Embrace Your Style

There is something unsatisfying about being in a writing group or poetry event that's run by retired or veteran academics.

There, I said it.

I was once asked to come check out a writing group in Salisbury. The pitch was, "We;re BRUTALLY honest. B r u t a l l y honest."

Um... okay. No thanks.

It's not that I'm afraid of brutal honesty. I'm not. I just don't get the point of emphatically emphasizing the brutally part. Brutally honest? Really? Brutally honest about someone else's writing? To what end? What's the point? To feel like a teacher again? To prove you went to college? To help that person become a better writer? How? I'l tell ya, it was a real turn-off to hear. A real turn-off.

Why couldn't they have said, "We're big on constructive feedback & technical details. We're all about helping each other tighten & polish our writing. We take our stuff seriously."

It was just so off-putting. Telling me to join your group and then, in the same breath, letting me know I do, you're going to tear me a new one is not motivational or inspiring. At least to me it's not.

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I get it. Be brutal because editors & publishers & critics are brutal. Form, and mode, and style are the kinds of technicalities that make or break a publishing opportunity. And people who write better than you are going to beat you out every time.

So what are we talking about? Well, stuff any grassroots or street poet knows. Different styles of poetry convey different things. Often times, multiple styles can be a part of on poem.

1. Narrative style tells a story.

2. Lyrical style pays attention to rhyming and/or meter, or the beat of the poem as its read.

3. Confessional style is from the poet's point of view & is more personal & private in nature.

4. Persona style is from the point of view of a character.

5. Imagist style is basically haiku-type micropoetry

6. Ekphrastic style is poetry inspired by a work of art, typically a painting or sculpture.

7. Persuasion style is essentially activism poetry. (For example: One Word at a Time)

8. Comic style is like stand-up poetry.

9. Occasional style tends to include people who write for holidays, birthdays, funerals, etc.

10. Invective-style is just hate-poetry, popularized (but not invented by) social media.

11. Cut-Up style is also known as Found Poetry & Blackout Poetry

Most poets I know, including myself, have a personal style that's a mish-mashed hodge-podge (that's right - a confused mixture of a confused mixture) of pretty much all of those styles and a few which aren't even on the list.

What I over-romanticize about the idea of free-writes & writing groups is the opportunity to workshop & brainstorm with other creative people. The whole Beat-style poetry salon vibe. recitations, performances, readings, discussions. There's something to be gained, even from the negative angle.

What I know to be reality is that it's tough for a lot of people to get out and do things in group-type settings - especially around here in the summer when everyone is either working or avoiding the crowds or both. And it's tough in the winter when a lot of people travel, or don't live here, or don't come here. And in the spring, when everyone is catching up on stuff. Or in the fall when, ya know, holidays.

So maybe it would be a cool to start with some weekly writing prompts, and random tips & whatnot. Maybe the stars will align and a few people will be willing to participate, and post, and comment. I mean, I'm being realistic about it, but hey, anything can happen, right? In the meantime, I know of countless ways I can keep banging my head against the wall with abjectly moronic hope. It's just my style.

Write on, everyone. Write on.