- When writing poetry, use your hands.
You’ve got two good hands—use them. On the left hand are the reporter’s tools. Can someone reading your poem answer the who, what, where, when, why and how (5 W’s and H) about your poem? On your right hand imagine the five senses—sight, sound , smell, touch and taste (3 S, 2T).
The more senses you involve in your poem, the more enjoyable it will be for your reader. So, when you start revising your work, get your hands into it.- Look at the nouns. Try to avoid Boy Scout Words. These are words like truth, beauty, brotherhood, loyal, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Try to use concrete words that you can get your hands on—something you can physically touch or see or hear.
- Verbs make your poetry move, take flight. Try to use active verbs that are interesting, dynamic, exciting. Avoid dead verbs. These are the helping verbs that start with any of the “to be” words. Check to be sure that your subjects and verbs agree in number. Make sure the tense of the verb is consistent in the poem.
- Try to be specific. Don’t write, “tree”; use maple, oak, elm to pack in more information. Instead of bird, write cardinal, lark, or wren. Remember it isn’t about the rabbits, it’s about de’tails.
- Check your adjectives. Don’t tell me the obvious. I expect grass to be green, dirt brown, lemons yellow and the sky blue. Telling me the obvious is only boring, now if the lemons are purple, you’ve told me something and can set my imagination spinning. When you're done checking adjectives, check the adverbs, can you find a stronger verb to omit the adverb?
- If you are using color words, try for one that can also be used as a noun. Try coal, ebony, jet for black, or ivory, marshmallow, alabaster for white.
- Check your articles. Do you need them, if the line reads just as well without the articles, cut them out and have tighter lines with more weight. “And” is often a word that can be omitted too. If using the article “the”, check to see if a descriptive adjective will pack in more information. Check pronouns too. Do we know who “He” is?
- Check for “that.” Often “that” just takes space and doesn’t say anything in your line. Do the same test for “that” that you do for articles.
- Check for “up” and “down.” Use the “as opposed to” test. Where else can you look but up to see the sky? How else can you sit besides down? So to use the word is redundant. Omit it if you can.
- When in doubt about which word to choose, work toward alliteration and assonance. Both will put music into your lines, much as internal rhyme does.
