TALKING POEMS: POEMS OF ADDRESS & APOSTROPHE

This is part three of my four-part National Poetry Month/Poetry Friday essay on poetic forms

A poem of address is a poetic form that allows the poet to “speak” to a subject. Most of the time the subject doesn't talk back because it’s a person who isn’t with the poet, or because the person is no longer living, or because the subject can’t talk back because it is an animal, a place, or a thing so this type of poem is usually in the form of a monologue. When the poet addresses a subject that can’t respond it’s called apostrophe.

On April Fools’ Day I posted an epigram by Samuel Taylor Coleridge along with a response that is a poem of address and uses apostrophe since Samuel is no longer living. Click here if you’d like to see those poems. April Fools' Poetry 

This week I have once again been inspired by Samuel to write a poem that defines the poetic form. Here is my letter to the Poem of Address:

Dear Poem of Address,

I wish we could be good friends.

I wish you could tell me if

You like to sky dive, bake muffins, dig ditches, tell jokes.

But you’re as loud as a stone

Hiding deep underground

Leaving me

On my own

To

Monologue,

Solo.

Thank you for nothing.

Sincerely,

The Poet Who Has to Go It Alone

© 2013 Tamera Will Wissinger

TRY WRITING A POEM OF ADDRESS 

This is a fun poetry form to try because the main rule is that the poet speaks to someone or something. It doesn’t have to rhyme, so it can take many different shapes. It can be funny and in a way, it legitimizes talking to yourself!

Here are a few tips for writing a poem of address that uses apostrophe:

• Choose a subject that is interesting to you. It could be as simple as your favorite pair of shoes or the stop light that always turns red just as you drive up, or as complex as your relationship with a friend or a conversation with someone in history that you wish you could meet. If you select an inanimate object or a plant or animal, you’ll automatically be using apostrophe in your poem of address, since those things can’t talk back.

• Jot down several appealing (or revolting) ideas that have to do with your subject.

• Form your plan. One way to start is by asking a question of this subject and imagining answers. As in: “Old dishwasher…why quit on me today? Did you run out of steam?” or “Hello little yellow plant. Did I forget to water you again?”

• Work in first and second person – use “I” and “you” just as you would when you are having a conversation, only keep the conversation one-sided. It can also be like writing a letter to someone.

• This poem does not need to rhyme or have stanzas. Choose the most descriptive and interesting words to show your feelings! 

For other examples of poems of address, check out A Fishy Spell and Lucy’s Song from my book GONE FISHING: A Novel In Verse.

Have a fun time writing poems of address and using apostrophe!

I hope to see you next Friday – the final week in my series – when I talk about limericks! 

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Here are a few announcements:

Irene Latham is hosting Poetry Friday at LIVE YOUR POEM

Naomi Kinsman is featuring me this month at INK SPLAT

For Verse Day #16 at versenovels.com, I tried to answer the question: Why Write A Story In Verse

Poetry with Samuel Taylor Coleridge: What is an Epigram?

Earlier this week, to herald in National Poetry Month, I posted an epigram written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Here it is:

Epigram

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Sir, I admit your general rule.

That every poet is a fool,

But you yourself may serve to show it,

That every fool is not a poet.

(This poem is in the public domain.) 

I wrote a reply:

Response to Samuel Taylor Coleridge Epigram on Fools

by Tamera Will Wissinger

Say I concede your general rule

That every poet is a fool,

But this spring month may serve to show it,

An April fool could turn a poet.

© 2013 Tamera Will Wissinger

As I began to think about these poems it occurred to me that they are triple and quintuple-duty poems. What I mean is that they encompass more than a single poetic form. Here’s how:

1. They are both epigram poems (a short, funny poem).
2. They are both quatrains (a stanza with four lines).
3. They are both poems of address (a poem where the poet is speaking to someone or something).
4. My reply is also a parody poem (a poem that begins in the same way as a poem that someone else wrote, but changes as the poem develops).
5. In my reply I’m also using the poetic technique of apostrophe (speaking to someone or something that cannot reply).

EPIGRAM POEMS

Today I'm focusing on epigram poems. When I looked up the word epigram in the dictionary, here’s what it said related to poetry: “a short, often satirical poem dealing concisely with a single subject and usually ending with a witty or ingenious turn of thought.” Dictionary.com LLC. Accessed April 04, 2013. dictionary.reference.com

Here is what Samuel Taylor Coleridge had to say about epigrams:

Epigram

by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

What is an epigram? A dwarfish whole,

It’s body brevity, and wit its soul.

(This poem is in the public domain.)

I think this is just wonderful – Samuel used an epigram poem to define an epigram! It’s short (a single couplet), on a single subject, and very clever.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge courtesy of poets.orgIn the earlier epigram at the top of this post, Samuel uses a quatrain, which gives him more time and room to form his thought, and it allows him to include satire. I can imagine Samuel Taylor Coleridge having an after-dinner conversation with some fellow who is perhaps belittling Samuel’s work as a poet, calling all poets fools, maybe even suggesting that poetry is easy – that anybody could do it. Maybe the guy even recited one of his own poems – maybe it was awful! Maybe that prompted Samuel to sit down later that night and write his witty poem. I don’t know for sure, but it’s fun to think about.

In my response, I wanted to keep that same light-hearted approach that’s in Samuel’s poem. I don’t really think that every poet is a fool, and I doubt that Samuel did, either. I think that he’s actually getting all of the poets on his side to say – “Hey, we’re not fools! We’re smart and funny and talented.” I think that’s part of the satire – using humor to try and let people see thing differently. My goal was to find a light-hearted way to align with Samuel on April Fools’ Day, but to also welcome reluctant poets to join us during National Poetry Month. Fools or not – poets have a lot of fun in April! (And all year long, actually.)

In the process of writing my epigram response, I ended up also writing a parody poem (a form that I will talk about more next week), and having a small conversation with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in a poem of address using apostrophe (a poetic form and technique that I’ll discuss more in two weeks). This is what happens sometimes with poetry – you set out to write one thing, and you end up writing a whole lot more than you ever expected you would. There’s nothing foolish about that, right?

WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY WRITING AN EPIGRAM POEM?

Do you have an idea for an epigram? Here are a few questions that might help you start:

• Did someone recently say something that made you angry or hurt your feelings? (The way I imagine someone did to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.)
• Did you have to eat something recently that didn’t taste good to you?
• Did you notice something funny or interesting in nature?
• What else has been going on that you could turn into humor?

Take your own experiences or observations and try to see them in a comical way. Choose one idea and jot down some ideas. Make it a couplet or a quatrain, or even three lines – it doesn’t even have to rhyme – it only needs to be brief, on a single subject, and very clever.  Have fun! 

I hope to see you next week when I discuss parody poems!

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For more details on National Poetry Month, visit the Academy of American Poets!

This week Poetry Friday is being celebrated at Robyn Hood Black's Read, Write, Howl 

And if verse novels for boy readers are interesting to you, Gabrielle is talking about four interesting verse novels at versenovels.com

04.05.13