Posts Tagged poems
When The Muse Is Elusive
Posted by Ron Hayes in How I Write, Poetry, Ron, The Craft Of Writing on July 13, 2016
by Ron Hayes What does research have to do with poetry and why in the world would a poet ever need to do research? Ever been asked this question? Ever asked it yourself? When the term “research” crops up in a conversation amongst you and your poet friends, do they look at you funny and […]
Every Line A Break, Every Break A Transition
Posted by Ron Hayes in Poetry, Ron, The Craft Of Writing, Transitions on May 8, 2016
by Ron Hayes In poetry, transitioning from idea to idea in a poem (or scene to scene, or between characters’ points of view, or what have you) seems a lot less complicated than in other genres of writing. You’d think it’s as simple as beginning a new stanza: end the line, hit the Return key […]
National Poetry Month and Jake Arnold
Posted by Ron Hayes in National Poetry Month, Poetry, Ron on April 26, 2015
Two Poets Left!! Our celebration of National Poetry Month at 5writers.com slowly winds down with our penultimate poet, Jake Arnold of Denton, Texas. As a reminder, 5Writers is celebrating National Poetry Month by offering one poem for each day of the month from ten different poets. Each poet has graciously shared with us three poems each: […]
What Truth Is
Posted by Ron Hayes in Poetry, Ron, The Craft Of Writing, Truth in Writing on March 8, 2015
by Ron Hayes for Philip Levine, 1928-2015 It’s a common affliction among us poets that early in our formative years we put pressure on ourselves to swing for the fences. We obligate ourselves to compose the poetic equivalent of a walk-off grand slam that will proclaim our own greatness and announce to the world the […]
Death Poems: Peverse and Pedestrian Ways of “Making it New”
Posted by Ron Hayes in Ron, Writing Advice on October 8, 2014
By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. Macbeth Act IV Scene 1 by Ron Hayes Recently I was speaking with a colleague new to our school. He had just learned that I was the outgoing Poet Laureate of Erie, Pennsylvania and as we were talking I heard him […]
On Words Alone: Can A Man Survive Solely On Poetry?
by Ron Hayes Poetry doesn’t pay. Let me be the first to welcome you to Planet Earth if that happens to be news to you. (Welcome! May I suggest buying a book or two while you’re here?) As writers, we all know that the fruits of our labors are hardly fruitful enough on their own […]
Confessional and Contemporary: Poems, Life, and Elizabeth Bishop
Posted by Ron Hayes in Guest Bloggers, How I Write, Poetry, The Writer's Life, When I Write on April 26, 2014
By Dominique Traverse Locke 5Writers is pleased to welcome back Dominique Traverse Locke, author of The Goodbye Child and No More Hard Times for her second guest blog appearance. “Read this,” I say to my husband, who, in all his infinite wisdom, knows translates to, “I wrote a poem. Fix whatever’s wrong with it.” And he does. When asked […]
A-Listers and B-Sides: When to Abandon Your Poems
Posted by Ron Hayes in How Do you Know You're Done, Ron, The Craft Of Writing, The Writer's Life on January 8, 2014
by Ron Hayes The late French poet Paul Valery (1871-1945) is credited with having said, “A poem is never finished, only abandoned,” which, in my experience, is about as profound a concept as I can find. I think it’s true, art—and writing in particular—is often abandoned rather than completed, and regardless of whether it was […]
Ma? Ma! We’re All Crazee for Negative Space
Posted by Ron Hayes in Ron, The Craft Of Writing, What's Not On the Page on October 19, 2013
by Ron Hayes Thirty spokes meet in the hub, but the empty space between them is the essence of the wheel. -Lao Tzu When I was just a young lad, rooted still in the halcyon days of high school life, one of my first jobs was as a busboy at a restaurant my friend’s […]
Here And There…Or Maybe Just Not Anywhere
Posted by Ron Hayes in Ron, Setting, The Craft Of Writing, Writing Advice on August 2, 2013
by Ron Hayes Recently I opened a poetry contest to celebrate a historical event’s bicentennial here in my town. Entrants were invited to address and/or interpret the contest’s theme as broadly as they wished. To fully understand, it’s helpful for you to know the following: the historical event took place on Lake Erie during the […]
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