Playing with Words

 

Every now and then, we’ve talked about the fun of playing with words, but this practice can also bring something unexpected to a poem, surprising, perhaps, both you and your readers.

 

Playing with words can bring connections we hadn’t previously considered.

 

The other day, for instance, my Bible Study group reached the book of Hebrews in our progressive study of the New Testament, and we came to this verse about religious leaders.

“Since he himself is weak in many ways, he is able to be gentle with those who are ignorant and make mistakes,” Hebrews 5:2, Good News Translation (GNT.)                                          

What was true of a compassionate leader then is true now, but the word that caught my attention was “ignorant.” We usually think of that word as being unaware of factual data, but I suddenly became aware of how ignorance also relates to those who ignore God. Carrying that connection further could be the starting place for a religious poem or a devotional article.

 

Using words with various spellings can also start a poem.

 

For example, most of us prefer “peace of mind” over “piece of mind,” but a single poem with both spellings could be insightful or become a rant!

 

Reading a dictionary has evoked many a poem for many a well-known poet!

 

If you were a mechanic or carpenter, wouldn’t you want every useful tool for your trade? For poets and writers, that “tool box” contains a regular dictionary, poetry dictionary, and handbook on grammar. That’s the bare minimum to bear. Judeo-Christian poets and writers would surely want at least one translation of the Bible, while academics need a manual of style.

 

Speaking of academics, I’d never given thought to the word “academic” or “academia” until I opened a dictionary to the A’s and read about Akademos, the legendary Athenian hero of the Trojan Wars. His association with Helen of Troy and also the school grounds where Plato likely taught gave me the impetus for this poem.

 

 

Writing The Academian Myth

 

Helen wrote history

without royalties,

inspiration

without musing

over musicals or poems.

 

Helen wrote mystery,

adventure,

romance and lively letters

loosely leafed

on wind.

 

When Akademos heard

where Helen had been hidden,

he played the instrument

for her release from unwritten

mortal codes and, hence,

her capture

in immortal odes, which

spoke volumes.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler from A Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry

If you have a topic you’d like to see discussed in a future post or a comment about your own play-times with words, let's hear from you in the Comments section below.

 

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5 kinds of poetry

In critiquing books and batches of poems, I often find some confusion about the type of poems a poet aims to write. That’s important to know, not as you write a poem, but as you revise since you need to keep a specific readership in mind – assuming you want your poems to be published in a journal, anthology, e-zine, or anywhere other than your own blog or website.

Even if you do self-publish, you’ll encounter far less disappointing responses from readers if you give them and your overall purpose some serious thought. For example, do you want to perform your poems on a stage, perhaps accompanied by music? Do you want your work included in a well-established poetry journal? Or do you hope your poems will uplift people spiritually or speak to them on an emotional level?

Your answers to the above questions should help you to narrow your focus on one of these common kinds of poems:

• Performance Poetry
• Greeting Card Verse
• Confessional Poems
• Contemporary Psalms
• Literary Poetry

Each of those types of poems has a different purpose and audience, but also a different style with differing techniques that make the poem work - or not! For example:

Performance Poetry – As the name suggests, this type of poetry is meant to be performed in front of a live audience, typically with music to accompany your recitation since success often rests on the rhythm. Such poems may be chanted or semi-sung as you would do in performing rap lyrics, though the beat might not be quite as strong.

Regardless, if you aspire to performing the poems you write, your subject matter must interest your intended audience. For a couple of extreme examples, a nightclub setting will require a totally different topic for each poem than, say, a Bible-based or liturgical poem performed in a church or synagogue.

In either case – or somewhere in-between – the poem can rhyme or not, but too much rhyme can be deafening while too little might not be heard without a strong beat to accentuate the rhyming words.

If you have someone to video tape your performance ahead of time, great! Without that feedback to learn from, however, you do well to grab your hairbrush and perform in front of a mirror until what you see and hear gives you a performance you’d welcome from someone else!

Greeting Card Verse – Short, rhyming poems with two to ten lines that acknowledge grief or celebrate a happy special occasion fall into this category. The key here is to be sincere in saying what you wish someone would say to you in similar circumstances. If the results speak to or for most people in a fresh way, you might approach the publisher of greeting cards with some samples of your work.

Confessional Poems – Because of the unique circumstances or people involved in this type of poem, a confessional poem nicely flows into conversational free verse but needs fresh insights or comparisons to lift the lines out of a diary and into a poem others will identify with and want to read. Honesty prevails as does language appropriate for your intended readers.

These poems can become psalms if they seek and speak to God instead of yourself or someone else.

Contemporary Psalms – Laments, praise poems, prayer-poems, cries, and thanksgiving to God form the heart, soul, and spirit of psalms written for readers today. These poems can be any length and work best in a sincere, conversational tone with little or no rhyme. In other words, the poem needs to be what you truly think and feel before closing on the remembrance that God is with you and aware of you and your concern.

Since I felt a need to count blessings and focus on the diverse causes of praise in my life, I’ve been writing and blogging Praise Poems, some of which began as laments or confessionals, but all of which end on an uplifting note – for me and, Lord willing, for you.

Literary Poetry – All of the above have the potential to be of literary quality! But how does that happen? One way is to use a traditional form of metered or syllabic verse, both of which you can search out in previous posts on this blog.

