Yesterday, the muse hit me as we were on our way to school. I was driving, so I kept repeating some lines of a poem in my head so I could jot them down when I got to my classroom. As it happens, more lines came to me as we got to school.
As soon as I sat down, I released the poem onto a yellow legal notepad. I thought it would be fun to share my creative process on X as I spent time working with the poem.
Here are those posts:
Post One:
Love the creative process… first is jotting down the lines I had in my head as I was inspired on the drive to school…
Post Two:
The second step (for me with poetry) is to consider if the main idea of the poem can be better expressed through a poetic form. So what I will do is consider the rules of longer poetic forms (the poem is a page long at the moment. If a form stands out I will rough draft (cont)
the poem in that form. Then I have to make a hard creative decision. I decide if the poem works in the poetic form, or as written. I will still work on word choice, flow, things like that after that decision… I’ll let you know what I decided when I get the chance…
Post Three:
So step two has been completed. I will not be using a traditional poetic form, I will work with the poem as it was written on the page (step three). Forms I did look at: cywydd deuair hirion, kyrielle, rimas dissolutas, and Ya-du to name a few….
Post Four:
Step three of the process is the work on the poem. I have edited the original draft, but now have rewritten the whole poem on a new sheet of paper working the edits in. The 2nd draft also focuses on line breaks, tempo, things like that… I will rewrite the whole poem (cont)…
a number of times. I do that so I experience the whole poem, not just the edits. When I feel I have the poem ‘right’ I will transfer it to my computer.
Post Five:
Side note for creativity… To a degree I trust my gut regarding decisions about the poem. No poetic form felt like it would enhance the theme of the poem, trust the feel of the words on the page as I write. So, there is always the risk of getting something ‘wrong’ (cont)
in the sense that the poem isn’t the best it can be. Or the bridge to the reader is not strong. But the more one works on their craft, they can trust their gut more, and be OK when it doesn’t seem to hit correctly…
Post Six:
Step 4 is easy. Transfer of the work onto my computer. But step five is a challenge… what to do with the poem. I was going to share it in the next post, but as soon as I do that I can not submit the poem for publication consideration… And I like how this poem (cont)
turned out. I like the imagery and the theme. I want to share it, but am now thinking about seeing if someone else would like it enough to publish it. So, at the moment I am going to submit it to some journals. Hope you enjoyed this look into the process of writing a poem today!
And so I have a new poem in my folder “unpublished 2025” and I am looking for opportunities to submit the poem.
When I write blog posts (like this one) and short stories, even my novel ideas. Step one is kind of the same. I do like to get ideas down on paper, even if I use my phone to record an idea, like I do when I walk. I personally like the sense of creation as I write. The feeling of the pen, the way the ink evolves into words.
In some ways, I can’t forget about that idea because it is in the real world. So, would love to hear about your creative process. Share in the comments, or reach out to me on social media.
Here’s to a creative day!
It is all Connected 