Vanessa Jimison
Stories (9/0)
An Unfinished Poem is Like Banana Bread
Have you ever taken a loaf of banana bread from the oven, and tried to pop it out of the pan right away? It’s too tempting to resist, and more than once, greedy for a slice of hot bread covered in my favorite Irish butter, I have made this mistake. The bread plops out, still steaming, and stubbornly refuses to maintain its form. Removed from the stoneware too soon, it slumps and falls inward on itself, no longer the sleek golden loaf it was meant to be. Any attempt to slice a normal piece from it results in a mound of crumbs and sadness. An unfinished poem is exactly the same: when it’s not quite done, it needs to be left alone for a bit — otherwise, it falls flat. The ideas that originally filled your mind must “cool,” and the trick is to take a break and come back to it later. In the cooling off, clarity crystallizes, and your ideas can break free from the restraints of the writing process. You’ll be able to return to it with fresh eyes, and carve from it exactly what you wanted — but giving yourself the time away is a crucial step in the completion of a good poem. Like all art — baking included — the master must learn from her creation the delicate and critical wait. It’s easier to butter a slice of bread than a mound of crumbs, and it’s more pleasing to read a poem that has been polished and perfected than one that has been rushed. In both cases, the wait is worth it.
By Vanessa Jimison3 years ago in Poets
Imagery, Lies, and a Ticket to the Circus
When I think about what makes a poem stand out, I think of fantastic imagery. Poems that employ rich descriptions and use details that allow me to fall into the poem and experience it on as many levels as possible — hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling — are poems that I tend to remember long after I first read them. The details are what re-emerge later in my mind. Carefully crafted imagery lends a particular power to a poem, helping to shape the poem’s tone and guide the reader into its unique world. Imagery sets the mood. It’s the candles and jazz of poetry writing.
By Vanessa Jimison3 years ago in Poets