Friday, July 2, 2010

More [frag] ments

I've been finding this approach helpful.

Taking old poems that weren't quite working,
deconstructing them,
using images,
writing in the margins

writing more
in the margins

over several days,

pulling it all together then,
looking at what fits,
paring and pruning

not just for fragment poems
but for regular poems, too
(I need a name for those…).

What works: I write over days.

I don't require a 20-minute continuous effort.
I don't require the zone.

But I keep looking at images,
looking at everything from the days before,
and images come,
images fly out of the darkness,
then quiet

another image, maybe
while I'm walking from the bus (maybe
in the middle of the night).

Also, because I know
I'll be gathering this poem
over time, I feel less pressure
to write something good

to choose whether it works now
or discard it.

I just keep writing
in the margins

and loving it.

Have you tried this?

What ways do you push
or stretch
your edges, your known?

2 comments:

Closed Blog said...

Gosh Joannie, I am desperate in trying to set up a 24 page paper that I do for my bowl's club.
I now have M/S word 2007 and I have been trying all day to follow your example with nil result.

What should I do?
Colin Jesse, Queensland, Australia.
P.S. Cheers!

Joannie Stangeland said...

Jesse, which example? (Create a manuscript?; I assume you're talking about a Writer's Guide video.)

Can you let me know where you're running into problems?