Since the award-winning poet Judy Jordan will be my poetry teacher next semester, I've chosen to include several of their videos on poetry writing below. You can find one of my favorite poems of theirs here. And you can find their YouTube channel here. In the videos, they discuss an essay called "The Four Temperaments and the Forms of Poetry." Enjoy!
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Below are videos on rhetoric, the art of persuasion and leadership. Enjoy! Below is a list of webpages replete with wonderful information to help writers submit their work to journals and magazines. Refer to the hyperlinks to access the webpages.
*** Journals Associated with MFA Programs I have been accepted by several journals operated by MFA students (that is, "MFA journals"). The link above will take you to a list of MFA journals for your consideration. Each journal listing is a hyperlink to the journal's Website. Some links don't seem to work, but the list is still incredible. Literary Journals That Pay As the title suggests, this second link will take you to a list of journals that pay contributors. At the bottom of the list are many journals that charge submission fees, so be aware. How To Submit Your Work This third resource provides a detailed overview of how to format and send out submissions for potential publication. BONUS: Poetry Can Change the World This final resource is mostly for poets. It is a simple, yet empowering, article about the magic of poetry. Even though the article is not meant to help poets submit, let alone compose, publishable verse, I wanted to include this source because of how heartfelt it is. The article's author declares: "Poetry is this beautiful, terrible tool where we carve out our inner experience and jumble it around in a pleasing way in the hopes someone, somewhere will connect with it. Maybe even be bolstered by it. If not healed, then have the understanding they’re not alone in how they’re feeling." Below are three wonderful TED talks. The first is about the importance of finding a mission in life. The second is about the importance of healthful, sustainable workplace environments. The last is about the importance of rhetoric, that is, the art of persuasion and leadership. Enjoy! I finished my first semester teaching English 101 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU). I learned a lot about teaching during that time, so I wanted to explore my insights briefly vis-à-vis the Ten Teaching Commandments I mentioned in a previous blog post. Below: the original list and commentary in purple. My additional insights are in red.
*** 1. You Shall Not Think You Are a God. Not even a close second. You have the same human value as your students--you just have a bigger desk. One of the ways to earn respect is to accept that you don't know everything. So always work toward knowing more and accept that you do make mistakes. This commandment should apply to everyone regardless of one's profession or career aspirations. The concept of earning respect resonates with me since I had to lead by example in my class. I knew enough to do my job adequately, to earn my students' respect, but most of what I needed to learn or master had to be done during class or in private, giving me lots of time to experiment with my teaching style; I, course, failed--or at least became dissatisfied and disappointed--along the way. At SIU, I'm first and foremost a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, not a teacher. So, reminding myself of my priorities helped me to put my work and academic responsibilities into better perspective. I'm not just a teacher but a student, a writer, a brother, a son, and so much more. But above all else, I'm not a god--infallible and all-knowing. 2. You Shall Not Attempt To Steal Your Students' Dignity. In all your interactions with students, they should never be encouraged to walk away feeling less about themselves. They may learn about behaviors they need to correct, greater efforts they must make, but never should their "person" be injured by your words or actions. Leave no stone unturned, no child untouched. My student experienced so much stress this semester, with deaths in their family and COVID-19 lurking seemingly ubiquitous. I did not want to compound their stress by ignoring their concerns, such as their need to spend plenty of time writing unit essays. So, I reiterated the assignment prompts to my students, holding them accountable of their work. I also reminded students that they could speak to me over email and over Zoom after class. I gave them several resources, including key reading assignments, to help them thrive with dignity. More to the point, I did not shame my students whenever they dropped the ball; instead, as I mentioned before, I held them accountable of their work. For example, if students deserved F's, they received F's. In such cases, I listened to my students' concerns and tried my best to accommodate them without kowtowing to their every desire. 3. You Shall Have a Sense of Humor. The ability to laugh at yourself and with others is a great characteristic to foster in yourself and your students. "A student learns three to four times faster in the presence of joy" (Skinner). Cardinal rule: Never laugh at a student. I allowed my students to insert or explore their passions into almost every major assignment; as a result, students were able to apply my lessons to their own interests, ideally reinforcing their joy for learning. At the same time, I related to my student by sharing key moments from my first year as a college students. After struggling to be light-hearted, I eventually opened up more to my students and stumbled upon opportunities to make the class a safe place to learn. 