“Words have the power to change moods instantly, and because of this, we should respect their importance.” – dimitrireyespoet.com
When I first started making poetry videos on my YouTube channel it was to fill in the gaps of information that I wasn’t finding online. I wanted to create one single location where individuals can go to when they were learning to write poems. I also wanted the platform to model what the poet’s attitude should be like while they were creating. Now that I have many posts on the subject, it has allowed me to help those who are more experienced, and those who are just starting out.
This blog for example, will be highlighting 7 Tips for Beginner Poets
1) Appreciate Poetry
As a poet, you’ve probably realized in some shape or form that words are things. If you haven’t noticed it, be aware of how they can make you feel better when you turn your thinking into concrete phrases. Observe the way you feel when kind things are said to you. Words have the power to change moods instantly, and because of this, we should respect their importance.
But appreciation also means liking the way words sound if they’re put together in a certain order. Language itself has a musical tone to it, and the easiest examples are different languages, accents, and regional inflections in speech. This means you should be appreciating the art of the phrase. Actively studying poetry, listening to music, and engaging in conversation are ways to feed your poetic mind.
2) Read Poetry
If you are a poet, read poetry! It’s important to know what makes a good poem. By reading many poems, you will start developing your own formula to write your own. Reading different poets (and trust me, there is an innumerable amount of good poetry out there!) and different styles also helps to teach you what kind of subjects and styles you like.
What you will also find is how your own work will change depending on who you are reading. This is one of the most fun parts about the writing process because when you establish reading poetry as a habit, you will find yourself generating more work while also noticing constant changes.
Additionally, it is good to note that changes are good and they should happen. Though some poets stick to a certain structure or arc all of their life, I definitely encourage change, especially in my own poetic philosophy.
Now where are you going to find poetry? Poets.org, The Poetry Foundation, and Poetry Daily are great resources for poems. And as always, it’s good to read your contemporaries as well as what is the classic literary canon. To get a better idea of today’s publishing industry, read poetry within the past 10-15 years.
You might want to check out my work in the Publications section. The work that I publish is featured with other established or up-and-coming poets, too. Reading the entire issue gives you a good sense of the work being produced.
While talking about myself, you might want to check out my artist book, Deep Cuts if you are looking for super exclusive poems. They come with paintings by YouTuber/ artist, Jacinia Perez, who is also my very awesome partner.
3) Rhyming isn’t Necessary
The reason I encourage you to read contemporary works is because poets have realized what can be done off the rhyme as well as on it. Since the great Shakespeare’s and Marlowe’s, poetry has evolved into the experimentation of broken rhyme, or no rhyming at all. Since the Modernist movement of Western poetics, poets have taken a liking to free-verse, or a poem that doesn’t commit itself to a certain form. This makes a poem ever expansive, allowing it to have borders that extend only to how far our thoughts are willing to take a piece.
4) Form is Not Necessary
Please, do not limit yourself to villanelles or sonnets. They’re great forms, but there are more possibilities once you begin to explore poetry writing outside an abba format.
Often times than not, when beginner writers write in a form, the rhyme scheme proves to be quite limiting. Writers get so hung up on getting the words to rhyme that they invest more time into how the poem sounds sonically, or to the ear, rather than the actual content of the poem. The writer always needs to ask, “Where is this poem taking me? What journey do I want to create?” And it is harder to arrive at the answer to that if one is trying to find a fitting word to rhyme with antidisestablishmentarianism.
If you’ve never tried a free verse poem, try one of these exercises to kick start a poem.
5) Experiment with Form
I know I’m contradicting myself here, but you also don’t want to deter from form completely. Form poetry can be challenging but rewarding— like a puzzle… if you like puzzles. But even if you don’t like puzzles, maybe one day you are staying somewhere, at home or away, and you cannot go outside. Maybe there is a storm outside, or you’ve gotten hurt or sick. But you also can’t use any electricity indoors; maybe your internet is down, the power is out, or there’s no electricity in this location.
Then you turn to the puzzle and you realize there’s a system to it. First you have to separate all of the pieces with smooth edges. Next you try to start connecting those smooth pieces that look the same. After that you connect them all and have a border, finally you can start sorting out the other pieces to reveal the image.
Have you heard of the erasure or the renga? What about the ghazal or the abecedarian? Form poetry is much like a puzzle where you have to follow certain systems in order to reveal the art.
Some of the most common forms of poetry are the haiku and the sonnet. Here’s a handy diagram for a sonnet.
6) Write When You Want
Although this may sound obvious, it’s easier said than done. Humanity has never been moving faster than it’s moving today. With the internet, cell phone towers, industry, and capitalism, it’s easy to either feel distracted or lost.
Number 6 on this list is a reminder that YOU CAN find time for your work. Make sure that anytime you have an idea or a few lines for a poem that you get it down somewhere permanent, otherwise it can be lost forever. I know some people who keep a small notebook handy that fits in their back pocket. If inspiration strikes, they can pull it out at a moment’s notice and write down the poem idea, word, or phrase they were thinking of.
Personally, I use the memo pad on my phone. I find this easier for me, especially if I don’t have a writing utensil handy. I also prefer this because I usually edit and add to those notes if I get a few minutes to myself throughout the day. This allows me to immediately start revising/ editing a few lines with hopes that 5 minutes turns 6 words into 6 lines or 6 stanzas.
7) Watch My YouTube Videos/ Read My Blogs
These are just some of many tips. I go over a range of topics from performances and reading your work to publishing and making money as a writer.
This is what I do.
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