Writing prompt: Every word counts

This is the sixth in a series of short writing prompts inspired by Stephen King's "On Writing":

p. 62-65: While in a college writing group, Stephen King discovered--and regretted the fact--that most young writers consider writing to be instant magic messages. Inspiration, these poets believe, is not to be questioned and does not need to be worked on. King and his future wife, Tabitha, however, believe writing to be a combination of inspiration and hard work. Write four lines of poetry quickly--the first thing that comes to your mind. Saving this first draft, work hard on another draft. Substitute words. Look for more lyrical or intense language. Try breaking the lines differently. When you’ve worked your four lines thoroughly, set the first and second draft aside. Go back later and see which poem you prefer.

Writing prompt: Good writing requires editing

This is the fifth in a series of short writing prompts inspired by Stephen King's "On Writing":

p. 56-57: When a teenaged Stephen King began stringing (freelancing) for a local newspaper, he had an editor work a sports story of his pretty hard, removing extraneous adverbs, clauses and hyperbole (exaggeration). King was in awe, happy he’d finally been challenged by real editing. How would you like your work edited? What in your writing style do you think might be crossed out or improved?

Writing prompt: The big put-down

This is the fourth in a series of short writing prompts inspired by Stephen King's "On Writing":

p.44-50
In eighth grade, Stephen King created a self-produced book based on the B-grade horror film “The Pit and the Pendulum” and sold it to his schoolmates. At the end of the day, he was called into the principals office and reprimanded for writing “junk.” He admits to having felt ashamed for years afterward about what he wrote: horror and science fiction stories, complete with sex and gore. In his memoirs, he writes the following: “If you write. . .someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that’s all.” Write about a time someone tried to make you feel lousy about writing, or something else you tried to do.

Splendid (a character sketch)

I believe in three things: cleanliness, productiveness and efficiency. I couldn't have any children so I like to think of everything I create—every piping-hot casserole, fluffy meringue and jiggling Jello salad as my offspring. 

I smile because I am so proud of my Kenmore children, my Frigidaire family. And then I take my vitamins, which is what Dr. Lancaster calls them. Baby-girl pink in the morning and baby-boy blue in the evening. Life is splendid!

Write about your childhood reading passions

This is the third in a series of short writing prompts inspired by Stephen King's "On Writing": 

Stephen King describes his first experiences reading as well as the movies and TV shows (also stories) that grabbed him as a kid and captured his imagination. He started with comic books, then war and animal adventure stories. Later, he explains, "Horror movies, science fiction movies, movies about teenage gangs on the prowl, movies about losers on motorcycles_this was the stuff that turned my dials up to ten." What books, or movies and shows, turned up your dials when you were younger? It's a good idea to think, and write about, your early literary love affairs because—as in the case of King—it might be a good predictor of what you want to write. It might also be an insightful predictor of what you're good at writing. 

Writing a character sketch

This is the second in a series of short writing prompts inspired by Stephen King's "On Writing":

King's portrait of his large, volatile babysitter, "Eula-Beula," is a character sketch. Many writers use character sketches regularly as writing exercises.  They write about someone they know or knew. Sometimes they quietly observe a stranger and describe their appearance and behavior as well as the personality and biography these things seem to indicate. Pick someone interesting and describe them "to a T." Change their names and a few details if you are concerned that your assessment is too personal or too brutally honest. An interesting character sketch that draws the reader in can help you craft or describe characters as a larger work, or stand on its own as flash fiction (a very short story, usually ranging between 100 and 1,000 words). 

Creating an autobiographical vignette

This is the first in a series of short writing prompts inspired by Stephen King's "On Writing":

Stephen King remembers and presents his childhood as a series of snapshots. A specific experience you relate about your life, a snapshot, is called an autobiographical vignette. Pick an event from your growing-up years—standing up to a bully, your first kiss, the time you wet your pants at school, a visit to a relative who inspired you to love reading—and write it up. It can be happy, sad or both. Writing about ourselves is  a great experience because, so long as we are willing to mine our memories, this is material we know well. Write enough autobiographical vignettes and you're on your way to having written an autobiography.

