Gossip [&] the Devil

The reversal technique is one of the more under utilized in trying to break away from writers block, likely because often you’re faced with a jibberish of words when you’re done. The art is simple, is there a poem or narrative you can’t quite bring to that break out level, is the language staying stale and dated? Take it and turn it upside down. Make the last line the first, and continue down the line. The last line of your new poem should be the title of your old poem. Make sense?

A poem called "Brown-Eyed Voodoo" Set in reverse.

Now you can edit as you reverse, since some sentences aren’t going to make a bit of sense, but only lightly edit, try to leave the integrity of the exercise intact. We’ll look at a poem called “Brown-Eyed Voodoo” for as an example.

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Much like twin poems can help you when you’re in a slump, looking at a piece of work in a different light can help you as well. Lately I’ve taken to yet another age old teaching: the art of the cut and paste.

Basically in a cut and paste you do just that: you take your printed poem, cut each line out and tape them on a board or simple sheet of paper. Sometimes you can find sentences that don’t belong, or whole stanzas that need moved. Sometimes you lose a sentence and the poem changes entirely. I’ve found that this method works with visual arts as well. If you aren’t happy with a particular painting and don’t mind cutting it up, then try it. Dissect into a few pieces and re-arrange them. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

Sometimes the cut and paste can be simple, like so:

A cut and copy technique I used on an poem called "Dread."

This is an upcoming poem entitled “Dread” that I had no clue what to do with. The language was boring, the images weren’t coming through and basically it made no sense. But I knew there was something in there. I was sick to death of staring at my computer screen. So I cut the whole thing up, re-arranged it, scrapped the entire last half and still can’t figure out exactly what it means, but now I’m a hell of a lot closer.

Sometimes the cut and paste can be a bit more colorful, like so:

From an upcoming poem entitled "Sleep"

Sometimes stepping away from your chosen medium can work wonders. Can’t find the right word? Paint a picture of what you want. Can’t find just the right angle to photograph that lovely boy who eats lunch in the courtyard every day? Then write a poem about how you want the light to hit his hands, face or legs. It can help and relieve your mind of the pressure to perform under its chosen duty.

Quickly, in other news, I have a new–and I mean brand new–piece up over at Troubadour 21 entitled “The Introduction of Rose – Part V.” Head over there and let me know what you think! The Billy series is one I always wanted to finish but could never produce the drive so, once again, thank you T21.

The Practice of Poetry :: A great resource for overcoming writers block.

As you know I’ve been going through a bleak depression/writers block. To counteract this I’ve went back to one of the earliest writing techniques I learned in high school: the art of the twin poem.

For any unaware writers out there,  a twin poem is basically just like it sounds. You find a poem and write it’s twin, opposite words and situations. More often than not you wind up with a poem totally different than your twin, and something to add to your portfolio. I’ve also signed up for a couple “word a day” programs in an attempt to expand my vocabulary. Every day I get a word and I use it in that evening’s twin poem. I hope that soon they’ll sound/read natural because my language will be elevated.

7 Poets, 4 Days, 1 Book :: The book I'm currently using to write twin poems.

This has produced me some of my best work to date and I’ve decided to release a book when I’m done twinning  my current book of choice,  7 poets, 4 days, 1 book. My book will nothing but my twin poems and a handful of new work I’ve had in store for a while. Its coming along quite nicely.  A preview of what I’m talking about is found below the cut:

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