Go on … think of a poetry short form you know. Probably, the first one that comes to mind is the haiku, or maybe, the limerick. I bet that’s what would come to mind for most folks. Or, if you’re familiar with Japanese forms you might also think of the tanka, or haibun. For many American writers that’s about the extent of our short form poetry knowledge. But there’s a vast world of short forms from almost every continent. (Probably, … Read More »

Stephen King wrote in his book On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, “the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” We’re rightly admonished not to use adverbs. But what about adjectives? I’d argue that adjectives are also there in the mix that makes up the road to hell. In fact, Mark Twain wrote to student D. W. Bowser (3/20/1880) “When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t mean utterly, but kill most of them—then the rest will … Read More »

In July of 2021 I wrote about Stimulating Similes. Now, t’s about time we got around to talking about metaphors—the big sister/brother of similes. Metaphors have more muscle than similes, and less tact. Rather than using a qualifying word such as “like” or “as” between two comparisons, metaphors just blurt out that one thing is another. Sure, tougher sibling Metaphor can be a bit rude, but it does its job quickly and without a lot of extraneous verbiage. For example, … Read More »

In a recent interview Ted Kooser (U. S. Poet laureate: 2004-2006, Pulitzer Prize winner) said “I often start with a metaphor and build the poem out with that association.” So, not until he’s found the right metaphor does he begin. This makes sense to me, for I would hazard to say that all good poetry is metaphor—poems mean something more than what the words denote. The ability of poetry to stretch itself beyond the page and into our lives with … Read More »

Lately there’s both a lot of shoulder shrugging, and a lot of fear around generative AI making inroads into creative endeavors. Everybody seems to have some opinion about it, from Wow, so cool! To  OMG! It’s going to take over! So of course, I had to try out a few things to see how well generative AI could reproduce one of my creative loves, poetry. Below is a very shortened run-down of my wrangling with ChatGPT and poetry. I started … Read More »

Recently I was Zooming with some lovely poets. One of the poets read a prose poem that went on and on without stopping to take a breath. Not only did I feel a bit overwhelmed—and not in a good way—but I was saddened, because I could not get a moment to take in and reflect upon her many great images and wonderful word choices. Everything rushed by in such a blur I lost the emotional impact as well. I just … Read More »