.

Here are a number of things I try:

1. Always keep a hard-copy of your original poem, so you can go back to your first intentions if you need to.

2. Print up a copy of your “finished” poem. Take it with you around the house. Let it live with you. Prop it u...

How to Order the Poems in a Manuscript

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:06:17 +0100

While there’s no hard and fast rule to the process (and for the most part it’s something that is done intuitively), there are a few things worth considering if you’re trying to bring your manuscript together and make it cohere. A good place to start is with your first and last poems, or with a poem you have identified as being of particular importance within the collection. Paul Muldoon calls this a ‘keystone’ poem and this is an apt description as such a poem has the capacity t...

Poetry Workshops with Susan Lindsay

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 09:50:38 +0100

These examples offer a flavour of valuable workshop experience. A word, or words, of appreciation carry far more weight amid a varied and dispassionate discourse so long, that is, that the conversation is - in general - sensitive in tone. There are plenty of reasonable ways to give valuable criticism. Poems presented in a workshop can be used to highlight issues of general interest in writing poetry. The way a small and relatively diverse group of people read a particular poem, how it...

What Next? Writing Poetry and Getting Published

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 22:28:45 +0100

Once you've begun to write poems: what next? My advice is to join a workshop. A workshop is a good platform for first presenting work and feedback can be helpful. However, it sometimes happens that workshop criticism can be ill-informed and can do more harm than good. But sharing your work with others involved in the business makes more sense than sharing it with a granny or spouse who have no experience of critical analysis. Show it to these when it has been polished – they're your readers and...