Writing a poem is a great way to pass the time. The process is relaxing, invigorating, vocabulary-widening, and you end up with something that you can be proud to share. Be warned, though: some people have a natural talent for writing poetry and make it look easy, but for most of us, poetry takes work, sometimes days or weeks to get it exactly how we want. Even then, it might not be enough. The longest I've spent on a poem was only a few hours, but those hours were long, slow and difficult.
Poetry, believe it or not, has been a battleground for centuries. What constitutes a poem? Does it have to rhyme? Is meter necessary? What are the essentials that every poem must have to be good? Well, here are some of the ways I tackle writing a poem.
First, after I think of something to write about but before I actually start writing, I think about word choice. If I choose to write something about a snowy forest, I will want to use lots of white and wintry visual imagery. Think snowflakes, blizzards, frozen ground, arctic wildlife, the Siberian or Canadian tundra. It also helps to invoke other sensory details. I might want to allude to how cold it is and what I hear above the wind. Writing with sensory information is a good way to bring your scenes to life.
Second, I think about how I want the poem to sound. Do I want it soft and slow and pleasing to the ear? Or do I want it harsh and attacking or jarring to hear? For nice and slow-moving, flowing sounds, I recommend using euphony and assonance. These refer to words with soft sounds, particularly vowel sounds like Es and Os and As, but also Fs and Ss, Vs, Ws, Hs. Use softer words for softer poems.
Cacophony is the opposite, using sharp, hard hitting sounds like Ks and Ts and Ps and Xs. These sounds are better for describing the sound of a machine gun than a peaceful wintry forest.
Alliteration (using the same starting letter for multiple words) can also be useful in poetry as a way of bringing euphony and cacophony to the forefront of the reader's attention. For example, the line, "The sleek sly leopard snuck around the snowy stone" makes use of the S sound, and reinforces the sneakiness and subtlety of the animal which is being described. In this line, "He shot five times, and the cold cruel steel cut through his coat and made him a corpse" the Cs echo each of the five shots, giving the line a sense of immediacy.
Third, I think about whether or not I want to employ a rhyme scheme. I love to rhyme, so in my case it's usually a no-brainer. There are many many schemes that are in mainstream use among poets. One of the most famous is the Shakespearean Sonnet, whose rhyme scheme goes abab cdcd efef gg. Another one is the Terza Rima, which goes aba bcb cdc ded efe and so on. I enjoy challenging myself to see if I can write within the confines of a strict form.
Finally, I think meter. Do I want the majority to sounds iambic, trochaic, anapestic, dactylic? Do I want any particular meter at all? Iambic lines, for example, sound like they bounce comfortably. This following line is iambic: "the trees and leaves were frozen like the ground." In terms of stressed (/) and unstressed (u) syllables, it looks like this: u/ u/ u/ u/ u/.
All these things I think about before I start writing. Once I've concluded on a particular rhyme scheme, meter and subject matter, I start jotting down notes, keeping in mind certain words I want to use and how I can form them to sound pleasing and fitting.
Of course, some of these things I've detailed are not essential. Some poets like Ross Gay don't use meter, punctuation or rhyme. Instead, all they strive to do is make their words evocative.
To finish, and give you some inspiration for your next masterpiece, here is a poem I wrote in ballad form:
The Janitor’s Ballad
He mops the floors and picks up trash
Graffiti is the worst
He hardly brings in any cash
He feels like he is cursed.
At night the roaches come to play
He sweeps them off their feet
He says, “You guys, you cannot stay,
Go somewhere else to eat”
Into his mop he hums a tune
(The handle is a mic)
He sings all night below the moon
Until the sun’s in sight.
“The nooks and crannies, walls and floors
I scrub until it’s dawn
Sometimes I get down on all fours,
I’ll scrub until it’s gone.”
“And bathrooms, oh my god, they smell
When something in the bowl
At times this job’s a living hell
It really takes its toll.”
“But of my work, I’m really proud
Although I’m rarely seen
I love it when I hear aloud
‘Oh wow, this place is clean’”
