09-09-2013, 02:08 PM
(09-09-2013, 10:18 AM)Reilley Wrote: #7 – Don’t tell us everything. Leave something to the imagination, in fact; leave MOST of it to our imagination. Anything the reader must supply in order to parse your language and read what you are trying to convey is the part of the poem that speaks to them personally. If you want your work to connect with your readers, the best way to do that is to ensure that your readers invest themselves into your work. One of the things that makes poetry magical is what is not said, what is inferred or implied by the words. Resist the urge to ‘explain’ in your poems.Poems and readers should ideally meet in the space halfway between each other.
The trouble with point 7 is writers can make beautifully long descriptions of their work, but then forget that some of that needs to be IN the actual poem.
Bill