Hit-and-run writing

I used to go absolutely batty when it came to my writing. I still do, in fact. When I am working on longer projects--like two unfinished novels I need to get back to, or an epic poem I wrote a while back that took me two years to complete--I am certain I will never be done. In fact, like many neurotic writers, I am certain that I will die unaccomplished and largely unpublished. 

Then epigrams came to the rescue. Epigrams are short poems, generally rhyming couplets or quatrains, that say a lot in a few words. They are often witty, and ideally always clever. One of the most famous crafters of epigrams was sharp-tongued Algonquin Round Table writer Dorothy Parker. Ever heard the saying, "Men seldom make passes/At girls who wear glasses"? That was Dorothy. And though I wear glasses, I love how this particular writer nails things in a few words.

In Résumé, the often-depressed Parker shares a cynical catalog of why she chooses to stay alive:

Razors pain you;

Rivers are damp;

Acids stain you;

And drugs cause cramp.

Guns aren't lawful;

Nooses give;

Gas smells awful;

You might as well live.

Also cynical in tone (Parker was infamous for her verbal acidity) is a poem called "Comment" that skewers romantic hyperbole":

Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,

A medley of extemporanea;

And love is a thing that can never go wrong;

And I am Marie of Romania.

I was inspired by Dorothy Parker, as well as by imagist poets like Ezra Pound, who sought to create image-rich thumbnail sketches using few words. Listen to the haiku-like simplicity of his famous "In a Station of the Metro":

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;

Petals on a wet black bough.

It is unlikely that anyone ever wrote a more evocative description of public transport--and in 14 words, no less. 

Coming across these big little poems inspired me to begin writing my own short poems, to give my quick poetic snapshots credit and allow that they might just stand on my own. Nearly two years ago I started a blog on a subscription blog community titled "Short 'n' Sweet" where I began crafting my own epigrams and imagist works.

Allowing for short bursts of creativity, and giving them a venue where I could receive responses from other writers, was incredibly influential for me. The brevity of the form, as well as the tension of saying the right words under the constraints of rhyming, has encouraged me to cut out extraneous words and to seek a one-two punch kind of impact. 

If you write them with energy and care, epigrams and very short poems go down easy as a mixed drink. I don't like to think of epigrams as "poetry light" but instead as "poetry fun." The epigram can provide the ultimate rehabilitation for readers, and writers, who think they don't like poetry. 

Sometimes I write something I see as a trifle, not worthy of posting, and it will get a stronger response than a poem about which I was more confident. Thus, I try to post as many of my short poems as possible. In other words, I try not to give myself a personal rejection slip. The world out there is plenty willing to give us rejection slips without us saying, "This is no good" to readily to ourselves. Often, we are too close to our own work to know whether or not something is capable of grabbing readers by the throat, or of providing them a spiritual cup of lemonade. 

Sometimes I get lazy and eschew longer projects for these short exercises. It is likely that a few of my "Short 'n' Sweet Poems" bear greater development. However, the dividends of embracing the short poem have been high. 

I have written literally hundreds of epigrams and sent them soaring into cyberspace. I have a modest following, mainly of fellow writers, who like what I do. I don't have to know them in my daily physical life to draw support from their positive comments. Writers need strokes sometimes. It's difficult to make a living and to gain notice through writing. Sometimes, we wordsmiths just need to hear from someone, "Your words touched me" or "Your words made me laugh." Even better is when someone says, "Your words touched me and made me laugh." That's when you know that what you're writing is poetry. 

As a result of my living laboratory experiment of writing epigrams and imagist works, I don't feel like a closet writer but instead a modern writer who could be called prolific. I like the writing voice I've developed--more straightforward and bolder than my speaking voice--and I will continue honing epigrams along with writing in other genres. Below, I'll share some of my "Short 'n' Sweet poems," to give you an idea of how I've made the epigram my own.

And then, by all means, I encourage you to start doing lines. You'll find the short poem to be a breath of fresh air. And now (drum roll!), here are is an array of my epigrams. I hope you like them. Let's start with some epigrams:

My jagged heart

My jagged heart is showing now

It's dripping down my sleeve

If you don't like the sight of blood

Then maybe you should leave

You

You came and went

A wet sneeze

I'm still not dry

Feral

Being here alone all day has nearly made me feral

The TV sells its secrets, get more thin or get more virile

Little bird

Once I bought a little bird and put him in a cage

And then I bought another bird and then they got engaged

Jellyfish

Hey there, jellyfish

Sting me and I'll make a wish

Chasing benzos

Chasing benzos, drinking coffee, followed by a beer

I wonder, is it being up or being down I fear?

