The Everything Writing Poetry Book (40 page)

Whether you already know your group members or you're starting out fresh, these people must be dependable and honest. You will trust them with personal information in your writing, and you may feel very vulnerable at times. If the content of your writing is extremely personal, then you may prefer to work with a group of individuals whom you do not see on a regular basis. This way, your personal writing world will not interfere with your professional or family life.

Group Stability

A writing group becomes stable when it can maintain consistency and frequency within itself. Your group size should not exceed six members, and it should not have any fewer than four. You need an exchange of ideas and varying voices, but they cannot become so numerous that one individual's voice drowns in the conversation or so few that you don't express any ideas at all.

Time and Place

Most writing groups meet once a month. If your group is comprised of six people, you may need to meet twice a month in order to competently evaluate each person's writing. If you meet this frequently, you will have to work out a schedule for evaluating each person's writing. For example, if there are six of you, and you meet twice a month for an hour and a half each time, you should spend a half hour on each of three people's writing at each meeting.

The time of day you choose for your meetings is very important. Be careful not to schedule sessions at times when you will be too tired to fully take advantage of your group. Evening meetings are not always best because people are exhausted from the demands of work or family. Weekends are generally a good time to meet, as long as some members don't work during the weekends. The late morning or early afternoon is usually a time when people are most alert and ready to engage in conversation. During the meeting, you may want to assign one member to watch the clock. This assignment should be taken on with a certain measure of kindness. An alarm clock should not sound at the exact second the member's time is up, but you need to abide by a schedule to ensure that every member gets her turn.

As far as location is concerned, there are many options. Members can take turns hosting the meetings at their homes. Homes are great settings for group sessions because they are comfortable and give members a chance to learn a bit about each other. But for some, a home is too personal. Many writing groups choose to meet in libraries or bookstores, and others might even meet in cafes or restaurants. The location must be agreed upon by all of the group members.

Distributing Manuscripts and Criticism

Time management is best maintained when the work is distributed before the meeting. For example, if you meet on the thirtieth of each month, try to distribute your work, via e-mail or snail mail, to each member by the fifteenth or twentieth. Such a method allows each member to read the manuscripts multiple times before the meeting. No one should be reading a manuscript for the first time during the meeting itself.

When group members have time to study each other's writing in this manner, the meeting is very productive because each member is giving thoughtful input to the writer. Members can make handwritten comments on the manuscripts and refer to them as they make their suggestions during the meeting. Additionally, once the manuscripts have been returned to the writer, the same written comments give that group member something tangible to reference after the meeting.

Regardless of the form your comments take, remember that they should be both kind and meaningful to the writer. Your participation in the group means that you have a desire to enrich your own and others' writing, not to feed your ego or someone else's. So, comments such as “This is perfect” are not going to be helpful to the writer. Instead, try something like this: “The imagery in the poem is exceptional, but your reliance on passive verbs slows down the poem's rhythm.” Such a comment shows that you really paid attention to the person's writing and that you want to be helpful.

Handling Chatter

Remember that the group's primary mission is to respond to its members' writing. In order to keep on task, don't allow too much time for off-topic conversation unless the entire group agrees to it. You may decide to allocate the first fifteen minutes of every session to general conversation. This will get any news or issues out of the way early so you can then focus on the writing.

Even though you want your group to be focused and effective, you also want it to be an enjoyable experience for everyone in the group. Additionally, the experience shouldn't feel like work; each member likely has enough of that to deal with on his or her own. So, in order to make things fun, your group could decide that everyone should bring a snack to share to each meeting. Or you could start the meeting with a game to break the ice and get everyone loosened up. By keeping all members comfortable and at ease, the meeting will run more smoothly and effectively.

Group Unity

Once the group has met for three or four sessions, you should begin to see noticeable improvements in your writing and your confidence. It's important to take your group members' comments seriously and work with them. Do not delay implementing their suggestions. As time goes on, your writing group will become a cohesive unit, and the advantages of such a group will become clear.

Using Feedback

Try to revise your work as quickly as possible following your meetings. Perhaps let your work and members' feedback sit for a day or two, but not any longer. If you wait too long, your energy and motivation will diminish. The suggestions you receive should still be fresh in your mind when you sit down to work them into your writing.

Group members' suggestions are much like your own ideas: If you don't consider them right away, you will lose them. As you work with the suggestions, you will find that some are useful and others are not helpful to you at the time. But even if you decide to disregard a comment or suggestion, don't put it out of your mind completely. A similar principle may apply to a future poem.

