Writing Poetry: Where Do I Start?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Okay, Pastor John, here's a question
00:00:06.160 | from Eric in Iowa City, and I think you're gonna
00:00:08.040 | really like Eric's question.
00:00:09.500 | He asks, quote, "I have seen the power of poetry
00:00:12.440 | "to express ideas and feelings.
00:00:14.400 | "I'm convinced that writing poetry would be good
00:00:16.600 | "for my own soul, my family, and those I serve in ministry.
00:00:19.820 | "The problem is, I've never taken a course in school
00:00:22.580 | "on writing poetry.
00:00:23.480 | "My question is, how do you begin
00:00:25.680 | "and what books do you recommend?"
00:00:28.080 | End quote, what do you say, Pastor John?
00:00:30.120 | - Oh, I love that question.
00:00:32.400 | I love the heart that wants to grow
00:00:35.960 | in the crafting of language so that it serves God
00:00:40.960 | as fully as it possibly can.
00:00:43.560 | Let me start by saying, there are all levels
00:00:49.560 | and kinds of poetry, from the most refined
00:00:55.840 | and careful and thoughtful and ingenious and deep,
00:01:00.840 | and the simplest, most homey,
00:01:05.520 | takes a heap of living to make a house a home
00:01:09.080 | kind of poetry from Edgar Guest.
00:01:11.640 | I grew up in a home where my dad read poetry to us,
00:01:15.600 | and it was always of the simplest kind,
00:01:18.760 | and I think that's what families need.
00:01:21.040 | Families don't need really obscure poetry.
00:01:24.720 | Families need birthday poems and anniversary poems
00:01:28.600 | and Christmas poems and Thanksgiving poems
00:01:30.840 | where dad or mom or children just write something sweet
00:01:34.760 | and beautiful from their hearts for God
00:01:36.600 | and shouldn't worry too much about any criticism
00:01:39.440 | that it's gonna receive because it's artistic quality.
00:01:42.520 | But there is a whole history of great poetry
00:01:47.520 | that moves you along and takes you deeper
00:01:51.520 | into the way language is used.
00:01:53.040 | And here's a couple of pointers.
00:01:55.160 | There are two books I'd recommend.
00:01:58.240 | One is Ted Koozer.
00:01:59.680 | He was the Poet Laureate of America about five
00:02:02.600 | or six years ago.
00:02:03.640 | Ted Koozer, K-O-O-S-E-R,
00:02:05.920 | The Poetry Home Repair Manual, a poetry handbook,
00:02:10.920 | The Poetry Home Repair Manual,
00:02:14.120 | Practical Advice for Beginning Poets,
00:02:16.600 | and then Mary Oliver, a poetry handbook.
00:02:19.520 | So those are two books that are written precisely
00:02:23.400 | to answer Eric's question about how do you just get started?
00:02:28.080 | A third thing, I mean, a second thing I'd say
00:02:29.760 | besides reading those books would be take a class
00:02:33.480 | at a community college or colleges.
00:02:35.760 | Take a class on poetry and surprise yourself
00:02:38.720 | by getting back into school.
00:02:40.520 | I would say, here's something really practical
00:02:42.560 | everybody can do.
00:02:43.840 | Memorize some psalms.
00:02:47.080 | Memorize psalms.
00:02:49.080 | Because when you memorize,
00:02:50.400 | you start to get a feel for language.
00:02:52.200 | You can say them over and over again to yourself
00:02:54.480 | and try different ways of reciting the psalms
00:02:59.120 | so that they have the kind of symmetrical parallelism
00:03:04.120 | and ring that they ought to have.
00:03:08.640 | And I would say that about other poems as well.
00:03:11.760 | I remember sitting in the class in Romantic Poetry
00:03:14.600 | with Clyde Kilby, and he read a poem to us by John Keats.
00:03:19.600 | And I can't remember the name of it right now,
00:03:23.560 | but he said, "I promise you, if you memorize this poem,
00:03:27.480 | "it will serve you to enlarge your soul in 50 years."
00:03:32.480 | And it was just the sheer memorizing of a beautiful poem
00:03:37.520 | that made the difference.
00:03:38.440 | But here's the most important thing.
00:03:41.640 | If a person wants to grow in his ability to write poetry
00:03:46.640 | that's not just rose, the red, violet, or blue,
00:03:49.280 | I try to write poetry, so do you.
00:03:50.920 | If they wanna grow beyond something,
00:03:54.360 | into something richer and deeper, read poetry.
00:03:58.440 | Just read it.
00:03:59.280 | Get, a book would be "The Sacrifice of Praise,"
00:04:03.600 | an anthology of Christian poetry by James Trott,
00:04:09.160 | T-R-O-T-T, "The Sacrifice of Praise."
00:04:12.120 | Or on the memory thing,
00:04:13.760 | there's a book called "Committed to Memory,"
00:04:16.720 | "The 100 Best Poems to Memorize," by John Hollander.
00:04:20.760 | So, but mainly, just go to Barnes & Noble,
00:04:24.600 | go to the poetry shelf, pull down some anthology,
00:04:28.640 | and start reading poetry.
00:04:30.840 | 'Cause what'll happen is, when you read great poetry,
00:04:34.400 | you start to catch a feel of what makes it great.
00:04:39.360 | - Excellent, that's a good place to start
00:04:41.600 | for the beginning poet.
00:04:42.920 | Thank you, Pastor John,
00:04:43.760 | and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:04:45.160 | Send your poetry questions to Pastor John
00:04:47.520 | via email at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:04:49.920 | Please include your first name and your hometown.
00:04:51.520 | You can find thousands of other free resources
00:04:53.560 | from John Piper online at desiringgod.org,
00:04:56.640 | including his poetry.
00:04:58.120 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke, thanks for listening.
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