A friend of mine recently asked me how I came up with poems, so I thought I would put together a few notes and ideas to show the process of writing a couple of the poems I have done recently.
TAKE YOUR MEDICINE
Generic
Names esoteric
Ciprofloxacin
Try and take it in
Metronidazole
Symptoms under control
Sodium picosulfate
With citric acid
Watch out
Its action is rapid
What’s coming next?
The side effects
Rash and nausea
Headache and pain
To cure it?
Take more medicine. Again
There were three phases to making this poem.
1. INSPIRATION
Anything can spark off a poem for me - number plates, political situations, or just everyday occurrences. This one started to form when I was taking my pills one night, getting rid of an empty box. And with the number of pills I'm taking at the moment, side effects were on my mind.
The names of the pills have always appeared strange to me. You've got the chemical/drug name and the brand name. The end result is lots of unusual sounding words, which is great for a poem. There's also the word "generic", as in a copy of a particular branded medicine. That led me onto the first rhyme...
2. RHYME & FORM
The great thing is you don't have to worry about EITHER of these to make a good poem. However, I came up with the first rhyme "generic/esoteric" quickly. The next two pairs of lines rhyme, and then it changes - mainly because the next phrase was so long. The "acid/rapid" rhyme was tricky to come up with.
It was a question of working out what I wanted to SAY with the poem. It basically splits into three parts - the names introduce the topic, then it talks about the side effects, and finally the finish with a twist. Note the pair of lines and then the four line rhyme again.
3. REFINEMENT
This one didn't need many changes as I typed it up while I thought of it. But you can find a better rhyme or rhythm, or move sections around. The key thing is that you get a nice flow and get across what you want to say. Ironically, one of the key side effects (depression) that I was concerned about didn't make it into the poem... mainly because I haven't been suffering with it (just the opposite in fact!)
So that's a little insight into the poem and the process.
I'm your window on the world
I'm the chip in your computer
I'm a nomad in the desert
Drifting across the land
I'll get between your toes
I'll get under your clothes
I'll amuse you at the seaside
I am sand
This one was inspired by watching a TV programme about the South Pacific, with images of the sand sticking in my mind and the idea of the dune moving. The actual composition of the poem was done "live" on an Internet forum I visit - I clicked to enter a message and wrote the poem there and then.
WHIRL
Head spinning
Views changing
Stay here
Or move
A record in a groove
Water down the drain
Mixed up again
This short poem was inspired by the oneword website. Go to the site, click on Go and you are given a word and a text box to type into. You have 60 seconds to write something, then submit it. It's a great exercise for coming up with rhymes quickly and should help spark some interesting poems...