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From the Mslexia Workshops Collection

Mslexia Poetry Competition 2011 – Workshop 3

Devised by Jane Holland

This is the last in our series of specially-commissioned poetry workshops to help you generate work for entry into the Mslexia Poetry Competition. The closing date for the competition is 18 July.

PREPARING YOUR POEM FOR SUBMISSION

Put it aside

So your poem is finished. You’re happy with it and decide to submit it straightaway to a magazine or competition.

This is nearly always a mistake. Poems have a tendency to work in the mind long after they are supposedly finished. You may wake up a few days later and realise that your marvellous last line makes no sense, or the strong middle stanza is actually where the poem should begin. If it’s already gone off to an editor, you no longer have the option of improving your poem before it’s seen.

So hang onto new poems until they’ve matured and you’re confident there’s nothing more you can do to improve them. (Though don’t hang on too long; all poems need to be turned loose eventually.)

Use Visualisation Techniques

Athletes often use visualisation to help them achieve new goals. This involves imagining yourself successfully making that winning move before you’ve made it. The same technique can be used with poetry.

If your poem was handwritten, type it out before preparing to submit it. Don’t use any odd fonts. Make it look as professional as possible. Study how the poem looks on the printed page, the shape made by the lines, the ratio of white space to ink. A good poem typically has a pleasing shape, not too symmetrical but not ragged either. Unless a poem is intended strictly for oral delivery, it needs to work on the page as well as in the ear.

Exercise: Checklist for Submission

Print out your poem. Visualise it either being published in a prestigious magazine or winning a competition. Pretend you are an editor or judge, then ask the following questions:

1. How does this poem look next to other excellent new poems by well-known names? Perfectly right, a little awkward, or entirely out of place? If the last two, probe for what is wrong and try to rectify it.

2. Does the poem fit the magazine or competition you’re targeting? Right number of lines, correct theme, written to a high enough standard?

3. Hold out the poem and scan it with your eye. Does anything leap out at you as visually ‘wrong’? Is there any awkwardness at that point when reading the poem aloud? The two together may indicate a problem.

4. Do any line-breaks strike you as awkward or bizarre-looking? If free verse, what were your reasons for choosing to break the line there? (Rhythm should be the main reason, closely followed by sense and emphasis together.)

5. Do any words sound overly Latinate or too Anglo-Saxon for the context? Too many Latinate words may indicate an excessively abstract poem.

6. Does the poem feel abrupt? It may be slightly underwritten. Last lines are particularly prone to this. But don’t go too far the other way. There should always be the sense that something has been left unsaid, even if the poet herself is unsure what that may be.

7. Does the poem become too wordy or descend into prose at any point, and is that a necessary shift or a failure of nerve?

8. Finally, don’t forget the basics: check spelling, punctuation and grammar, and always put the poem aside for a few days before sending.

Always Revise Aloud

Though we tend to think of poetry as something written down, poetry is still quintessentially oral. So always test your changes aloud as you write and revise.

Try not to revise where reading aloud is impossible (in an office environment, for instance, or on public transport). Reading aloud is about more than the sound of your voice. It impacts on your body too, your facial expression and gestures, the way you hold yourself.

When reading a poem silently, it’s easy to ignore the sounds and rhythms, and make changes based purely on line length or other cosmetic considerations. That isn’t to say these are unimportant. But the two should work in tandem.

View a printable pdf version of this workshop.

Try the first workshop, The Spark of a Poem, and second workshop, Encouraging New Poems.

This is the first in the series of specially-devised workshops to help you write your entry for the Mslexia poetry competition, deadline 18 July 2011. For the latest on the writing world, publishing and creativity subscribe to Mslexia now. To sample more Mslexia features or to find out about the latest issue click here.