4. You Shall Show Compassion and Fairness. The best way to enter the minds of students is to first enter their hearts. When you touch them personally, they will grow academically. And while life isn't fair, never contribute to their knowledge of this by treating them poorly. I told my students that how I grade them will be based on the assignment sheets and prompts; that way, students know that my grading strives to show compassion and fairness. In addition, whenever students were unable to come to class because they weren't feeling well, I marked them as Excused as a courtesy. 5. Remember To Keep Holy All That You Loved in a Teacher. Remember what is was like to be a student. Take the best of each teacher you've had and incorporate those characteristics in your teaching. It was hard for me to try to incorporate ALL the characteristics of effective teaching. I still need to remind myself that I'm a part-time educator attending graduate school as a poet, not a teacher. I had to adjust my teaching standards to avoid feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of "having" to demonstrate ALL the characteristics of effective teaching I encountered before grad school. My standards must be high, but first, they must be fair and practical. For example, instead of writing personalized comments on EVERY student essay, I offered whatever feedback I could based on how much time I was legally allowed/emotionally capable of doing each week (I was allowed to work for at most 20 hours per week). The work was so stressful, that I did work more than 20 hours some weeks. Even though some teachers may argue, "Some weeks you might have to work extra," I had (and may continue to) remind myself of my priorities as a grad student, which I already explained. This is NOT an excuse to turn in lackluster work, but to do what I needed to do for my job and my sanity. 6. You Shall Not Kill a Student. Just don't do it. In addition to not killing their physical being, don't kill their spirit, enthusiasm, or desire to dream. Simply put, I have not killed a student...yet. 7. You Shall Love What You Are Doing. If you don't love to teach, rekindle that love; if not, do something else. Life is too short for you not to be happy, and your students deserve a teacher who does appreciate the amazing honor of teaching. I've wanted to be a teacher for years. But again, I have to remind myself that I'm at SIU as a poet, not a teacher. I may use my M.F.A. to teach after graduation, but whatever career I choose, I want it to bring me joy. A famous reporter once argued that it's better to have a mission in life than think about getting a "dream job." In other words, focus on your strengths and passions first and your job title--whatever it is--second. My mission in life is to be a creative--specifically, to share the power of poetic music and meaning with the world. There are many jobs that emphasize this creative power and meaning, albeit differently: poets, English teachers, song writers, radio presenters, and so forth. Whatever I end up doing, it will show my love for my mission. 8. Remember To Keep High Your Expectations of Your Students. Be firm in your expectations, and while showing compassion for them as individuals, don't let them make excuses that keep them from taking responsibility for their lives and their learning. I already mentioned sympathy and high expectations above, so I won't rehash it all. If anything else, it's important to remind myself that it's okay to adjust my expectations. I can still expect a lot from my students, but the expectations must be reasonable, not produce unnecessary agony, stress, fear, or frustration. This is impossible since some students do think even the lowest expectation are still too much to handle. But I will continue to expect the best of my students and continue to reevaluate what the "best" constitutes. 9. You Shall Wear Comfortable Shoes and Loose Underwear. Besides wearing comfortable garb, learn to be comfortable in your own skin. Let your students know who you are and don't pretend to be something you're not--this will invite your students to reveal their real selves to you. I loved to wear loose polo shirts and khaki shorts to class. My apparel helped to relax and helped students see me not as "a sage on the stage" but a coach who was there to encourage all to inspire themselves to succeed. 10. Honor Yourself. Live up to your expectations, do what you feel in your heart is right, listen to your needs, praise your efforts, forgive your mistakes, embrace your humanness, and encourage yourself to grow. While you are not a god, you are a beautiful human being. See the magic and worth that exists in you, and you, by your example, will teach your students that they, too, have magic--the most valuable lesson of all! Even though doing "what you feel [...] is right" is a simplistic way of honoring oneself, the final commandment is still timeless and heartwarming. The commandment takes a lot of its ideas from other commandments, but ultimately, the final commandment implies what its author once told me, "There's no hill to steep for a stepper." In other words, success is in the doing and success is a messy process because even though we humans are imperfect, we're still capable of so much good. Students need to be reminded of this, but so do teachers. Perhaps everyone else, too. My first semester as a grad student is finally over. And along the way, in my first graduate school workshop, I learned important lessons on how to write poetry better. Below I list and briefly explain six of these lessons. Most of them I learned before the workshop, so if anything else, they are important reminders for any poet.
