Thursday, October 26, 2017

Letters to Kelsey Part One

As someone who started his poetry through journaling, I would recommend being open to just writing in whatever way you feel is poetic while you are in the midst of that time. I sometimes feel it tough to make time for writing, so it's awesome that you are doing that.

I've found part of being a poet is just a willingness to be there on the page to see what happens.

Prompts are a great way to do that. One prompt I like using is to think of a favorite color and write a dedication poem to someone using that color as many times as you can. Some write lists of, let's say, purple things. I like to think of a scene with, let's say, Carrie and the boys, and begin with the purple night.

Another wonderful prompt is the word association: start with a word and do the word association--first word that pops into your head, write it down, thing. Then repeat that next word to yourself, write the next word that pops into your head. See how long you can go until you know you have a poem in there. No need to even use most of the words--just whatever poem you feel like writing at that point.

Finally, I will send a few books your way, but stay away from "how to" books in general.


I really got my start in open-mic poetry nights. They are supportive, non-judgmental, non-critical. There is one here in town on the first Wednesday of every month and I'd be happy to hang out with you if/when you want to go. They all know me there, so you could meet amazing people. My dear sister-friend Annette Hope Billings helps host it.

Oh, and this is nice--to get a poem a day in your email: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem-day



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