One thing we see a lot of here at Gyroscope Review is a good poem—that suddenly goes wrong. In their haste to put a tidy bow at the end of the poem, the poet wraps it up with a cliché. Instead of ending strong and leaving the reader to marvel at the deft wording, the poet tries to evoke the emotion they want us to feel with a stock image/phrase. It doesn’t work. The reader…
Although I’ve been writing poetry as best I can of late, I felt my output wasn’t where it should be. The state of the world had me flummoxed. My poems were scattered in theme and many felt unfinished even when completed— a sort of bookish throat-clearing that happens periodically as I flail about, searching. I needed to move out of the ‘any half-assed written down poem is a good thing’ mentality. As a way of…
Do you prefer to read your poetry on the page, or listen to it? (Or watch and listen to it?) Which are you more comfortable with? As a poet, do you write your poem to be read on the page or performed? Give a listen to the YouTube poem readings below and consider how each makes you feel. Is it that the poet is engaging, or is it the words that grab you? Do you…
Today’s blog post is brought to you by our Assistant Editor, Joshua Colwell. You’ve just written a poem. It might be the best poem you’ve ever written. It has imagery, voice, theme, all the right line breaks. You might think you don’t need to revise, but here are some tips on what to do before you send it out. Let it rest. You may be tempted to send it off to your favorite literary magazine…