No matter what form you use, though, the inclusion of such traits as imagery, alliteration, internal rhyme, or other technique is vital to the success of a poem. Each of those factors and many other options are discussed in the Christian Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry – the e-book version of the reader-friendly poetry home study course I revised with Christians in mind to assure you that the examples used to illustrate various poetic traits or forms will consistently be G-rated.

by Mary Harwell Sayler, © 2016

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Seasons of Poetry

Have you ever gone on a binge of writing poems then suddenly nothing? That ebb and flow of creativity mimics nature with its change of seasons or fluctuations of energy throughout the day in irregular intervals of work, play, and rest.

Like nature, too much work with too little rest or play throws off the flow. It’s like getting caught up in a flood of inventiveness, then having a long, dry spell. For a while, poetic thoughts stem from inspiration, flower with a sense of play, then wither into the work and worries of everyday life.

If that’s happened to you, I hope it helps to recognize this as part of a poet’s “norm.” Also, these dry times aren’t as unproductive as they might seem. They’re probably just parched and in need of rehydration.

For example, when poems don’t come to you as readily as you’d like, your creative self might need to find more options as you:

• Read poetry by other poets such as those reviewed in numerous posts on this site.

• Study and experiment with a variety of poetry forms and techniques as discussed in my e-book.

• Give your previously written poems additional thought and readings before you edit or revise.

• Practice your skills of observation by noting whatever your senses of touch, smell, taste, sight, and sound provide.

For instance, I’m writing this in the middle of an insomniacal night as dripping rain produces different sounds and rhythms, depending on the pitch of the roof and the density of the plants catching the life-giving water. I can attune my sense of hearing to each of those unique sounds or to the musicality they provide when heard together.

If I choose the former, I can describe the finger-drumming of the raindrops and their soft plunking sounds and varied tempo. Or, I can listen to the overall sound effect and find myself soothed, lulled, and, thankfully, ready to rest again.


by Mary Sayler, ©2015, poet-author of many books in all genres
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Secrets of good poetry

A “good” poem is meant to be read, not once but as many times as it takes to reach that “oh” moment inherent in each good poem.

Conversely, many poems by new poets and poets who never read poems by other poets have no secrets. One reading reveals all they have to offer, making them boring or long-winded or too personal to connect with readers outside the poet’s private circle.

An effective poem has comparatively few words but much to say. This might be an insight into a spiritual realm few readers enter on their own. Or it might be a call to observe the intricacies of nature and our unique relationships with one another in a particular time and place.

“Good” poems occur as we give ourselves to them, opening our eyes and ears and letting our thoughts touch whatever is around, whether in a physical, mental, or spiritual realm.

Somewhere, somehow a poet must capture wonder, causing readers to perk up, pay attention, and read the lines again.

And, yet, too few of us allow enough time to throw ourselves into poems, whether we’re reading or writing them, but when we do, we come away with an experience or insight or awareness previously unknown to us.

It’s a busy world we live in, and, whether we read or write, poetry slows us down. But, even if you do not buy and read the poetry books occasionally reviewed on this blog, just reading the reviews will give you a feel for good poetry.

Then, if you do leap into faith in poetry, whether your own or someone else’s, be prepared to feel foolish at first! For, most likely you will not “get” what you’re reading the first or second time you read. Or, if you write to discover, as I often do, you might not even get right away what you’re writing.

Nevertheless, go with it! Flow with it. Let the words fall where they may.

Later, you can revisit your own poems and revise, but for the initial writing or reading, abandon yourself to the poem.

A mystery is at work here – a creative force looking for voice.

Give yourself to it.

Give yourself to the poems you write and the poems you read, then be prepared to be amazed!

© 2014 Mary Harwell Sayler



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The story behind the Christian Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry

When I began instructing students of Joan Unger’s Personalized Study Program in the early 1980’s, we had no poetry home study course, but then, no one else did either. Joan and I decided to add one to the correspondence courses (yeah, by snail mail) she had written on fiction and nonfiction. So I wrote the PSP course in Poetry, which we also called the “V” (for “verse”) units.

Joan did the formatting and everything else – not only for PSP studies, but also for the Christian Writers Fellowship (CWFI) she had founded and directed. After she retired, I headed CWFI for a few years until turning it over to Sandy Brooks and the fiction and nonfiction courses to Marlene Bagnull with my blessings – and relief!

By then I had all sorts of writing projects but kept working, one on one, with poetry students until I needed help. Thanks to a former PSP student, very successful writer, and poet-peer Mona Hodgson, I got caught up and continued to tweak and use the PSP poetry home study course for years with poetry students.

With the advent of the Internet, however, online help became instantly available for poetry lovers and students with fewer and fewer interested in poetry courses by mail. I tweaked the course to aim toward a more secular audience and found a traditional publisher for the book version Poetry: Taking Its Course.

By the time I ran out of copies, e-books had made books readily accessible to people all over the world, so self-publishing on Kindle seemed like the way to go. First, however, I returned the text to its original emphasis on a Christian poet’s perspective then changed the name to the Christian Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry.

You can find the new e-book on Amazon, but in case you don’t get a hand-held Kindle for Christmas, you’ll be glad to know you don’t have to have one. Just download the free Kindle viewer onto your computer, and you can order this and other e-books online.

As a poet who still prefers pencil and paper, I’m happy to say the e-book formatting process on Kindle was simple enough that, Lord willing, I’ll upload an easy-reader poetry dictionary soon. Meanwhile, if you find any errors on the Christian Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry, please let me know. And, if you get anything helpful out of the book, let other people know in your review. Thanks and blessings.

(c) 2012, Mary Harwell Sayler