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Sheila Murphy: Rules and Writing

In my Chapter One essay, I note that poetry benefits from “so much material, infinite possibilities for making.” Many writers suggest writing every day. I would suggest that even more importantly, setting up a framework for generating writing that surprises you the writer is a good idea.

 

One way I have done this and recommend that you try is to establish a set of rules for yourself and follow those rules. For example, writing poems that have a set number of lines, words, or syllables. You might commit to writing five of these per week, or some similar routine.

The rules may be arbitrary. I have written entire books based on a particular format, such as 81 words per page, 81 pages (Teth. Chax Press, 1991) or 18 lines per poem (Pure Mental Breath. Gesture Press (Toronto), 1994).

In my 20+ year collaboration with poet Douglas Barbour, we traded six-line stanzas daily. (Continuations, The University of Alberta Press. 2006; Continuations 2, The University of Alberta Press. 2012).

What is most important is deciding you will do something and propel yourself to flow forward without worrying about how good it is or prematurely seeking perfection. Perfection begins with the imperfect. Remember that editing comes after creating. I have seen writers edit a piece out of existence; editing before the flow has revealed what is happening with the work or where it is headed. Writing within a self-enforced constraint allows infinite possibilities of creativity and production.

Marsh Hawk Press Artistic Advisory Board

Sandy McIntosh, Publisher

Toi Derricotte
Denise Duhamel
Marilyn Hacker
Maria Mazziotti Gillan
David Lehman
Alicia Ostriker
David Shapiro
Anne Waldman
John Yau

In Memory of Marie Ponsot, Robert Creeley, Paul Pines, Allan Kornblum, Rochelle Ratner, Corinne Robins, Claudia Carlson and Harriet Zinnes. 

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Praise for Books

PAUL PINES: Charlotte Songs

The great themes—like Love, Death and Family— have inspired masterpieces and, alas, Hallmark Cards. In Charlotte Songs, Paul Pines celebrates his daughter. But, if you want the Hallmark Card version of fatherhood, you’ve come to the wrong place. Pines gives us the full paradox of living with his child as she grows from toddler to young woman. Inventive, humorous, baffling and poignant.

— Dalt Wonk
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