 Poetry: September 05, 2012 Issue [#5238] |
  Poetry
This week: What Do I Do With All These Poems? Edited by: Crys-not really here  
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| Hello! My name is Crys-not really here and I am the guest editor for the Poetry Newsletter this week. Poetry was my first love, so I'm happy to share it with you! |
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What Do I Do With All These Poems? Putting Together a Collection
In my last Poetry newsletter, I talked about chapbooks. If you're ready to enter a chapbook competition, or submit a poetry manuscript for publication, or self-publish your own book of poems, you should be aware that most manuscripts aren't just a bunch of poems randomly thrown together. Great poets put together a carefully constructed manuscript with a running theme and pay special attention to the order of poems.
 First, take a look at the poetry you have polished and find a common theme among them. Yes, your "theme" can be something as simple as "love." Love poems, when done well, are certainly popular. But what makes your manuscript stand out? Maybe your love poems cover a wide array of types of love, from love of a pet to love of a spouse. Perhaps you actually write anti-love poems. Maybe you don't have enough love poems for an entire manuscript, but some of your poems could also fall into the category of "hate." There you go, a manuscript that explores both love and hate.
 Next, organize your poems into a logical order. Maybe your poems are related and tell a story, perhaps of your own life or of a made up character. If you're not lucky enough to have a coherent story line, then I recommend grouping your poems by topic to start off. You don't necessarily have to have defined sections labeled "love poems" and "death poems" and so forth in the book, but it can help if you have general headings in your mind.
 I like to put poems within their categories into a logical order. Of course, I can't really define what "logical" is.  I think of each grouping of poems as telling their own story, and each story making up a "chapter" of the larger work itself. So, I may start with a subdued poem and work my way up to the most dramatic poem of the "chapter."
 Of course, just as if you were writing a novel, the beginning and ending of a poetry manuscript matter a lot. They say that people decide within the first page of a novel whether or not the book has hooked them enough to keep going. I think the same thing is true for poetry. I like to start with a poem that brings the reader into my manuscript and that really shows off the best of my work. In the recent chapbook I have been entering into contests, that poem is my "Ars Poetica." It just seems like a proper way to begin a collection.
 It's much harder for me to chose a poem for the end of a collection. I don't want my choice to be anticlimactic, and I certainly don't want to chose my weakest poem. I like to chose something just as strong as my first poem, something that will leave the reader with a lasting impression of my talent. My choice is often a poem that brings out strong emotions for that very reason.
 However you decide to organize your poetry collection, at the very least do it with purpose. Readers notice when a poetry collection haphazardly tosses them around from topic to topic, emotion to emotion. They will feel cheated if they can tell you didn't put any thought into how you're displaying your work. When a collection makes sense to you, the odds are better that it will make sense to your readers. |
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Thanks for this information on chap books. I never knew what they were before. Would I be able to find contests for chap books on the internet? -bertiebrite hoping for peace 
Yes! Just doing a search for chapbook competitions will yield plenty of results. I would recommend that you check out the organization sponsoring the contest and make sure that any past contests have actually had winners. Also, I would caution you, as always, to avoid sending large amounts of money to any organization as an entry fee. Most chapbook contests I have seen have charged between $10 and $25.
A very informative newsletter for every poet with a dream to get published. Thank you so much for featuring my poem "My little treasures " in this newsletter, this is my first feature and it means a lot to me. Thanks again! Princess Zelda 
Thanks for the encouragement. -troy ulysses davis
Would love to see info on self publishing a chapbook whenever the topic is brought up again. -Amyaurora 
Thank you for this informative newsletter, they do help us and we enjoy them.
When will you do a newsletter about the most popular forms and style of poetry, I am interest in knowing. I want to expand and learn various styles of poetry, even prose.  -kdelightful |
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