Poems that stand out on the page
An unusually spaced Friday round up
Hello, hello,
Following on from my post on Sunday, which talked about the use of white space in poetry, this week I returned to a few of my poetry books and flicked through them looking not for the right words, but for the right spaces.
I read a few aloud (again, I always tend to read poetry aloud unless I’m sat in a coffee shop where I may be asked to leave, ha), this time reading not only to enjoy and experience the poem but to take note of where I was being asked to pause a little longer, the impact of the double spacing or the effect of my being left to fend for myself, mid-sentence.
Ooh it was interesting.
Here are a few that stood out for different reasons:
This is Finally, by Andrew McMillan, from his collection, Physical. Throughout this book he uses white space magnificently. One poem, Protest of the Physical is a whole 14 pages long, the white space fundamental.
Stapleton Road by Laurie Bolger, from her collection, Box Rooms. If you haven’t read her award winning poem, Parkland Walk, that’s well worth a read too. Yes, it has some great use of white space but I’ll be honest, I’m mainly sharing this one just because I hope you’ll like it as much as I do!
We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks, from Selected Poems. A truly powerful poem which is so striking on the page. Listen to it being read via The Poetry Foundation here.
A great example of white space helping the reader to find their rhythm when reading a poem out loud. Of course from Winnie-the-pooh by A A Milne.
I found this last one by Phillip Gross over here - a Bloodaxe writing challenge for young poets with some more lovely examples and ponderings on white space. If you’re interested in more.
Aside from the writing prompt set last week, I also chose one of my own poems at random and had a play with completely changing up how it appeared on the page. It’s not that I don’t do this anyway sometimes, when I’m not attempting to follow a specific structure, but I probably don’t do it to this extent. And I also approached it not with the aim of improving the poem or finding the ‘best’ way to write it. But rather just experimenting with how dramatically I could change the meaning. How I could impact the energy. I did find myself surprised at how silences can amplify and musicality can be manipulated. I did quite like saying, “urgh no that doesn’t work” again and again, only to eventually just delete it all and stick with my original. It felt like good practice.
Anyway, over to you.
Do you have an attempt to share from the week that was? Or do you have you another poem you’d like to share with the world? A thought on white space more generally or just want to say hello and let us know how your writing is going right now.
The comments section below is made for all of that.
As you hopefully know.
Nelly x
I re-wrote an older poem I’d written when I would never have dared to be all bold with line spacing!!…
T H E P A U S E
When compulsion to prove my point overcomes me and my need to respond is fuelled by urgency,
My mind races to be right
My senses rise to the fight
And then
I reluctantly
remember…
The Pause
The humbling, painful
pause
The uncomfortable, brakes-on
pause
The beautiful, let-things-sit
pause
That turns my focus from agitation
To curious investigation
Unravelling my defences to uncover
a deeper wisdom
The Pause
that is active, yet still
Noticing, but not heavy lifting
Permission granter for things to unfold
Space creator for quiet questions to evolve
The tangled ball of wool unlaced slowly saves irreversible knots
I found this quite challenging as I realise it’s not something I usually do much playing around with in my writing. I tend to be so focused on the words that the space on the page doesn’t take up much of my time. I tried to come up with some new things based on the prompt but haven’t really figured anything out yet, so I’m sharing an old poem which has a very little bit of playing around with white space in it! It’s about having a short nap one afternoon before the school run and how decadent that felt 😂😂
Decadence
This pocket of time is a gift,
to be unwrapped
s l o w l y
and savoured.
Skin touching cool sheets;
I allow my head to be cradled
by the tender embrace
of a soft pillow.
Our house is blanketed
with a rare hush:
l u x u r i a t e
in it.
Gradually, I succumb –
eyes closing
as I
sink
into a doze,
lips curved into a gentle smile.
(I would have the final line curved into a smile shape too, if I could be bothered to work out how to do that on here 😂😂)