We can use persona poetry techniques to write memoires. Technically, memoir poetry is not persona poetry, because in persona poetry, the poet and the speaker are different people. It is a bit like ghostwriting. We want to preserve the feeling that it’s true to the person’s voice, even […]
Poetry and Memoir writing are traditionally thought of as different kinds of writing but a mash-up can be very successful. One way to use poetry in memoir writing is to think like a memoirist but write like a poet. Organize the poems with a theme, paying attention to […]
It feels a bit surreal to be publishing my first full length collection of poetry, Flame Nebula, Bright Nova, at 45, after 20 years of being active in the poetry field—and 15 years after the publication of my poetry chapbook. It can be easy, on a journey like […]
Every time I teach Creative Writing: Poetry to college students, I spend some time going over how to submit poems for publication, and then they send out two batches of poems to different literary journals at the end of the semester. I set them up for the reality […]
So much has changed since I first started sending my work out two decades ago. Publishers are more open to simultaneous submissions, and I seek out (rather than avoid) online publications. But the biggest shift has been the number of pieces I get accepted each year. Take a […]
Artists and writers or poets can team up a create greater visibility for themselves through ekphrastic poetry or fiction writing. Ekphrastic poetry is when the poet reacts to a piece of visual art, a painting, a photograph, or even a sculpture. Ekphrastic poetry is a way to make […]
We need a piece of art to inspire ekphrastic poetry, which is when a poem is written in response to a piece of artwork, a painting, a photograph, sculpture, or other form of visual art. If you are writing ekphrastic poetry for yourself and you don’t care to […]
Ekphrastic poetry is when a poem is written in response to a piece of artwork. A writer can create works of flash fiction inspired by a drawing, or any kind of visual art or write a non-fiction reaction to a painting, photograph, or sculpture. One consideration in writing […]
Ever hear someone say, “People can do just about anything if he or she can read but they can get along well without math”? Reality check. Imagine your frustration if you couldn’t do something as simple as balance a checkbook on a regular basis, make change, deal with […]
Poets and writers are creative. On paper, we concoct characters and emotions. We invent forms and structure. We imagine people and places. We use the latest technology to research our work and appeal to readers. We write, edit and revise so no verse or phrase or word is […]
