The difficulties of writing a poem can begin before you even start writing. One of the most integral parts of finishing, and oftentimes starting, a poem is having direction, an idea. This can also be one of the more complex parts. Whether you are writing for your own pleasure or an assignment, it is natural to sometimes get stuck even before the actual writing begins. There is a reason why the phrase “writer's block” is so popular.
Generating ideas doesn't have to be difficult, however. Nor does there have to be only one approach. I spoke with several Midwestern poets who each had their own distinct ways of not only generating ideas, but holding onto them and melding them to create a poem.
When you find yourself without an idea to write about, it is easy to keep reminding yourself that you have no ideas, which only stunts idea generation further. Phil Hey, featured on Through the 3rd Eye in 2009 for his seventh book of poetry, How It Seems To Me, refuses to let that sort of mindset affect him, and advises that other writers do the same. “I don't believe in writer's block,” said Hey, who resides in Sioux City, Iowa. “If you can hold a pencil or dictate to someone who can, you can write.” Picking up a pencil when you think nothing will come from it can have fortuitous results. Free writing can be beneficial, especially for those who hesitate to write anything down unless they think it will work in a poem.
Free writing can unlock ideas or lead to images that you might not have thought of were you writing linearly. Grab a pencil and paper and write whatever comes to mind for a few minutes, without concern for how it strings together. Write just for the sake of writing and see what comes from it. If nothing strikes you at first, keep what you wrote and come back to it in the future.
Environment can also play an important part of the generation process. The right surroundings can spark or hinder one's creativity tremendously. Nearly everyone, not just writers, has a place they like to go alone or feel most liberated. Russell Thorburn, Upper Peninsula poet and adviser for Through the 3rd Eye, prefers to write with the low buzzing of a coffee shop in the background or in his room with no windows as distractions. He also notes that switching locations can sometimes provide the boost needed to gain a new perspective. He said getting stuck “happens so much I accept it as as part of the process—I type out what I have so far, tuck it into my book bag, and change locations. …Technically, I try to look at an image from another perspective, if that's what I am stuck on; change the voice slightly, maybe the tense.”
If switching locations is helpful, don't stick only with your comfort zone. Just as going where you feel comfortable can unleash creativity, some writers are intrigued by places that feel less comfortable. Try writing somewhere with aspects opposite of the environment you generally like to write in. Focus on the unfamiliar: new feelings, sounds, sights, smells, thoughts. Engage all of your senses to fully take in the unaccustomed.
Grand Rapids writer, Linda Nemec Foster, regularly gives herself writing assignments. “Sometimes you get into a poem from your head, not your gut,” which may surprise some writers, she said. She suggests writing what you wonder about, such as looking at a painting and writing about the world that extends beyond the frame, or watching a movie and writing from deep within a character's mind.
Research can also give life to new ideas, Nemec Foster said. Her chapbook, Contemplating the Heavens, contains 9 poems, one about each planet, most of which required extensive research on NASA, telescopes, and the planets themselves. Only a small portion of the research was put directly into the poems, but the background information helped her transform her ideas as the poems took shape. Learning is one of the many keys to writing. If you are constantly learning, you have more options to write about. Take a subject that you are interested in, but don't know much about, and devour information. Once you know more about it, narrow down the topic into several subtopics, and choose one to focus on.
One technique that was widely agreed on by these writers was the importance of writing with patience. “Sometimes an idea or something that I feel belongs in a poem will 'hang around' in the back of my mind before the poem that it belongs in gets started,” Terry Blackhawk, featured in 2010, said. When she has an idea, she writes it down, but doesn't always use it right away if it doesn't strike her as fitting. Once you have an idea, be patient and don't force it into a poem right away. As with the free writing exercise, keep whatever you write down. Blackhawk once kept an idea about fresh water mussels that was inspired by a museum exhibit for over a year before finding that the idea belonged as an allusion in another poem that she was writing.
In the end, each writer finds their muse in a different way, be it from an environment, music, movies, photographs, or other writers. The more you write, even just scribbling words here or there, the more ideas you will have to utilize. Struggling with the alleged “writer's block” is to be expected once in a while. Though it can be frustrating, don't let it overpower your writing; instead, think of it as a step in the growth of your writing. It urges you to try something new, and can keep your ideas fresh and your perspective verdant.