How to Write a Good Poem

How to Write a Good Poem
Introduction: Part one teaches about writing rhyming poetry and Part two is free verse. I focus mainly on Free Verse and this is, an introduction guide. I am not claiming to be a poetic wizard but I think this might be helpful so I decided to place it in the site. Please do not think I am being intrusive or arrogant. I know that even in this article there are handfuls of grammatical errors. I humbly present How to write a Good poem:
PART 1
1. To begin, rhyming poems are going out of style. They are still being published and you can write good poem using this style but free verse is taking over. The famous poets in today’s society mostly do free verse. A lot of people find rhyming easier than free verse but it is more difficult to write a good rhyming poem.
Rhyming poems- Beginning poets use the formula AA-AA or another beginning stance that people discover to make poems even easier write and make poems longer is : AA:BB
AA:AA
Iwould love to be free,
So that I could see,
How happy I would be
Continuing

AA:BB
I would like to see,
You be nice to me,
I would like to bring,
You a silver ring
This form is easy to instigate, and easy to write for a beginning writer. Yet, you can still make sophisticated poems. Although, beginners usually start out this way does not mean that you cannot have well done poems by an accomplished writer in this format (AA:BB). It is the level of a poet. More advanced poets might mix up AA:BB form with another form or something else.

More than one syllable: This allows for more words to rhyme and greater variety for a poet who rhymes. For example:
1. away,
bay
Or
2. Sophisticated,
Irritated,
Or
3. I went to the building
And let the doorbell ring.
OR
4. Distaste,
face
Each example is okay to use but the very last two are the most frustrating to mix in poetry. You rhyme the very last syllable with another word. You can make it work in stanzas but it is not easy but nevertheless, it is a rhyming form that people like to play around with. The first two, are extremely similar to the last example. The above word in example 1 and 2 show different syllable words rhymeing. You can make some advanced patterns with these rhyming schemes. Take the first one, away. A one syllable word was picked: “bay” but you could also say Array. It is matter of preference, pattern, and to some level, sophistication.

Further rhyming patterns: ABAB:
1. The others tried to see,
Why I cannot try,
Why I can’t be,
Nothing more than a dirty lie.

2. I’m cold an empty all alone,
I am such a worthless dunce,
Sitting idle by the phone,
Wishing it would just ring once.

Number 2 sounds better despite that they both follow the ABAB. It is in part because the syllables and the flow. It is much more challenging to write this style and make it work but the flow is rewarding. If you are trying or practicing this style my suggestion would be to write AABB and then turn it into ABAB. For example, number 2:
I’m cold an empty all alone, : A
Sitting idle by the phone,: A
I am such a worthless dunce.: B
Wishing it would just ring once.: B
Here AABB is reorganized into ABAB. This is actually not going to happen 100% of the time and it is likely you will have to rearrange at least a few words to make it work. Usually examples, such as number 2, are very hard to work out.

Repetition: This can add some strength in getting a point across or give it a smoother feel

1.
“Rad a Tap Tap,” goes my foot against the floor,
as I play my tunes- as I play some more,
The piano I sit at is humming along,
As I play my piano and sing my song.
“Rad a Tap Tap.”


I couldn’t imagine a moment more pure,
As I play along- an emotional cure,
To bring pleasure with notes of joy,
The piano to me- is merely a toy.
The essence of my being.

People dance amongst the room,
As my fingers glide, as my fingers zoom,
Across the keys,
And I am invisible all people sees,
Is the music in the air.

They dance on the tattered floor soar,
With the marks of dancing from nights before,
As they get tiered, as they sit down,
I keep playing another round,
Beautiful music.

“Rad a Tap Tap goes my foot against floor,
as I play my toons- as I play some more.

2.

Will anybody sit with me?
It is another lunch day,
Time dashed, time gone away,
Nobody wishes to eat with me,
Why won’t- why can’t they see
All I want is a friend to be,
There when I need them.

Will anybody sit with me?
Does anybody know,
That after school to my room I go,
To cry out my eyes,
Breath my heavy sighs,
Until I fall deep asleep,
All night long I did weep.
So worthless I do feel.