Caveat: No lesson or insight is perfect. Hence, these lessons may not apply to ALL poems. *** #1: Use anaphora judiciously. Anaphora is the repetition of words at the beginning of successive lines, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth. I used to incorporate anaphora a lot in my work, not fully realizing that anaphora is often used to build emotion in a poem, not just make the poem seem repetitive and "balanced." As with any rhetorical device that calls attention to itself, anaphora is best used judiciously. #2: Watch out for "purple prose." "Purple prose" is obnoxiously florid language. In my poems, I sometimes write very detailed descriptions, which several of my classmates accused of being "cinematic," a play on purple prose, presumably (notice the playful alliteration?). I dislike how "cinematic" language is often equivocated with purple prose; in fact, while some of my poetic descriptions were unnecessary or extreme, writing cinematically should NOT be a vice. #3: Embrace modern language. I learned most about poetry by studying modernist poets, such as T.S. Eliot and Wallace Stevens. I didn't start studying more contemporary poets until recently. As such, my writing style used to emulate the modernists. The problem of this should be apparent: even though a poet can learn a lot from the modernists, a poet in the present is writing for audiences in the present. (In fact, a workshop classmate of mine argued that my earlier poems for workshop would've been relevant 50 years ago. Ouch!) Poetic conventions have changed in many ways. "Accessible" poetry has gained a lot of favor over the last several decades. But more to the point, I learned to use language my (contemporary) audiences would understand--unless the poems I write demand non-contemporary language, which can be hard to determine. Using the word "radio" in a poem maybe be preferred over "jukebox." Regardless, I have a greater sense of what my audience expects, and I hope that sense of awareness continues to develop. #4: Marry form and content. What a poem looks like should reflect the emotion(s) of the poem itself, and vice versa. For example, a poem that jumps from image to image could utilize lots of white space, with words dispersed (seemingly) chaotically across the page. In contrast, a funny, straightforward poem about a pinecone could be organized into neat quatrains or triplets. What's tricky about this lesson, however, is that form and content can play off each other in surprising ways. For example, a poem about someone getting stabbed, depending on the language used, could be written as a traditional sonnet, a villanelle, a free verse poem organized into neat couplets or triplets, a prose poem, micro fiction, and so forth. When I read other poets' published words, I sometimes wonder, Would these poems be better if they weren't prose poems or sonnets or whatever? I have realized--though I'm probably mistaken--is that some of the decision-making involved in determining how a poem is structured or appears on the page may be arbitrary. Not necessarily random, but perhaps based on simple, though contestable, reasoning. For example, a wild poem about drug addiction could be spread out across the page to simulate chaos. But the same poem could be organized into quatrains largely because the poet wants to bring some semblance of order to such a sensitive poem. If this same poem is "prosy," then it might be better off as a prose poem. But there are many "prosy" poems that use deliberate line breaks, suggesting that they refuse to be prose poems when they should be prose poems (or maybe they shouldn't be prose poems at all?). This lesson is simplistic, but it does beg the question: How is form playing off of content (and vice versa), and why? The possibilities of a "form and content marriage" is varied and nuanced. #5: Clarify pronouns. It's sometimes unnecessary to know who every character is in a poem. Even though it's generally preferred to know the characters, especially the speakers, poems vary so much that there many, many cases where knowing ALL the characters may be distracting, counterproductive, or flat-out unnecessary. On the other hand, I don't want to needlessly confuse my readers or make them uninterested in the characters or the poems as a whole. Therefore, if it's best to clarify who the "you" or "I" is in a poem, then doing so can be straightforward: I can explain who the character is in a brief description, in a scene, in the title itself of the poem itself. #6: Braid descriptions with narration, action, and exposition. This won't be applicable to all poems, of course. But in many cases, descriptions shouldn't upstage speakers or what they're doing. Narrative poems should emphasize the characters, with an appropriate amount of descriptions incorporated/braided throughout. Poems that use some narrative elements, but aren't exactly narrative poems, can have an easier time focusing on things other than the characters, such as setting descriptions. Either way, for every character, description, action, the poet must wonder, Is what I'm writing clear and striking enough to captivate my audience? *** I probably cultivated more lessons from my first graduate school poetry workshop. But these lessons still resonate with me. |