Crafting Poetry One Syllable at a Time
Posted on October 11, 2016 by Colleen M. Chesebro
These tips will help you improve your poetry skills so you can evolve as a serious poet.
Source: How to Improve Your Poetry Skills | Writing Forward
Category: Authors Supporting Authors, Tanka Tuesday Poetry ChallengesTags: #poetry, improving your poetry skills, Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenges, writing poetry
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.”
—Dylan Thomas
Click: What is a Rhyme Scheme?
Disclaimer: My book review posts contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I earn a small commission to fund my reading habit if you use the links on my book reviews to make a purchase. You will not be charged extra, and you’ll keep me supplied in books that I can review. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Thank you.
This website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Colleen M. Chesebro is an American Poet who loves crafting paranormal fantasy and magical realism, cross-genre flash fiction, syllabic poetry, and creative nonfiction. Colleen sponsors a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called Tanka Tuesday, on wordcraftpoetry.com where participants learn how to write traditional and current forms of haiku, senryu, haiga, tanka, gogyohka, tanka prose, renga, solo-renga, haibun, cinquain, Etheree, nonet, and shadorma poetry. Colleen's syllabic poetry has appeared in the Auroras & Blossoms Poetry Journal, and in “Hedgerow, a journal of small poems.” She’s won numerous awards from participating in the Carrot Ranch Rodeo, a yearly flash fiction contest sponsored by carrotranch.com. In 2020, she won first place in the Carrot Ranch Folk Tale or Fable category, with her story called “Why Wolf Howls at the Moon.” Colleen is a Sister of the Fey, where she pursues a pagan path through her writing. When she is not writing, she is reading. She also loves gardening and crocheting old-fashioned doilies into works of art.
I’m on the fence about some of the advice. How does one know if the poetry one is reading is good, worthy of emulation. The classics?
What came first, the poem or the form?
Reading about how haiku came from Renga did not change my haiku.
I would also encourage people to avail themselves of free MOOCs like Modern Poetry from Yale here:
http://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-310 for an academic perspective. Aldo, Coursers & NovoEd.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hoped this post would create some dialog. If a piece of prose (poetry) speaks to me and makes me feel something, I consider it good. In college, I loved the idea of free form and how those words are as powerful as the classics. Our words need to speak to our readers. Rap music is and sounds like poetry to me. I’m sure by proper definition it doesn’t fit but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good or doesn’t touch us. I will check out your link. ❤
LikeLike
And I think Rap does fit the definition, but I like very little of it. Slam poetry doesn’t do it for me either. It’s like a movie is to a good book. When I read a poem I am invested in it emotionally. When I see Performance Art, I’m distracted, can’t let go of my left brain and just experience and enjoy it.
I just think it’s SOOOO subjective and all that “learn the right way,” rubs me as exclusionary elitism.
I hope you get more dialogue than my tired diatribe. 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! Some of the early rap was pure poetry. I don’t abide the nasty stuff. I only wanted to share and agree with you that if the words move us, they can be poetry or poetic. BTW, I can’t get your link to work. It downloads but won’t let me into the classes. 😦
LikeLike
If you look on this link,
http://oyc.yale.edu/english/engl-310#overview
You will see links below the Course Title, Modern Poetry … that read, Syllabus & Sessions.
Let me know if you have trouble.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks again, my friend. ❤
LikeLike
You got it? Good. You’re more than welcome. How Writers Write Fiction:Storied Women (From the famed Iowa Writer’s Workshop) starts today here:
https://novoed.com/how-writers-write-fiction-2016
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. This looks interesting. 😀 You sir, are the best!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well the course is the best. Took last year’s. Mostly I enjoyed the reading required & recommended. The lectures were okay. Hard to appreciate sometimes. Enjoy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you again!
LikeLike
Excellent! Thank you. I took a similar class at Montana State University, “British Literature.” We went into great detail on the poets. One of my favorite classes ever. Thanks again for the amazing link!
LikeLike
Enjoy. My pleasure. I love to share good stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me, also. I am a student of life! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who couldn’t tell that from all your posts? Imagine a Yiddish accent here 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha, Ha! If I could have gone to college for free full-time, I’d still be there cramming for tests! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on Kate McClelland.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mine certainly need improving! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mine too, Bun. 😳
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, I’m slightly sad about the leaves disappearing, but not all that sad. I really like fall (probably my favorite season) and I don’t mind spring. There are lots of nice festivals and, most important of all, no mosquitoes! 🙂
LikeLike
Hey, this comment does it belong here! I wrote it in reply to a completely different post! I’m so sorry that it ended up here. I genuinely have no idea how that happened. It’s all true, though. I really do like fall. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
No worries, Bun. WP and comments are acting up again. 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am just comfortable reading poetry and writing my own poetry also. I write for myself but if someone likes my poems , that is appreciated it indeed .
LikeLiked by 1 person
Marvelous! I love poetry too. ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person