Will anybody sit with me?
I take a couple pills the doctor writes me out,
But as I told him as I reluctantly pout
Still nobody likes me,
Still nobody can see,
Just how friendly I can be

Will anybody sit with me?
Probably not,
Through my whole life I have fought,
To be normal- not an out cast,
Oh, how slowly this all does pass,

Let me die.

3.
“You were selfish! I scream
You were cruel! I mutter,
How could you take off and leave me and my mother,
How and why was I born,
continues
If only to be torn,
From your hands,
From you,
You gave me what I did not ask for,
Life,
And you repay me with nothing.
Life…”

5. As you can see, the reiterating of words in different places can put more emphases on the point. There are subtle examples and bold, obvious examples. A skilled poet as well as a beginning poet can use this. Beginning poets should be weary of too much replication. Try this on a poem as an experiment before you give it a real go.

6. Punctuation: To make a direct point use a period. There is an overuse of commas in poetry. A stanza is every four lines. I do not speak much about this because poetry is about freedom and setting rules destroy this. Try not to use words such as can’t, won’t, it’s. This is simply because professionals do not use these words but in all truth, it is okay to use if need be. What I tell people concerned about punctuation is, do not worry about it. Focus on cranking out a good poem… The title of a poem is also important in showing creativity and attracting readers.

7. Substance: The problem with substance
“Rad a Tap Tap,” goes my foot against the floor,
as I play my tunes- as I play some more,
The piano I sit at is humming along,
As I play my piano and sing my song.
“Rad a Tap Tap.”


I couldn’t imagine a moment more pure,
As I play along- an emotional cure,
To bring pleasure with notes of joy,
The piano to me- is merely a toy.
The essence of my being.

People dance amongst the room,
As my fingers glide, as my fingers zoom,
Across the keys,
And I am invisible all people sees,
Is the music in the air.

They dance on the tattered floor soar,
With the marks of dancing from nights before,
As they get tiered, as they sit down,
I keep playing another round,
Beautiful music.

“Rad a Tap Tap goes my foot against floor,
as I play my toons- as I play some more.

Although, the flow is rather well done you do not have specific imagery which create famous poets and famous poems. It is a problem when you try to rhyme and for example, try to insert detailed beauty. Most poems from famous poets in our current day, if they do use rhyming, use both free verse and rhyming together. They get the best of the best. To recap, this flows well but lacks substance, detail, description, call it what you want- it lacks it. This poem is nothing without description.
Therefore, if you are going to rhyme, try to keep some freestyle in it.
PART 2
FREE STYLE

1. Many people think it is harder than it looks. People are not sure how to make poetry out of words, especially when they do not rhyme. It looks easy but when you sit down to work on it, much harder than it sounds. Let us look at the last freestyle poem I wrote.

Notice to capture a reader’s attention, the first four sentence repeat in doubles.
Also notice a lot of periods to get the point across.
This is an okay poem but the point that I need to make is that it is freestyle

2. Let us take the first sentence… “I am fenced in.” That is not a complete sentence because in free style poetry you use subtly and let the reader complete the sentence in their head. You take a sentence and break it down to the essentials while allowing the reader to get the best parts of the line. It is like an advanced form of a puzzle. When we take the first two lines, “I am fenced in,” “I am a caged animal.” This arouses questions in your head. It is impossible to be caged in unless you really are a caged animal, you tell yourself.
3 After reading the entire stanza you begin to understand but it is not placed block by block together. It takes the readers ability to decipher the poems subtlety and lack of thorough explanation. You want people to wonder, guess, puzzled but you do not want to lose them. At the same time, you do not want to be so obvious that a sweet taste does not linger.

3. I am fenced in,
I am a caged animal.
Go ahead and take pictures of me in my habitat.
Go ahead everybody - laugh at me.
It is like playing twister except I’m spinning around around.
Like little ducks we have to follow in a line,
-Just without the love.
-or the freedom.
The truth,`
Nobody gives a damn.
Really- nobody does.

