What You Should Know Before Writing Experimental Poetry
The richest source of poetry writing ideas will always come from teenagers. These are the craziest bunch of writers, and while their skill and mastery of the language may not yet be fully formed or even slightly developed, the things they can come up with are always at the very least good for a laugh, or at the most, something that can be treated seriously. There is a new school of thought in poetry that is not exactly abstract – abstract poetry at least means something, at least to the author, and the goal is to get as many meanings from the audience. This school of thought begins without any sense at all, and even challenges the reader to make some sense out of it, if at all possible.
But before you can take on that new school of thought, it is always best to begin with the basics – crawl before running. A poetry writing exercise or two a day should be enough to start with – you don’t need writing exercises that take too much time and discourage you even before you ever begin writing seriously. Joining a poetry writing workshop is more for networking, and it is more a long-term investment rather than enhancing your skills as a poet.
But if you pay your dues, then maybe you can experiment with that new school of though that is even more abstract than post-modern abstractions. It is challenging readers to do more than sit back, relax, have a cup of coffee and read your favorite poems. It is asking readers to find sense in it all.