“A poem can grow from a photograph (or several) like a crystal”
Author: Zoë Brigely
Editor of Poetry Wales
Zoë Brigley is an award-winning poet, editor and academic. As well as editing Poetry Wales, she shares the role of Poetry Editor for Seren Books with Rhian Edwards, and is an Assistant Professor in English at Ohio State University.
Gabriele Tinti: How I Wrote ‘Confessions’
“Every single word, every one of my lines, arises out of the quest for immortality, to conquer death”
Vanessa Napolitano: How I Wrote ‘The list’
“I often find when I write that there is a syllabic pattern emerging and it forms the basis for how I structure my poetry. It’s rarely deliberate in the first instance… but gives me a foundation to build the poem on.”
Radhika Swarup: How I Wrote ‘After Partition’
“The short story form of prose, I feel, attempts to bridge the chasm between [poetry and prose], and can provide intense insight into a moment.”
Karishma Sangtani: How I Wrote ‘Papeeta*’
“It took longer than I expected to adjust to thinking in Hindi, but I think that initial frustration allowed me to appreciate even more the enriching experience of perceiving the world in more than one language.”
Salma Arastu: How I Wrote ‘Allah O Akbar!’
“I was asked to create a painting which showed my reaction to the negativity and biased views about Muslims and extreme Islamophobia around the globe… While thinking in mind about the image the poem happened naturally.”
Abdulkareem Abdulkareem: How I Wrote ‘August Third’
“This poem is one of the few poems I knew I would write someday, I’ve wanted to write it even before I wrote it.”
Ilias Tsagas: How I Wrote ‘Language Matters’
“[When] I write poetry I always have an image in my mind. Even if the starting point is an emotion or a vague idea, I try to visualise it. Whether I include this initial trigger right away in the poem or I save it for later on is something I decide along the writing process”
Alexandra Corrin-Tachibana: How I Wrote ‘The names of things’
“I guess I listen and steal from what is going on around me. Sometimes I hear something hilarious or outrageous and think that has to go in a poem! I want to record and share it”