Poetry is an inherently experimental form, which opens up a space to explore complex and diverse emotions. “Poetry doesn’t have any rules,” says Sage, winner of Best Peer Review in our Poetry Competition. “It asks for emotion but it doesn’t require that feeling to be refined or perfect. Poetry can be messy.”
Read on as the winners of our January competition discuss influential poets, the theme of ‘origins’, and advice for their fellow writers.
Divya Venkat Sridhar, Winner:
How did you approach the idea of 'origins’ when writing your winning poem?
“Origins” has always been a peculiar concept for me. I was born in India and my family is from there too, but I never learned how to speak my mother tongue or do things that would make me “qualify” as Indian. I’ve always felt somewhat ashamed of not living up to this identity. But when I began to write poetry, I realised that there is so much about me and my roots that I have yet to discover. It’s not the Indian passport that defines me. I think it’s every memory, person, and experience I’ve had that ties me so closely to India.
I love my granddad. I look up to his love for life, cooking, and living in the moment. And hearing his story has told me so much about what my origins are. I just needed to paint that picture in this poem. When I think of India, I think about his seemingly infinite joy, and it feels like home.
Guest Judge Carla Panciera praised your piece for being “full of the kinds of surprises that arise when a poet uses language and imagery in ways no one has used them before”. Is experimenting with language an important part of your writing style?
Absolutely! I’m always looking for unusual metaphors that mix up the senses, connections between the most random objects, and interesting images to incorporate in my writing. And they take inspiration from all sorts of things- food, nature, people, you name it. I feel like being a poet means observing the world around you in your own way (a bit of a superpower, in my opinion). I think the best poems are the ones that have that kind of vivid sensory description- so that you aren’t simply reading them, you’re also experiencing them.
Can you tell us about a poet or author who has influenced your writing?
It’s hard to narrow it down to just one! My inspiration from authors has always been mix-and-match. In terms of writing style, I really love Sylvia Plath- her poems pack a punch- and Seamus Heaney.
Recently, I bought a copy of Ocean Vuong’s Time is a Mother and it just blew my mind. His writing is so deep and intimate, and he draws out all of the complex facets of grief with a lot of emotion. It’s the sort of poetry that makes you stop and look at the world around you in a completely different way. I’d love for my writing to make someone feel like that someday.
Sage Marie Collier, Best Peer Review:
In your winning review, you gave clear and useful feedback to a writer who was new to poetry. What advice would you give to WtW members attempting poetry for the first time, or wanting to improve their craft?
Our world is filled with rules. However, sometimes these borders can feel a bit constricting, and this is where poetry comes in for me. Poetry doesn’t have any rules. It asks for emotion but it doesn’t require that feeling to be refined or perfect. Poetry can be messy. And I daresay the best poetry focuses on the colors outside of the lines, and the ideas that shouldn’t make sense. Find the moments that no one else can identify and make your reader understand just how vital they are for life.
For the free-verse writers: the most unique/standout aspect of this form of poetry is the line breaks. Choose some important words/phrases and separate them where you would breathe if you were reading this poem out loud. If you’re struggling with this, listen to spoken word poetry; each pause for breath is carefully chosen to give weight to a thought or idea.
For the rhymers: One of the most common stigmas associated with poetry is that it has to rhyme. I would like to argue that it does not. But if you do choose to go the rhyming route, note your rhyme scheme before you begin. Use a different letter to represent a different rhyme at the end of a line, then you can move those lines around until you have a rhyme scheme you like (ABAB, AABB, ABBA are some common patterns).
Our guest judge congratulated you for “provid[ing] guidance without taking over the poem”. How do you go about giving helpful and specific feedback whilst ensuring that the writer still has full ownership over their ideas?
As Ernest Hemingway says, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” For me, it’s important to remember that someone has put a lot of work and emotion into a piece. Above all else, it is their writing, and you don’t want to remove their voice by editing the heck out of it. The author’s perspective might be different than yours, and that’s okay. I usually try to stick to editing mechanics to improve flow: spelling, punctuation, grammar, rhyme & meter… as well as asking a writer to explain an unclear idea or give context. But I always make sure to remind the author that there’s no pressure to accept any suggestions; after all, it is their piece. And if I have constructive feedback to give, I always compliment other aspects of the piece before and after the corrections so that the author doesn’t feel attacked. (This is super important!)
What is your favorite genre of writing to review?
I love creative nonfiction beyond everything else because it gives readers a glimpse into another perspective while still remaining true to life and real. One of the most beautiful things about humans is that we don’t think and feel the same way, and I love reading and reviewing poetry as a way to familiarize myself with points of view different from mine.