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I want to learn poetry, but I know nothing about how to write it.

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I haven't even read much poetry since it's a more recent interest, and I've been busy. I've read some, and so far I like Dante Basco and Edgar Alan Poe.

I need to find a good introduction to poetry. I'm not really one for rhymes or having to follow strict rules. I just want to write about ideas that I have.

So is there a type of poetry that doesn't incorporate strict rules? It can have some. Basically, I just don't want anything too difficult that I'll just mess up.

Are there any particular books on writing poetry that you can recommend?
 

ubee0173

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anything by bukowski. he is amazingly straightforward. sylvia plath, rainer maria wilke, ee cummings, alan ginsburg are great too. just write what you want to say. if ya try too hard it will sound forced. if you need critique or ideas, im here- ive won a few awards and have a booklength manuscript collecting dust, so im always eager to discuss writing!
 
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anything by bukowski. he is amazingly straightforward. sylvia plath, rainer maria wilke, ee cummings, alan ginsburg are great too. just write what you want to say. if ya try too hard it will sound forced. if you need critique or ideas, im here- ive won a few awards and have a booklength manuscript collecting dust, so im always eager to discuss writing!

Awesome. Thank you. Can you recommend an instruction book or guide to writing? Also, based off what I said, what types of poetry might I like? Which ones aren't too difficult as far as the mechanics of it? I mainly just don't want to have to worry about rhyming.
 

Jaguar

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The type of poetry you are referring to is called, free verse.
You can Google it to find plenty of information.
Head to Amazon.com and plug in the words 'free verse' in your title seach, to find a list of books.
 

ubee0173

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Awesome. Thank you. Can you recommend an instruction book or guide to writing? Also, based off what I said, what types of poetry might I like? Which ones aren't too difficult as far as the mechanics of it? I mainly just don't want to have to worry about rhyming.

im really racking my brain trying to think of a guide. i dont know. i read the news, fall in love, go to bars, school, etc. i write because i cant keep it internalized. just anything you feel strongly about. and as far as rhyming goes, FUCK RHYMING!! the best poetry is from the heart, and my heart has only rhymed about 3 times. and i have probably writen 300+ poems in my life. but only about 40 poems are in my manuscript. just keep a notebook, write every day. dont just record events, but record your impression of the events. shit, i once wrote a poem about cleaning the bathroom. and it was not that terrible, surprisingly. and here is some bukowski just for fun:

bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pur whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.


there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

the laughing heart

your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.
there is a light somewhere.
it may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
be on the watch.
the gods will offer you chances.
know them.
take them.
you can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
and the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
your life is your life.
know it while you have it.
you are marvelous
the gods wait to delight
in you.
 

rav3n

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FUCK RHYMING!!
Best advice yet unless you plan to write man from nantucket style poetry!

Just start writing and keep writing until you can read it without cringing which in my case, hasn't happened yet.

There's a haiku thread lurking around TypeC. Why not try your hand at it? It's really easy to do with a 5-7-5 pattern.
 

strawberries

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if you want to get a little more familiar with poetry as a literary artform - the norton anthology of poetry is an excellent source for poetry newbies. it's got the who's who of poetry in it and is organised chronologically. it will expose you to different poetic styles/voices.

i pick it up occasionally and flick through it and can always find something to capture my interest - it's a beautiful book to own.
 

ThatsWhatHeSaid

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You can't learn how to write poetry from a manual. That's not what poetry is about. If it was, computers could generate poetry, but they can't.

Fuck manuals. Just experiment with something regardless if it looks proper. Let your soul guide your pen.
 

Nicodemus

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anything by bukowski. he is amazingly straightforward. sylvia plath, rainer maria wilke, ee cummings, alan ginsburg are great too. just write what you want to say. if ya try too hard it will sound forced. if you need critique or ideas, im here- ive won a few awards and have a booklength manuscript collecting dust, so im always eager to discuss writing!
Rilke. ;)
 

SecondBest

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Here's a foolproof guide to writing poetry. Ready? OK. Wait, stop... before you do. Throw out any "rulebooks" you might have. Or use them as paperweight... or firewood. You can't sell them cuz they're worthless. Either way, get rid of them. OK? Ready? OK.