Cotton candy

I've got cotton candy stuffing wrapped around my candy heart

So just in case you drop me you won't break my favorite part

Swing

I tried to take a swing at you,

instead I fell in love

I don't blame my boxing skills,

I blame your golden gloves

You

You

Yeah, you

You're like a tattoo

Like a heart, on my parts

With a dagger run through

Capitalism

Isn't capitalism really all

just mugging Peter to pay back Paul?

Sapphic

My friend and I are feeling sapphic

Touching tongues and stopping traffic

Eden

A kiss like this once spoilt the world

Ever tasted apple in the mouth of a girl?

Personality profile

I'm an extroverted introvert

A jumpy jack-in-the-box

A parrot who you are sure is dead

Until it begins to squawk

Confession

I'm feeling dirty while coming clean

The priest is leering behind his screen

Claimant

I'm the final heir

to the blessed Russian throne

If the bloody world won't back me

then I'll go it on my own

Temple

Sex is a religion

and a woman is a temple

where a man erects an obelisk,

though nothing's quite that simple.

Question

The question isn't what'd you see,

it's what'd you think you saw?

It's did that crow pronounce your doom

or simply give a caw?

Sybil-ant

I'm a pop sensation

I'm an old man ranting about inflation

I live in a trailer with a cooler full of beer

Between the three of us it's been a hell of a year

Beat that

Into the church of Allen Ginsburg

I tiptoed, in a pink plastic cowl

I couldn't sit still--what a sermon!

The kind that you clap for, or howl

Tuck and roll

You scorched the earth, for what it's worth,

but you couldn't throw salt on this land.

I rise from the ashes and bat my eyelashes--

it's time that I find a new man

Voyage of the Dusktreader

The ship is chasing the sunset,

as if it owed her money.

The horizon may be found due north,

near a sky like lamplit honey

And here are a few imagist poems:

Moon

Silly little pocket mirror

The night sky wants to see its freckles

Wind

The wind blows

Somewhere a poppy hikes up her skirt

Kitchen mermaid

kitchen mermaid

scales like little frying pans

halo of sifted flour

Sweet

You send sugar water through my veins

Make my heart a feeder for hummingbirds

Can't you feel their beating wings?

Your careful touch

In the night breeze

your careful touch is Javanese

Seasonal affective disorder

The short, sloping days of winter

slant their eyes at me

Nowhere

Filling station blasts

Fleetwood Mac

Commonest scene

on the western map

Drive

Highway at night—

a thousand brakelights

send me valentines

I hope you enjoyed this small selection of short poems. I know you can tackle some great ones of your own, one small word at a time.

Poetry grab bag

Yesterday I held a writing workshop for students at my house. We talked about using concrete objects as central metaphors, or as launching points, for poetry. I read aloud a long poem with an extended metaphor, in which the word tongue appeared in every stanza. Then the fun began.

I pulled out a rainbow-colored gift bag (I have to do things with flourish) and let the students examine a variety of objects, selecting one to use as their inspiration point. One student picked a package of 24 little cocktail umbrellas; I had a package of beignet mix from New Orleans; another student grabbed a little stone orange heart made in Kenya. Other items in the bag included a shiny pinwheel, a pack of diner-style condiment dispensers (you know, the squeezy, refillable ketchup and mustard bottles?); an orange votive candle with a witch on it; and a clutch of Indian-stye bangles.

Then we all began writing, and in about 20 minutes we had six poems written. One of them, which played with the image cocktail umbrellas in ways I had never considered (including the futility of trying to ward off a storm with a paper umbrella and paper galoshes), has all the makings of a great poem.

With a little shaping, the poem I wrote about New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina, might just have the makings of a good poem.

This grab-bag technique was fun and inexpensive, and getting our hands on. . .well, stuff. . .helped all of us learn how to write about stuff. If a picture is worth a thousand words, so is a metaphor.