Adolescence By Day

Thank you again (I'm full of thanks, today.) I'm actually getting an MFA in writing and I'd be glad to give you advice which I hope you will find helpful. I'll even try to be brief, which I find difficult. I can be a touch long-winded. :)

There are several different schools of thought when it comes to poems; some people think poems have to be all about a single image, some people think they have to be a portrait of a particular moment in time and some people think poems must use words and play with them. This, to me, looks like a portrait of a particular moment poem (some great examples of this in more recent times are Ai, Patricia Smith, occasionally also Kim Addonizio and Marge Piercy.) I have been taught to classify those as forms of dramatic monologues, in which a speaker directly addresses the reader, like the speaker of this poem, and tells them something or demands that the reader act in a certain way. Dramatic monologues can be very powerful, because they invite the reader to participate (like the last few lines, in which the reader is told to come find the speaker) and ask the reader to be a direct part of the poem.

Were I to offer a suggestion, like I would in a workshop, I'd tell you that you have images, like the map image, and that those can be an excellent place to start putting a very physical face on what the speaker is conveying and provide balance to the direct address. Commanding a reader is a good step, but it is also helpful to show them something they can 'see', as well as give them a portrait of powerful emotions. For instance, in terms of images, when you say the map is made of tears, a good thing to know is how that might look. It sounds weird, but some of poetry is making word combinations which startle the reader, and the description of a map made of tears would be very startling (would it shimmer, how solid would it be, how would it hold together or be read and what would it say.) This doesn't have to go into the poem itself, but sometimes when you write about how something works, you will come up with interesting word combinations or phrases you might use in another poem or story. I usually keep many drafts of things so that, in the process of looking at something again, I can keep ideas to make more stuff out of or see if a particular word fits in better in the poem or story I'm working on. I like that you aren't afraid to say that you know you have to give people the map. That's pretty fearless of you and very cool.

There should be an email address on my profile. It is okay with me if you ask me more questions; I'm actually going into teaching and I volunteer a lot to teach creative writing pretty much to anyone who will listen (I sometimes travel to schools and teach free classes on poetry or fiction.) I could use the practice and I like to think I can be helpful. Certainly, the world needs both more artists and more female artists, and it seems to be something you are very interested in. Just commenting on the blog is fine as well. I'll check back by you ever so often, and if you have something you'd like me to see, you can always email me and I'll come when I can.

I hope that you will have a very thought-provoking day and that no matter what you do, you will be able to find something to laugh at, because laughing can save your sanity.

I would love to hear some of your advice. I love writing, but unfortunately I can't get advice from my teachers since I don't really write about school-appropriate subjects.

I couldn't find your email on your profile, but here's mine: adolescencebyday@gmail.com. Email me if you have time, I would love to continue hearing your advice.

That's the thing that sucks about school or at least it did awhile back when I was going. What I was actually experiencing at home and out there was all subjects I was forbidden to turn in to my English courses. I didn't really start writing until I went to college (other than that diary everyone seems to have had at one point or the other.) I'll get to the emailing soon, I think. I'd like to send you a few poems so you can see examples of the styles I was talking about.

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