I light a cigarette.
Go ahead God,
Take those minutes off my life.
Those miserable God forsaken minutes.

I lay cold at night- a pure replica of a snowman.
I am an insomniac.
The worst part of the day- the night.
You hear the innocent scream in pain.
You hear the cockroaches shuffle across the floor.
You hear the rats coming out of their hiding places.
Up high, on good nights, the moon will offer some peace.
Most of the time you see night in peppered fragments.
Bars.
A pure black so cold Santa dare not approach.
Tears make their way down my face,
Like a locomotive train,
Slowly- puffy eyes- puffy cries
Raining and sobs out loud.
I beg for help.
I beg out,
I beg within
I beg.
This is insanity
Insanity my friend,
Jail.
4. “Like a locomotive train,” this is an example that you would have a hard time fitting into a rhyming only poem. Furthermore, does the poem have anything to do with this? No- not at all… it is giving a vivid description and makes you wonder what the author intended you to picture. It is not actually about a locomotive train.:
At the very end the Author decides to give in and stop the wondering by telling everybody how to draw their conclusion. Not entirely but there is the insertion that stops some of the wondering and makes it fun to read.
5. The way you do this is by, first, taking a subject and in our case we are going to take an over done topic for the example because it will be easy to demonstrate: The topic will be “Rain”. Instead of saying it is raining, think deeper. What could be symbolic of rain? What about tears or sweat. Let us take tears. What could we discreetly say about tears? What about the clouds are crying, or God’s tears are raining down. God’s tears are not literally raining but it is a way of being symbolic, subtle, and one the ways of creating a good poem. That gets you partly on your way to making a good poem. I find that when writing a poem a pyramid going up or down can be very useful. Look at the poem and notice how it rises and shrinks. This gives it a dramatic thump, especially when used to form the ending of a poem. Furthermore, there needs to be some point to the poem. Subtlety is always a must but the reader needs to get something from your poem. When you say God is crying, you are being subtle as to what is really happening.
Do not drag a poem on. It is better to end shorter than make it longer.
6. Over done subjects is a bore for the reader and shows poor thought on the writers behalf. Cutting poems are an example of things that are done too often. If you intend to an overdone subject, you must come at it in a different view. It must be original.


7. Here is an example for very accomplished poets and find this an entire bore:

Sucide
by Tzipora

Warm Blue

who would have known that the water could press against you like a tattoo.
feeling so sharp like needles,
burning like alcohol,
yet you feel comforted with the overwhelming outcome.

the beauty of the water as it passes you on your way down.

....so calm, settle.

there’s always people calling your name, interrupting the peace;
little do they know you’re in way too deep.

knowing there’s nothing more you can do, you breathe, waiting calmly for it to turn

Pitch Black
There are obvious grammar errors that have been changed and the topic is somewhat overdone but I overlooked this because it is superbly written.

Here is what I told the Author:

I really enjoyed this poem and I hope to read more of your work.


It bothered me that I couldn’t take something obvious from your poem and complain about it. You are writing on a deeper level. Although, you wrote an astounding poem, here are some changes or things to think about. These changes and ideas are for advanced poets and I think you should be able to understand.

“Who would have known…” This is a subtle catch phrase. Obviously in speech if we said, “Who would of known,” we do not mean it literally. It is a distant cousin of phrases like, “Time will Tell,” There are no developed emotions in these phrases. Another example, "who would of known,"… It is more of an expression or “catch phrase” (which is another example, “Catch Phrase”). I think you can replace that with a more advanced form of wording.
“The beauty of the water.” Be more descriptive. From the top of my head…. “The awe of the bountiful water racing as you stream downward.”

“So calm.” So is an overused in poetry. So pretty, So good, So wonderful. Well this is, so- so. Hah!

“Little do they know…” This is a perfect example of another overused quote. I would go further but you have the idea.

Try to find more of these problems. Your poetry is extremely advanced but there are always imperfections.
To end, there is no such thing as a perfect poem. There are always improvements to be made. That is not a saying, that is a fact!