How to Write a Long Poem #3 - Specific stimuli / poem types

 

Specific stimuli for long poems

 

Here are some types of poem you might consider for the making of a longer work. These are all things I’ve either done or attempted or plan to attempt.

 

-          Rhetorical Flourish – take an idea as far as it can go … e.g. everything is upside down, the world is a tree, what if tomorrow never comes?, everyone’s invisible ...

 

-          Unpack one idea, for instance an idiom – skin of your teeth, bite the bullet, hit the sack, kick the bucket, there are no two ways about it … take an idiom to task... dig deep - wonder where this formulation of words came from, wonder where it can go

 

-          Literalize … in this age of the word ‘literally’ being so egregiously misused e.g. – my head is spinning … well where will it land up?  … your pants are on fire … you could easily apply this principle to footy teams … something I’ve intended to try but not got around to yet

 

 

-          Poem of a particular place – could be where you are right now, could be a place from memory, could be somewhere you’d like to go

 

-          Poem on the way … of the journey, of the place to place

 

-          Poem as a particular series – e.g. a series of ekphrastics /// pictures at an exhibition, a series of poems for a suite of music

 

-          A topic (e.g. a particular abstraction) from many angles – e.g. death, love, life, God, soul, angel, money … I think it’s a particularly good challenge to create the imagery that makes your reader think again (and again) about an abstraction, without resorting to further abstraction!

 

-          Missive … write a long letter to a deceased family member explaining how things now are... it might even be to an ancestor you've never met ... alternatively, one could write a letter of apology to one of one's (perhaps unknown) descendants... 'sorry about the weather we've gifted you...' 

 

-          Poem as wild as words can go … read ‘Tom O’ Bedlam’ for a benchmark ... just write the maddest things you can think of ... and when you've gone too far, go on ...

 

.

 

The three long poems for which I am currently gathering materials concern

 

sex

Gaza

Newtonmore

 

So quite different kinds!   One about an abstraction (to be dealt with in concrete and colloquial terms!), one about a current political crisis and humanitarian catastrophe, one about walking in the Scottish highlands.

 

I’ll share some of the phases of the development of each of these with you, as they progress. (Although I have no idea what each will be titled, or indeed if I’ll manage to finish any of them, I’ll probably choose different working titles for each, so that if they are submitted anywhere there won’t be any question of prior publication.)  Stand by for fragments! 

And meanwhile, please tell us what you are planning in the way of a long poem!