Last week I laid down the law on why you oughta write poetry.

Meanwhile, in Carran’s Cabin I was sharing the saga of my injured finger.

(I cut myself moderately badly while chopping vegetables last Saturday, and given I sliced through the nail, it’s a slow recovery.)

In response, Cabin Crewmember "Codename Seattle" wrote back with a poem of her own that she was inspired to writer after reading WWN74 : Why you oughta wax lyrical.

I asked her if I could share it, because it’s an excellent example, and illustrates an important point for this week’s Write Way.

Without further ado, Codename Seattle:

And in response to that, Codename Schnitzel wrote in with a haiku:

The Cabin crew are a talented bunch.

But more than just showing off how excellent my subscribers are, I have a more serious point to this, which is.

No seven secret super special strategies to follow. No system.

Poetry is personal, and everyone is going to approach it differently. Codename Schnitzel considers herself too impatient to write rhyming poetry, so takes the Haiku approach. Codename Seattle chose comic verse, setting it to a tune in her head.

I actually find that easier than Haiku, but it’s because it’s closer to the hymn form I’ve practiced.

The point is that poetry is a profoundly personal thing and your mileage will vary with everything in this short newsletter.

So let me give you a couple of general tips and then talk about how I personally do it.

Step one is…

…read lots of poetry.

I recommend George Herbert, Milton, Tennyson, Wordsworth, Kipling and Stevenson to start. But get a big collection and see what catches you. One of the Oxford Collections of verse like this one. Read through it slowly and if you find a poem you love, get a collection from that author and add it to your shelves.

Bonus points if you have a few kids, because the greats of children's books are poets too - as are some older songwriters. I guarantee you’ll devour more poetry with young kids demanding you read Dr Seuss, Julia Donaldson and Lynley Dodd.

As you read and absorb poetry you also have to study the craft.

I missed that when I first started. Because I was mostly writing hymns to music, I had to fit the words to the meter. I was doing it mostly instinctively, but I was naturally constrained by the tune.

Then I started writing children’s books…

I submitted a manuscript to a publisher and they were interested but they had a bundle of comments on things like “iambs” and “trochees” and I had no idea what they were on about.

I needed to translate. I also needed to understand how to fix what my instinct had broken. My lines were too long or too short or inconsistent in their beats and I didn’t know how you changed any of that.

That’s when I started studying.

You should start studying much earlier than I did. You need to understand what you’re reading, and also what you’re trying to write. The forms and limitations, the rules and strictures of each. A good book will help you here, I recommend Mary Oliver's "A Poetry Handbook" to start. Study meter, rhyme, rhythm, musicality, scansion etc.

As you read and also study the craft you have to do the bit that nobody likes to hear:

Practice.

No way round it, you need to be doing it to get good. Most of your early efforts will be bad. But pick a form (say, a sonnet) and stick to it. Do it daily if at all possible, but at least a few times a week. Force yourself to write in constraints and your writing skills will grow.

As you master each form you can try and add other forms, finding that you’ll pick those up much quicker once you have a solid base to build on. But while you do, never forget to…

Take notes. Write down every funny phrase or new word you come across. Study dictionaries and thesauruses and rhyming dictionaries. Read widely and write down what catches your eye. Anything that's phrased well and moves your emotions, take it down. Any idea that pops into your head. All of it can grow into poetry.

That’s how most of my poetry starts.

They’re mostly hymns, so they often start with something the minister says during a sermon that has a good rhythm. It's got a beat to it. Then I'll think of another line that rhymes and note it down on the order of service sheet. I have dozens of those lying around with half-finished rhymes.

A few days later I’ll come back to it, put it into my digital library and write some more. I pull up the Bible passage we were looking at and take the language from there, but shape it to fit the rhythm and rhyme I want. Draw from years of theological study and wide reading for more. Slowly, I hammer out something that's right.

If I get stuck on a rhyme I use The Oxford Rhyming Dictionary for ideas, but as always with these tools you have to be careful that you understand the nuance of the word.

Then I leave it for a day or two, come back to it. I say it out loud. I sing it to the tune I'm thinking. I look for anything that's "off". Where is the beat not right? What rhymes were lazy? Have I used the same rhymes too often, have I used obscure words?

Then I send it to some friends who are musical, or theologically studied, or just good with words and patient with me. They'll flag anything off, I'll chat to them and bounce ideas and start to shape it some more. Eventually it will be done.

As this edition of the Write Way Newsletter is also done.

Go on, give it a try. Even just as a hobby.

Meanwhile, may your pipe puff pleasantly as poetry is produced by your pen,

James Carran, Craftsman Writer

fin