“This poem was unusual for me in that it was written very quickly. Although I experimented with different stanza lengths, this version is close to the very first sketched out draft which was in couplets”
Category: Interviews
Taylor Edmonds: How I Wrote ‘I Am’
“When I’m writing something new, I tend to let it splurge out however it lands, without thinking about form too much, as this holds me back during this initial draft. Then I curate the form more carefully when editing.”
Mark Doty: How I Wrote ‘Deep Lane [June 23rd, evening of the first fireflies]’
“I have always felt that risk could energise a poem and that the reader might feel the heat being generated”
Saddiq Dzukogi: How I Wrote ‘The Old Ones’
“[This] poem represents the beginning of a willingness to engage in this new awe of the self through the prism of ancestry. It is an act of seeking permission to pursue this new wonder.”
Hannah Linden: How I Wrote ‘Each Morning, New Leaves’
“My poet mind is far wiser than I am. It takes me awhile to catch up with it.”
Jeff William Acosta: How I Wrote ‘of thee I sing’
“They came in like flashes, in fragments—a tapestry of thoughts. Writing poetry in a language that is not native to me, in a sense makes me think of ways or approach the English language in a different angle.”
Paul Deaton: How I Wrote ‘Harvest’
“I find that some poems I write, luckily, just seem to happen – I might get a first line, like a fish biting, and then, if I have time, I let the poem unfold itself, and see where that line takes me”
Suman Gujral: How I Wrote ‘Lion’ | Video Interview
“One piece of advice is… to not worry about whether anyone’s going to see the work; to make, to immerse yourself in your work and enjoy it. And don’t make it for anything in particular, but just make it for the sake of making, because [the] kind of creativity where you don’t kind of shoebox yourself into thinking we have to be one thing or another, that’s very liberating.”
Aaron Kent: How I Wrote ‘Between all of us like a Wavy Halo Form’
“After the brain haemorrhage I was put on very heavy sleeping tablets, and when they kicked in I began to write poetry, then I’d wake and find streams of subconscious thoughts, odd typos, and nonsense words which I’d later edit into a poem while conscious.”