No matter whom the suggestions come from, and no matter if you use them in your revisions or not, be gracious in accepting the comments your group members have made. They have taken the time to read your work and will feel slighted if they do not feel their time has been appreciated. Likewise, be understanding if a fellow group member does not immediately employ your suggestion. Writing is a sensitive act; things can get very uncomfortable if everyone in the group does not act in a mature, constructive, and understanding fashion.

Building Chemistry

As you exchange ideas in the group, you will notice a chemistry forming between you and your group members. For instance, you may end up depending upon the insights of a particular member more than others. That's fine, but always keep an ear open to all voices. The quiet voice may be the wisest.

After a few meetings, your members will seem to assume roles—the punctuator, the line editor, the theme finder, etc. But, unlike traditional family roles, the roles within the writing group will shift depending upon the work at hand. Don't be afraid to leave your comfort zone. If you normally only offer suggestions on content, it doesn't mean you can't critique the aesthetics of a poem presented to the group. Feel free to say what comes to mind, but be sure it is constructive and intelligent feedback.

One Poet's Progress

Perhaps the best way for you to understand the benefits of a writing group is to see the changes in a couple of poems after they have received the careful attention of group members. DeAnna Beachley, a noted historian and humanities scholar, has only recently discovered her desire to write poetry. Now she writes so frequently and with such passion that she claims she cannot stop herself from writing. Her energy for poetry challenges and inspires her group to do more. One of her early submissions to the group was “Keystone Thrust Fault Trail,” a poem that first appeared in the following form:

she emerges

shedding bark
leaves
as snakes shed
their skin
so that new growth
can occur

(in many ancient cultures
goddesses were depicted
with snakes wrapped
around their arms)

forces of erosion
perfect merger
of wind, rock, sun, cold, heat
strip away all that is
unnecessary

what remains is the essential self
true essence
strength
wisdom in simplicity

fault line
force of thrust
tectonic plates collide
push upward outward
exposing layers of rock
that had been hidden below
the crust
   new level
   next level

painful
noisy
thrust
drive
propel
advance with pressure
cooking far beneath the
surface

until a new being
emerges

Venus on a clamshell
   pure
   naked
   simple
cobra pose

spine elongates
tension releases
hips off the ground
arms strong
head upright looking
forward
breathing

this is just what it is

a new being
emerges
stripped of outward
burdens
engaged with the world

but detached

free
not tame
not contained
not surfaced with slick veneer
desert varnish
not covered by thick crust

what shall take root?

exposed
vulnerable
trusting absolutely
being
love
care

Initial Reactions

After reading the poem, you can probably see DeAnna's desire to capture the never-ending changes seen on a single trail. The trail is personified, and the reader embarks on a journey throughout the poem's stanzas. The earth is alive in this poem—it is vibrant, fertile, and wild. Anyone who walks on the trail is invited to explore its history, and perhaps learn more about her own.

When the poem was first workshopped, many group members were instantly impressed by DeAnna's ability to make the trail real. The poem's vitality is undeniable, due, in part, to the opening, “she emerges.” The group also agreed that the poem's strength was rooted in the poem's language, which shadows the form of an actual trail, or better still, an individual's path on a trail.

Suggestions for Revision

While most members liked several parts of the poem, a few group members had comments about the poem's line lengths, line breaks, and stanza organization. The group also suggested that DeAnna draw more on her inner vision of the trail and supply the poem with more concrete details. After two or three more drafts, DeAnna presented this revision:

she emerges

shedding bark and leaves
as snakes shed their skin
leaving behind the old
for the new

(in many ancient cultures
goddesses were depicted
with snakes wrapped
around their arms)

forces of erosion
strip away all that is
unnecessary
spare language of nature

fault line
force of thrust
tectonic plates collide
painful and noisy
push upward outward
advancing with pressure

exposing layers of rock
that had been cooking far beneath
taking things to a new level
the next level

cobra pose
spine elongates
tension releases
hips off the ground
arms strong
head upright looking
forward breathing

this is just what it is

a new being
comes forth
stripped of outward
burdens
engaged with the world

but detached

free
not tame
not contained
not surfaced with slick veneer

no desert varnish
not covered by thick crust

exposed vulnerable
trusting absolutely

what shall take root?

Results

As you read the revised poem, you can probably see the thought DeAnna took in reshaping her line lengths and reordering some of the poem's later stanzas. She maintained all the poem's many strengths. For example, stanza three was left untouched, and the poem's lack of punctuation and capitalization, which mimics nature's freedom, persists.