FREE POETRY WORKSHOP 2/ NEWSLETTER The Poetry Workshop 2 by Barbara (Morris Fischer) Binstock Editor/Publisher Below are my best tips to an untrained budding poet... From the worst flaws to scams. The worst of all flaws Not knowing when to stop... LEAVE OUT EVERY UN-NEEDED WORD Ask yourself, "Can it end here?"  Brevity adds impact! Don't add endings when the message has already ended. Try to turn 24 lines into 3 line Haiku. How To Write Like A Trained Poet How to protect yourself from misleading information. Your well-meaning friends fuss over your poems or the fact that you write, to encourage you. They don't know what  great poetry is or that you'll compete with thousands! Do you want to listen to an off-key singer or musician, or a monotone speaker? They're a waste of your time and attention because they got up and  performed without training, without developing skill. If you attempt publication, you are asking me, and an unknown audience, to listen to you. The world is glutted with half-baked talent. It doesn't need more. If you can play "twinkle twinkle" with one finger, on the piano, you may think God blessed you with talent. But if you think you're now ready for an audience at Carnegie Hall, there's medication for you. You need to study the qualities in poetry that cause you to enjoy reading it, or leave your poems in a scrapbook.      Study what qualities? Properties found in great poetry; which I will get to. Merely reading enjoyable current poetry to identify some of those properties won't help you if you if you haven't been shown what to look for.   Just because you put a thought on paper isn't a reason to be published. Published means being put on stage before a large audience (of people who have no reason to care what you're saying). Not all poetry belongs being published. Write yourself a note: "An audience will love this because:" (what will anyone LOVE  about this?)   No one needs you to give them orders: "pray every day," "smile through adversity," or to chant trite old phrases at them: "no pain, no gain, a stitch in time,  roses are red," etc. Would you like a bowl of unappetizing gray slop for dinner? A poet is sharing his passion for his subject. A poet who refuses to study and mature is like a bad lover who refuses to learn how to be better. God may bless many people with talent, but it's up to the individual to get educated to use that talent. Lack of training shows... a bad singer, musician, actor, doctor, athlete, fisherman, comedian, ball player, poet, etc. The world is polluted with half-baked talent. whom only  polite friends and "vanity" publishers will praise.   (The real world has read so many better versions of what untrained poets say.) No Rhyme or Reason Ask yourself, "what purpose does this poem have for the reader?"  Is it a recollection they may have felt, but you put  into words? Will it enrich their knowledge or take them on an emotional trip, or comfort them? Are they seeing something in a new way through your eyes?              Is Your Rhyme And Meter Louder Than Your Message? Novice poets think rhyme means words that sound identical. When you use such rhyme or a steady rocking meter like a metronome, you give yourself away as an untrained poet. What is RHYME? Most of your rhyme words should gently reflect similar sound such as tell/until, song/linger, talk/clock." Subtle Rhyme" adds music to a poem. Use rhyme to surprise your reader not hypnotize. anything/ linger unclear/nearness. And don't forget internal rhyme,in the middles of lines: At the DAWN of  day The LAWN glistened silver. Twisting lines of words to make lines rhyme is ludicrous! Why must it rhyme at all? Say What you mean.  Not: "If only a child I had" so it rhymes with: "I would be so glad" "If only I had a child"...is what you meant to say. Why must it rhyme with anything?   Now Add A Drummer Meter is your drummer. Some syllables are emphasized as we speak. Some are soft.  If you aren't sure, the dictionary shows an accent mark after a stressed or emphasized syllable.   Using many unstressed/stressed syllables in a row gives a very loud drummer: Example #1 "unTIL / the DAY /beGINS / to END" As opposed to Example #2 a softer combination: HALT/ing / the / WIND /CALM/ing / the SORrow/         What is Rhythm? It is the arrangement you create with your meter. Such as 2 lines in the style of example #2 followed by two lines in the style of example #1. You may mix the different setups of stressed and unstressed syllables and then repeat that setup in the next stanza or change it in the next stanza and repeat it in the third.  Tricks like this surprise the audience. It indicates you're a trained poet. Free Verse Free-for-all Free verse, lacking  the music of rhyme and meter, must compensate the reader with vivid language. Otherwise it isn't beautiful. Vivid imagery (refreshing similes and metaphors) are required to create quality free verse. You need to become a master of unique, eloquent expression to be successful. You must seek out great free verse and emulate it.       Be New Be Original Never use a phrase you've heard: Cliche's and colloquialisms: "each  and every, so they say, a stitch in time, 'cause, yeah, you can get burned," etc. They contribute no color or music. Strip every line if the message can be heard without it. Poetry Scams? Every poet fears "Scams." But what is a poetry scam? People are voluntarily forking over thousands of dollars at Intn'l Library, aka Poetry.com. You get told how good are any foolish words  that you enter. You dream of their offer of $40,000 in prizes... You believe you may win because you are probably a great poet. They have agreed to publish you. They may even set your words to music. If you want to believe you are a great poet, you deserve what you get. What's the scam? They fill books quickly to sell lots of books to those who want to see only their own name in print. The books are abundant with junk. A few excellent entries, by those who didn't know what kind of publication it would be,  are buried in the debris. Do you want to hear that any jerk can have a poem published in that book?  