Poetics

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Poetics

Compiled by Glennis Hobbs

Why Poems Don’t Work And What Happens To Them?

This is the third of a three-part article featuring the Senior Poets Workshop at Writers' Village University and will feature some of the ways that the senior poets work with poetry.

The Senior Poets Workshop, also known as P123, is an open workshop for experienced poets at Writers' Village University. Here writers hone their skills as advanced poets, study recognized poets, discuss matters of joint interest, practice prosody, expand their knowledge of poetic forms, participate in the development of group exercises and course facilitation, have a place to pursue literary critiques of poems and poets and work with some of the master poets at WVU.

The responses come as part of a course that Gwen Austin and Linda J. Austin are developing called Lead And Silver. This is a course on working with poems from one’s slush pile of unfinished poems and revising them rather than starting new poems.

What do you do with poems that don't work?

Chris:
They are still sitting in my poetry folder. Actually I love them all, they are my babies. I am letting them mature, distancing myself before going back to them.

Gwen:
If it’s a poem I really want to write right, I keep tinkering with it on and off. If it’s a poem I don’t really care about, I usually do nothing with it.

Janice:
If a poem does not work for me, I usually put it in a “save for rework” file, hoping to find something for a contest deadline, or just to rework one at random.

Lori:
I have a large “slush pile”. Sometimes I’ll take a line from a poem and use it in something else. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of poems in my “slush pile” will ever become poems that I will send out. The rest languish like old race horses sent to pasture—growing fat and lazy, munching on memory chips.

Mo:
I used to delete those, but now I print out everything since I know how viruses can destroy files. I wish I had some of my older poems to rewrite.

Rolly:
Let it sit in my journal so that I can come back to it when the appropriate time comes.

Sarah:
I have a file called “failed poems” because misery loves company. I do look through the file sometimes to try and see with hindsight what has gone wrong or if there’s something worth saving.

Glennis
Some poems go into a file marked “draft” on my computer. Others get filed away in a scribbler or binder. Sometimes I will take a line or phrase from a poem and work it into a new poem. I often transfer phrases and ideas into a current scribbler.

When I do a rewrite of a poem, I retitle it Poem 2 and keep all drafts of a poem. When I reach what I feel is a current “final copy,” then I delete the original drafts.

Occasionally I read a poem and cringe to think that I wrote it. Other times I vent in poetry. These hit the shredder.

Do you know why they don't work?

Chris:
Maybe the language is too trite or over-used or they are too sentimental. Some are bitter and they don't work because they were written more for catharsis than for art.

Gwen:
If I knew why my poems didn’t work, I’d fix ‘em! LOL That’s why posting them in various workshops is such a great learning experience—I find out how the poems affect other poets; if what I’m trying to get across, gets across or not; if I’ve included too much emotion, or not enough; etc.

Janice:
I’m not sure I always know why a poem does not work. Sometimes I know the reason and sometimes I do not have a clue. If I can’t fix the poem easily on a second reading, I stash the piece in the file and leave finding the reason it doesn’t work until later.

Lori:
Some of these are early works that seemed interesting at the time, but never really gelled and are not that interesting. A few will take another form or parts will find another home. It seems that I can tell a lot quicker these days whether something is going to work than I used to be able to—but I still keep unfinished work in case I find a way into it again.

Mo:
The words needed trimming; the thoughts weren't unique or original. The language needed some shading. I keep learning. I will search for a poem to post soon.

Rolly:
I do have a feeling but I’m not sure.

Sarah
One part is way better than the rest. The idea is doesn’t come through well enough. It’s boring. A good question to ask oneself after writing a poem, I think, is ‘so what?’

Glennis:
If I feel a poem doesn’t work, I try to put it away for a while and come back to it. Sometimes the reason for the poem not working hits like a ton of bricks. Other times I still scratch my head.

I am fortunate enough to have a fellow writer who lives with me and I often run poems by him. His questions and comments make me think about solutions.

Sometimes if a poem doesn’t say what I’m trying to make it say, I will write out in a sentence or two what I’m trying to say so that I can try to crystallize the idea. Then I go back and look at the poem and see if I can make it work.

Presenting The P123 Poets

Gwen Austin, retired therapeutic recreation specialist, lives and writes in Washington state in a woodsy spot near Mt. Rainier. Her first book of poetry, Through a Dusty Lens, is about a year in Vietnam. Gwen is also the author of two novels, Twilight Manor and Fateful Days. Currently, Gwen is co-facilitator for the Senior Poets Workshop at the online Writers' University Village.

Christine Bloom is a special educator and mother of two who resides in La Verne, California with her husband. She has been active in the Writers' Village University program for the past two years through the advanced poetry classes. She is a member of the Senior Poetry Workshop. Christine holds a Master's degree in the education of learning handicapped children, a counseling credential and several other teaching credentials. Her undergraduate degrees are in History and in English.

Rolly delos Santos is an Art teacher of De La Salle Zobel School, a school on the outskirts of Manila. He has been writing poetry for about two years now, thinking it will help enhance his third eye which he uses for his paintings. Rolly has been a member of WVU for three years and is presently a member of the advanced poetry group (P123).

Janice Oestermyer received her A.S. from St. Mary-of-the-Woods, near Terre Haute, Indiana, in 1984. She also studied poetry at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and children's writing via the Institute of Children's Literature. She has had several articles on writing poetry published; the first at The Christian Communicator, four articles in T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine, and one published at Fellowscript, Canada. Her poetry has been widely published and has placed in contests.

Lori Romero is a published poet and fiction writer. She served as Artistic Director of Friends & Artists Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles. She currently resides in New Mexico. Her poetry and short stories have been published in Onset Review, Lotus Blooms Journal and several other journals. She recently published a book of poetry entitled Wall to Wall. She is a co-facilitator of the Senior Poets Workshop at WVU.

Sarah Sloat was born in the 60's in New Jersey, where she attended university. She lives with her husband, daughter and son in Frankfurt, Germany, where she works for a news agency.

Maureen (Mo) Swanson has been teaching in elementary school for nineteen years. She is a member of Word Weavers and Senior Poets Workshop.

Glennis Hobbs is a Canadian poet-writer. She has published two other poetry books, The Waldron Wild Cats and City on the Rocks and most recently In and Out of the Shadows. She is currently working on a novel plus three other poetry books as well as a novel. She is a co-facilitator of the Senior Poets Workshop and as well co-facilitates two online poetry courses at Writers’ Village University. She is a contributing editor for T-Zero: The Writer's Ezine.