Talking Poetics : an occasional (new) series

I recently thought it would be interesting to start a new series on the ottawa poetry newsletter blog (alongside the lengthy series of essays posted in the "On Writing" series, which remains ongoing), especially poets talking about the nuts and bolts of writing. I began my solicitation with a series of questions: How does a poem get started? Do you begin with a loose structure, a phrase or a word, or the kernel of an idea? Are you prompted by the work of other poets, or, say, something you read in a newspaper? Do you start at the beginning, somewhere in the middle, or work from a scattering of notebook entries? Do you utilize notebooks, and how does that help? How are line-breaks (or the choice to ignore them) chosen? Etc.

And so far, a small array of poets have responded, with the first six in the series already online, and a further two scheduled. Why not have a look?

#1 : Sanita Fejzić

#2 : Amish Trivedi

#3 : Amanda Earl

#4 : Gil McElroy

#5 : Sonia Saikaley

#6 : Rusty Priske

forthcoming: Pearl Pirie and Dale Tracy etc