There is no honor in being accepted where there are no standards for quality. When the book is filled with hundreds of worthless entries, no one reads more than a few of those poems to get turned off from reading the rest. They lead you to believe their book is a "reference" work. What they omit is that the book is a reference to see who wrote any piece of nonsense and called it poetry, thinking they'd win money. When you tell people (who know better) that you were published there, they laugh behind your back. WARNING, don't pay "reading fees." REAL publishers must consider manuscripts. How nifty, to collect thousands of dollars a week for reading poems! I loved this  letter from a poet, Anonymous writes: A few months ago I entered poetry.com monthly contest, the beginning of discovering a scam! They wanted to publish my poem in a fancy book and entered my poem in the monthly drawing for $1,000. I gave them my permission to use that poem thinking that if I did not, I would not have a chance at the prize money. I submitted more poems, one a month - they wanted to publish each one but I did not give permission. I was then nominated poet of the year - I was told I won a plaque and a bronze medallion to be presented by Montel Williams in a convention in Washington D.C. I called to ask for my prizes to be sent to me because I couldn't attend and was told "NO." You see I had to register and that really meant a $595.00 registration fee. Did I win or was this a scam, playing on peoples emotions? They then sent me some more "ego food" telling me that my poem sounded so good when read aloud that they wanted to put it in a CD - more money! I did not respond. They have my poetry on their web site as they do with millions of people. LEARN WHAT GOOD POETRY IS SO NO ONE CAN TRICK YOU! When you know the elements of "good," you'll know if you're good or how to be better. Why waste your life taking jabs and stabs? In a few hours, you'd know for the rest of your life what to do to make your poetry a cut above the average and then some As for the scam: poetry.com is not entirely conducting a scam. People have now asked me what I mean by "not entirely." They satisfy many egos. I learned of them in "FL Today" newspaper. A news release shows a glowing old poet holding the anthology containing her poem. She is happy. She won a plaque (that she paid for). She is "published" when no one in the real literary world would publish her. She writes kindergarten quality jingles and looks like a foolish, uneducated moron, in an era where we could all educate ourselves if we put forth a little effort! I'm sure they publish many excellent poems as well. (Great poets innocently enter poems there. Then they discover they're  buried in thousands of worthless contributions like that old lady's.) I'm sorry so many poets write me that they were chosen as a semi-finalist there. I've answered them that if they re-entered their poem upside down and backwards it would also make the semi-finals. (They don't like me for saying that when they're so proud of themselves.) I'm a mean old witch spoiling their high time. I've told budding poets thousands of times (with disappointing results) Anonymous also asks, " Why shouldn't people taste everything and then decide for themselves what they like?" America has no censorship. You can read other people's publications and then support those you like. Barbara Says Do you believe you should taste garbage to see if you like it? The FDA says don't taste poison. Trust to an expert that it's good before you go tasting it.  There are juried art exhibits for a similar reason. Why walk for miles looking at rows of uninteresting displays? Let a jury of trained  experts spare you, and show you everything exciting and exquisite. How can a poet make money writing poems, money for his own pocket - if that is at all possible?    Mr. Anonymous                                 BARBARA's Answer: Why do you think you should be paid for your poetry? Remember...some things we do because we love to. We skate, bowl, fish, swim, play billiards, chess, hunt, camp, travel, play an instrument, raise children, animals and gardens, etc. The people who provide us with the means to do it may make a lot of money, or they might do something else instead. But should we skate, or bowl, or play the piano with pay in mind? It is close to impossible to actually "make money" selling traditional poetry unless you use a gimmick. You may be able to sell greeting cards, or even songs. I think of my anthologies as a gallery or stage... my production, where deserving, talented poets have the privilege of  performing before my expectant audience. I don't want to let my readers down. I want to hear the audience applaud! And applaud they do. (Not to feed my ego...to show me that I've made them happy.) It is a great feeling to be published in a wonderful anthology or to publish your own book and see it get into the hands of those who'll preserve it. Should you write with pay in mind, instead of focusing on literary accomplishment? How much do you know about the elements that delight readers? What kind of formal study do you have behind you? Will the masses agree to pay to read YOUR greeting cards or books, etc? Most great artists and poets had other means of support. They weren't thinking of money when they created. Earning money requires professional SKILL. No one is throwing money around to buy books by millions of unheard of people who like to hear themselves write poems. If you want to make money from poetry, you've got to start at the bottom and become "known" as a poet. See our article: Promoting Yourself as a Poet ANONYMOUS rejects formal knowledge, and asks "would a teacher make a Babe Ruth or Michaelangelo?" Anonymous also says "there's no accounting for people's tastes. Some people may like unskilled writing and be willing to pay for it." Barbara Says: The fact is great coaches teach sports teams winning tactics. Many great achievers admitted they were strongly influenced by predecessors, from whom they built upon further. Talent is not enough. I remember playing the piano "by ear" at 6 years old. My grandmother explained that I could make better sounding music with less effort if I took piano lessons. Was she right? Of course. Many great achievers had "knowledgeable" critic-friends. (not just good-natured friends who didn't want to offend them.) Everyone loved George Burns. When someone is good, or bad, most of the people agree. It's why TV shows lose ratings and go off the air. When poems are mediocre, (we don't find artful use of language or a deeper message), we are disappointed for having our time and eyesight wasted. Listen to my grandmother. Study. It will be a lot easier to create a masterpiece if you know what you're doing. "Make better music with less effort by taking lessons.") If you published books successfully for 39 years, like I did, and read tens of thousands of amateur submissions, you wouldn't want to be argued with. 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