Breaking Into Poetry: Suggestions for New Poets by Beth Cagle Burt, co-editor

Breaking Into Poetry: Suggestions for New Poets

How does one become a better poet and serious writer? It's a tough question, and the answers are unlimited. Although you may already be aware of some of the things I'm about to tell you, my suggestions are multi-fold:

·        Be on fire for poetry!

·        Make it a major component in your everyday life: read and write more poetry.

·        Meet other poets! See what they are doing with their poetry. Make yourself known in the local community by joining poetry readings, classes, and workshops.

·        Attend classes and workshops directed specifically at teaching modern poetry. Learn to work with the styles you discover. There are a wide variety of techniques to try: imagistic, naturalistic, surrealistic, lyrical, narrative, concrete patterns as well as traditional forms like sonnet, villanelle, sestina, and ballads.

·        Compare what you are learning to your older work, perhaps even to the point of revising poetry you've already written. Whether or not you can revise old poems, writing new poems is essential to keeping your skills sharp.

·        Revise, revise, revise! Very rarely does a poem come out finished in a first draft. Look for similar sounding words, but don't repeat the same word close in the poem (there are exceptions, of course).

·        Set your poem aside for a few days, and then come back to it to experience it with new eyes and ears. Read the poem aloud to hear how it rolls off the tongue.

·        Submit to poetry journals, following their guidelines, after making yourself familiar with the magazines. Also, pay attention to whether or not the journals accept simultaneous submissions, and follow those rules.

·        If you want a greater chance for a particular poem or poems to get published, choose journals that allow simultaneous submissions. If you want your poems to be published in some of the best known and respected journals, these usually do not accept simultaneous submissions (there are exceptions, however).

·        Entering contests is a good way to get your name out there, but some do not offer as great a chance to be published as just sending to journals for publication alone. Enter anyway if the contest is a respectable one.

·        Toughen your skin to the fact that you will receive many rejection letters. Even well-known poets get them in abundance.

·        Stay away from poetry scams. These swindlers are only interested in getting your money by having you purchase the book you are published in. A good way to tell is to check if the book publishes numerous poems to a page as opposed to only one or two poems per page. Serious poets do not value these publications, and they avoid these scams. Don’t be afraid to ask more experienced writers about scams.

·        Ask other poets about ideas on how to improve your poetry and what works in making poems publishable.

·        Gain as much knowledge as you can about modern poets and their poetry, but also learn about traditional poets and poetry from centuries ago. Poets create fresh writing, but it can often have roots in the past.

·        Develop your own voice and style in poetry.

·        Make time to write!

These are suggestions you can use to help you reach your goals. It is not a complete list, although these are some of the best suggestions I can offer. Do I follow all of these suggestions myself? Usually I do, but not always. No poet is a perfect poet, though many would like to be. I do the best I can in spite of daily tasks.

I hope these suggestions have given you useful ideas as you become the poet you want to be. Don't let the number overwhelm you. Instead, reflect on them and try them out one or two at a time until they become more like habits, enjoyable ones. Whatever you are doing, have fun doing it. Many good wishes on your journey.

Beth Cagle Burt, co-editor, Kakalak Anthology of Carolina Poets, cagleburt@gmail.com