Limp Noodles of Poetry

My darlings, are you all burnt out after NaPo? Come here and I’ll soothe that soul.

We’re looking at the month after the longest month of our poetry lives – NaPo is over and now we’re limp noodles of imagery and structure lying at odd angles and trying to formulate verbs (or herbs, writing is hungry work!). You might be like me and looking at those completed poems and thinking “perhaps I’ll wait to edit, time for even more new poetry!” so you pull up the blank sheet on the computer, or on the desk, and then – what? The limp noodle is still inside the brain wrapping around all of your ideas and turning them to mush!? What a coincidence, so is mine. So here are a couple ideas for creating some inspiration when your muse has gone fishin’.

• Go outside and write in the fresh air!
  Sometimes this burst of nature and pollen will get some juices flowing, just hope they’re not in your nose.
• Visit an art gallery or museum
  The mental stimulation will wake up your mind and give you some unique images, colours and themes to work with in your own poetry.
• Read
  We work with language, don’t be shy to find a book and pick out words which grab your attention.
• Take a break
  It’s been a long month and maybe it’s time for your mind to recharge. Play some mindless games, have a go at some prose, let your brain roll about in the free air.

If none of these things help you out, consider getting a group of poets together in the one room/document and run with it. The combined influence of several brains all putting out some truly delectable lines and images can often push your brain to match it. Don’t worry if anything you write isn’t of gem quality to begin with, we just need to remind your brain that it has the time and the inclination to create.

Above all, don’t worry if you’re not writing anything! While I know you want to push through and keep writing, poetry is a force all of its own. There’s no pegging the nature of poetry down to tap whenever you want – it will come and go as it pleases and you have to take what you can while you can. This is why NaPo is such a feat, why we are all so pleased to complete ten poems in a year, let alone thirty in a month. Don’t push what you don’t need to, let the poetry happen naturally and I promise it will be much more pleasing for you in the long run.

Good luck with it, I know I’m going to group poet next week – it is time I remembered I’m a poet!