It’s normal to feel nervous about publishing or performing poetry for the first time—in fact, it's part of the process! "It’s tempting to judge a poem’s worth only by whether or not it gets published in a certain place, or it goes over well with a certain audience," says award-winning poet Phil Kaye, Guest Judge for our Poetry & Spoken Word Competition. "But that doesn’t do justice to the time, energy and vulnerability that goes into creating something out of nothing. That’s a very special thing, and is worth being proud of in and of itself."
Read on to discover Phil Kaye’s advice for writing poetry and putting it out into the world, plus his exclusive tips for how to write a winning competition piece.
When I was 17, I saw another kid my age get up and perform a breathtaking piece in front of a packed room of people. I was so moved, I went home that night and began writing my first poem. I had never felt the immediacy of a poem like that—it was a feeling that I wanted to experience again and again.
In terms of the relationship of writing and performance: In high school, I had discovered in English classes that I liked writing, and discovered in theater classes that I liked performing—but it wasn’t until I found poetry that I got to bring those two things together. Getting to perform words that I had written myself (as opposed to those of a fictional character) was a very freeing feeling.
For my process, narrative is often a helpful starting place for poems. I don’t think that means every poem has to tell a story, in a traditional sense, but having some story or memory I’m pulling from or inspired by helps ground me, particularly in early drafts. That original memory sometimes gets more obfuscated or sharpened in later drafts, depending on which direction I want to go. But I find it’s a helpful starting part—it helps keep things specific and true to my own experience.
I also think a little narrative can help the reader too! It’s a nice starting point. Once the reader has a sense of where they (think they) might be, then you can further that narrative, complicate it, or flip it upside down all together. That’s where some of the fun comes in.
It is daunting! When I first started writing, I used a lot more distinct rhyme schemes and structures. As I started writing more in free verse, I thought it was going to be easier (“I can do whatever I want!”), but it turned out to be much harder. Without the structure to fall back on, every single word needs to justify its existence. In terms of how to do that, there’s a lot of different ways I go about it, and it really depends poem to poem. Often, saying things out loud (even just to myself) can help me hear the internal dynamics of a poem at work—pacing, tone, and whether or not the poem is out of sync with itself.
For one: it’s okay to feel a little nervous about trying to publish or perform your own work. That’s totally normal! I’d also say to think about the publishing or performance of the work as a bonus at the end. It’s important to remember it’s something that is actually quite separate from the work. The real work is writing the poem—that’s easy to forget. It’s tempting to judge a poem’s worth only by whether or not it gets published in a certain place, or it goes over well with a certain audience. But that doesn’t do justice to the time, energy and vulnerability that goes into creating something out of nothing. That’s a very special thing, and is worth being proud of in and of itself.
Relatedly, my advice would be to lower the stakes when it comes to publishing and performing. Take the long view. It may take lots of tries before a poem gets published (which is quite common!). It may take lots of performances before you feel confident (also common!). No one can control how often you try performing or publishing except you.
I’m drawn to poems that feel authentic, specific, unexpected, and elicit some sort of emotion in the reader. That might be laughter or melancholy, reflection or understanding, or anything in between.
My advice to new writers would be do more of what you’re already doing! Finding a community of writers (just like this) and making time to write, read, and share work is one of the single best things you can do to hone your craft. Keep exposing yourself to new work, and write as much as you can.
About the Guest Judge: Phil Kaye is a Japanese-American artist. His work has been featured in settings ranging from The New Yorker to the New York Museum of Modern Art, and viewed millions of times online. He has performed his original poetry in twenty countries and was invited to open for His Holiness The Dalai Lama for the celebration of his 80th birthday. He is the co-director of Project VOICE, an organization that partners with schools to bring poetry to the classroom. Phil is a National Poetry Slam finalist, and the two-time recipient of the National College Poetry Slam (CUPSI) award for “Pushing the Art Forward”, given for outstanding innovation in the art of live poetry. A former teacher of weekly poetry workshops in maximum security prisons, Phil was the head coordinator of Space in Prisons for the Arts and Creative Expression (SPACE). His book, Date & Time, was published in 2018 by Button Poetry. Photo credit: Taylor Lenci