Yale Writer’s Conference 2014 (Part II)

Part II: LESSONS AND EXPERIENCES

Two screenwriters, a memoirist, three novelists, one creative nonfiction author, and a poet: This is what a typical breakfast table in the Pierson Dining Hall during the 5 days of Session II of YWC 2014 could look like. A company of writers like no other. You could just as easily be rubbing elbows with an 88-year old historical fiction novelist as with a genius poet just out of high school.

As a writer, the amazing thing about being with other writers is that you don’t have to explain yourself. Some things are given, taken for granted before meaningful interaction even happens. A foundation already exists for you to interact on a level built from the universal joys and terrors of writing.

My workshop was “Poetry for Prose Writers” which had a good mix of poets and prose people. The workshop was incredibly instructive as we explored the elements of poetry in prose and vice versa. What is a lyric essay? What are the elements of a prose poem? What is the difference between poems and prose? Us twelve participants had rip-rollicking fun exploring these questions and other craft/technique concerns under the captaincy of Richard Jackson, author of 14 books of poetry with a list of literary accomplishments too numerous to even detail here. Suffice to say, the man knows his shit.

So what IS the difference between poetry and prose?
1 – Topography on the page. A poem exists in its spatial relationship with the page in a way different than the linear arrangements of prose.
2 – Rhythm of thinking and feeling. A poem can be fragmentary in the movement and pacing of its images. It can be linear in rhythmical units.
3 – A poem is more participatory than a piece of prose. A poem elicits meaning through its associations, metaphor to metaphor, image to image, layer to layer. It encourages a reader to bring themselves to interpretation.

A typical workshop day would be reading and discussing poems in a way that would illustrate aspects of poetic/prose technique before moving on to discussing our own work and ending with assignments for the next day. Those assignments! After a day of working and having poems coming out of our ears, we would be energized, but with synapses fried. I needed a breathing period before I could confront any writing. Which meant writing through the night. Which meant not getting enough sleep. I thought those college all-nighters were behind me. Apparently, not.

I could write reams and reams about what I gained from the workshop but for the sake of brevity will distill it to these 10 lessons learned:
1 – Read your writing aloud. If a piece reads haltingly, cannot be read in the rhythm intended or you have trouble reading it, something is off.
2 – Always note two things about a poem or prose piece: where did you begin and where are you at the end? Most good poems have a fulcrum, a turning point. If a piece has not moved you emotionally, through character and image development, in intensity, if you cannot see that change, start over.
3 – Best advice for revision: put it aside. Get distance from the writing before you come back to it.
4 – The simpler the poem is on the surface, the more potential for complexity in its depths. Try and make the poem too complex and clever on the surface and it becomes simplistic and hollow. Gauge a piece by how many simple sentences are layered with complex ones.
5 – Political poems couched too close to reality can become propaganda. The idea is to bring the reader to a realization, not try to convince them. Do not make them self-serving or about you. Also, be careful of passing judgements. If you think something is evil, in different circumstances, it could be you.
6 – Use one type of language for another. E.g. Maybe medical language to describe nature. It throws up interesting associations. Setting two types of language at odds with each other can create interesting tension in a piece. Track the language in a piece and how it changes with values. E.g. Villains generally use militaristic language, emotionless whereas the heroes tend to use nature-oriented language with feeling.
7 – Examine why you choose one image over another, why you mention what you do. Anchor a piece in images, then you can digress. What is not said is often more dramatic than what is said. Pay attention to subtext.
8 – Lines should mirror the progression of a poem or piece of prose. Enjambments can create new meanings, new lines.
9 – Metaphors are value systems. Metaphors need to take you someplace. You can develop a metaphor by repeating an image with a difference and layering it through your piece.
10 – Heidegger in his essay “The Thing” says that for the poet to relate a sense of real, he or she has to relate four things to any crucial, physical object in a poem:
Earth ~ physical description: how a thing looks, feels, tastes, smells, etc.
Sky ~ larger patterns: a sense of seasons, weather, changeability, the bigger picture.
Divinity/Heavens ~ values or ethics: what’s at stake in terms of meaning, philosophy, social issues, how does it affect things in the world. Sense of mystery.
Mortals ~ mortality: why things are used, defined, appreciated. What is the origin of the thing? Cause, effect. How do others see it and use it?

I hope you find these lessons useful. I’ll get to the social, fun part of the conference and post-conference reflections in the next, last part since this has already gotten so long.

Until next week!

P.S: Will share pics as soon as I figure out how to put up a photo gallery!