This book, The Crafty Poet: A Portable Workshop by Diane Lockward (Wind Publications, 2013) is a handy resource for when I want a fresh approach to writing a poem. Lockward, poet laureate of West Caldwell, NJ since 2009, offers a free monthly poetry newsletter and helms a small publishing arm called Terrapin Press. The Crafty Poet (which now also has a sister-sequel volume) is a composite work dreamed up and coordinated by Lockward but containing craft tips and sample poems from a host of interesting contemporary poets (see contributors’ names below) thoughtfully arranged by topic–from “Generating Material/Using Time” to “Writer’s Block/Recycling” and many gems in between. Material was generated from and originally shared on her Poetry Newsletter.
Regarding Today’s Poem: “X = ?”:
As you know, I have been traveling through the alphabet backward this year. Backwards or forwards, it doesn’t matter: the letter “X” is a daunting prospect. Today, it was Lockward’s book, above, that helped me see the challenge from a fresh vantage point. From the chapter on “Voice,” which suggests locating one’s own voice by internalizing other voices through deep study and frequent reading of a poem (or poems) you love, I used the prompt by Jeanne Marie Beaumont that uses her own poem, “After” as an illustration. Her poem is inspired by Robert Frost’s “After Apple-Picking,” using the first word of his title for her title, then weaving two stanzas out of an acrostic use of the second word in Frost’s title. I am drawn to memorize and recite the poems of other poets anyway, so for me the springboard into my own poem was the idea of creating an acrostic, playing with the ideas of “X” as the unknown quantity and of mysteries encountered at crossroads.
If you would like to know more about this acrostic form, there is a wealth of information online. It is an old form, beloved of children (they enjoy making up poems based on their own names!) and poets of all ages. The trick, I think, is to balance the body of the poem carefully against the seed letter at the beginning of each line. Best of all is when the reader encounters the poem first without realizing it is an acrostic (as happened with me as I read “After.”)
Thanks for reading this! Hope you enjoy today’s construction project!
LESLIE
I like this t-shirt idea! One in light blue for me, please!
Fun post, Leslie. I’ve always struggled with acrostics although think of them as a fun distraction. Can’t wait to read the poem.
And … another book to look into! Wow. There are so many great books out there in the world. As the t-shirt or something says, “So many books, so little time.”