Niki Bippen

Growing as a Poet

            Poetry has been around since the dawn of man pretty much.  It started off being recited orally and then eventually moved to being written down.  It, however, has not lost its oral origins and people today still flock to poetry readings to hear pieces read aloud or to share some of their work.  In my experiences, I've always just written my poetry and tucked them away or let others read them silently.  This was class was one of two times when my poetry has ever been read aloud.

            As Minot wrote, "poetry has never lost its roots in the spoken language, nor its reliance on the line." This is infinitely true in both cases although I had just been dealing with the latter until recently.  Before I read my poem aloud to the class, I fine tuned each line and took Minot's second characteristic of poetry "heightened use of imagery" to heart.  I made sure each appealed line was heightened and solid.  I wanted my readers to experience what I was seeing in my mind. After this, I read the poem aloud to see how it sounded.

            This was another thing that Minot pointed out as one of the "five fundamental qualities [of] poetry: greater attention to the sound of words".  I honestly had not considered how the words would sound read aloud until this class and after reading Minot's bit about it, I realized he was right.  I went back and edited my poem further, picking words carefully not only based on how they looked on the paper but how they sounded when read aloud as well. 

            Outside of this class my only other experience was a creative writing class offered at San Jacinto.  Although there my poetry was read aloud, I never really stopped to pick out words that sounded better read aloud; I just picked ones that looked good on the paper.  I think my poetry really suffered from this, but I was never given more information or critical help. It was always just "I really like the image you have here" or "good job" or maybe "I would change this line".

            Another thing I found very helpful from Minot's piece was his criticism of truism. To summarize, he informs the readers that truisms are about as bad as cliches.  They give the reader material that is already known and accepted, taking away from the value of the poem.  Instead he suggests reaching out and creating "a fresh and vivid picture", something new and exciting.  Afterall, we do have cards and sayings to remind us of truisms.

            Aside from the Minot handout, I found the workshops offered from our class to very helpful.  People were critical and their suggestions came from experience, not just "I like this or don't".  They referred back to Minot's texts or other teachings from experienced professors, rather than again, just their own personal feelings.  I was able to walk away from the workshop with a lot of good suggestions and information.  My poetry was strengthened! Even when the poem being discussed was not mine, I was able to take back suggestions and apply them to my own pieces.  This helped tremendously.

            In conclusion, Minot's piece and the workshops from this class have improved my poetry tenfold. Minot taught me to avoid pitfalls, that I needed to pay attention to how the words of my poem sound when read aloud, that truisms should be avoided, and that heightened imagery is infinitely important to a poem. The workshops, however, did help my poetry more because it was hands on and my classmates were able to offer skilled suggestions and advice.  It was a nice break from the typical "I like it."