Trying a poem on for size
In the video (above), Helen and Michael discuss how they draft their poems. Some poets hardly touch their poems once they’ve finished, while others continue to revisit their work for years and years after it has been completed. Here are some things you could try to explore your poem:
• Read it out loud to yourself.
• Ask someone else to read it.
• Write out each line individually and see how it works out of context.
• Try reading it backwards.
• For a radical approach you could use the cut up method and see what happens when you cut your lines out individually and put them back together at random!
Did you try? When reading out loud for instance, were there places where it was harder to read than others? Have you changed anything, and why?
Additional video
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