1. Get your ass-kicked by life.
2. Find a poet or poem that truly speaks to your pain/joy/sadness/horniness.
3. Read the shit out of that poet and imitate them. Seriously. Write out one of their poems word for word if you want. Maybe replace a few words to fit your situation better. Maybe replace whole stanzas. Fuck around with it to make it fit you better. Let whatever inspires you guide you. Trust your instincts (if you don't have instincts, do step #1, but HARDER). Trust whatever meaning YOU get out of reading the poem and not what some dumb-fuck academic is telling you. Bridge the gap between the experience the poem is expressing and your own personal experience.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 over and over again until you start to develop your own voice, which you will if you perform step 1 properly because no one can express your experience better than you.

anything by bukowski. he is amazingly straightforward. sylvia plath, rainer maria wilke, ee cummings, alan ginsburg are great too. just write what you want to say. if ya try too hard it will sound forced. if you need critique or ideas, im here- ive won a few awards and have a booklength manuscript collecting dust, so im always eager to discuss writing!

It's Allen Ginsberg. ;)
 

KDude

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I'm old fashioned. I'd suggest the Romantics (lots of emphasis on just...pure emotiveness..not structure per se. It's a good start for poetry. EE Cummings is great, but he drives some people batty). From there you could move forward (or backward, for that matter). Penguin has a good compilation, but it's probably overkill. Just my 2c
 

strawberries

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secondbest's advice is useful, and reading a recommendation to imitate others from someone named 'secondbest' is too cute... :)

that's why i suggested getting a good poetry anthology. read the work of others - see how they have played with language. read the standards, the classics, the modern cool kids. get a feel for what can be achieved through poetry. try different styles on for size and play.

i'm kind of glad john donne, john milton and adrienne rich never read 'poetry for dummies.'
 

SecondBest

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anything by bukowski. he is amazingly straightforward. sylvia plath, rainer maria wilke, ee cummings, alan ginsburg are great too. just write what you want to say. if ya try too hard it will sound forced. if you need critique or ideas, im here- ive won a few awards and have a booklength manuscript collecting dust, so im always eager to discuss writing!

It's sylvia plath. No wait.. you spelled that right. Nevermind.
 

Salomé

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Talking of Bukowski...

So You Want To Be A Writer?

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.
 

SecondBest

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Talking of Bukowski...

So You Want To Be A Writer?

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it...

Fucking-A, man.

blow.jpg
 

ubee0173

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Talking of Bukowski...

So You Want To Be A Writer?

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.


ohdeargod!!!! i forgot that exsisted- i read that at my first open mic night!!! oh jeebus, i need to get back into the writing scene. it sucks having all this contentment- ive got nothing to write about!
 

Mole

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Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
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The Perfect Love Affair

Talking of Bukowski...

So You Want To Be A Writer?

if it doesn't come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don't do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don't do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don't do it.
if you're doing it for money or
fame,
don't do it.
if you're doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don't do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don't do it.
if it's hard work just thinking about doing it,
don't do it.
if you're trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.
if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you're not ready.

don't be like so many writers,
don't be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don't be dull and boring and
pretentious, don't be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don't add to that.
don't do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don't do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don't do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

This is delightfully true, and if we can't be poets let us be poetasters.

We taste a little here and we taste a little there until we find something to our taste.

And then we gobble it all up until we are sick of it and until we are sick to death of the author.

And then we are caught on the rebound by an angel of a writer. And we fall in love all over again.

Until our heart is broken and we have no recourse but to write ourselves.

And we write ourselves until our words write us.

We write the words and the words write us in the perfect love affair.
 

ubee0173

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It's E.E. Cummings.

LOL, this is fun!

E. E. Cummings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ee cummings in known for his lack of punctuation and capitalization. i used to get compared to him a lot by teacher-folk. i didnt even know who the hell he was until this artsy-fuck pretentious professor told me how she liked 'my style-very ee cummings'. i didnt have the heart to tell her i was, in fact, just lazy and hate typing, and really didnt give a fuck about the points i would get deducted! so i got a lazy typing pass all semester- whee (stupid teachy lady):yim_rolling_on_the_!

so, in summation i am respecting his memory 'n' shit.
 
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