What’s your process for writing poetry?

  • Clear my head
  • No, really clear my head
  • Have a vague idea of what the argument is that I’m going to write
  • Have a concrete idea of what the form is that I’m going to write in
  • Start thinking up phrases in iambic pentameter
  • Keep thinking up phrases in iambic pentameter
  • Wait till my heart beats in iambic pentameter
  • Optional: have access to a rhyming dictionary, to use as emergency backup
  • Start writing, keeping in mind the vague idea of what the argument is
  • Scrub lines if they’re not going in the right direction
  • The first quatrain is the hardest. Once that falls into place, the form does too.

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