About Me

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Bristol , United Kingdom
I'm co-director of the Leaping Word Poetry Consultancy, which provides advice for poets on writing, editing and publishing, as well as qualified counselling support for those exploring personal issues in their work - https://theleapingword.com. My fifth poetry collection, Learning Finity, is now available from Indigo Dreams or directly from me.

Tuesday 7 January 2014

How Poetry Is Made


It's a dirty job but someone has to do it ... 

2 comments:

  1. Or how about a culinary metaphor...?

    How to Make Poetry

    First, throw away this recipe. Then learn
    to cook yourself; don’t be a slave
    to master chefs. But taste them, know
    what food you like, where your utensils are.

    Preheat the mind to 98.6 degrees.
    Then chill, and feel ideas condense
    from fast nerves into ink-like blood
    excruciating from your finger tips.

    Now let it sit, coagulate,
    then blend it well with aged zest.
    Reform it in your chosen mold, adjust
    its shape, remove the fat.

    Next, marinade a little while
    in logic--not till overdone: let it be
    raw, with the life blood still in it.
    Do this many times until it burns

    to be unleashed,
    naked and angry on the world.


    (C) Lloyd Alan Fletcher, 1995

    --Lloyd

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