zodiac8 Oct 2005

Usually I sing it to the Smurfs theme song.

(Bonus note: It's against Muslim holy law to call the call-to-prayer 'singing'. True story.)

After 10 years of paying attention to it, I'd say the key to poetry is repetition. Or, better, prediction. I don't mean when you hear "I'm in love" you know the next line's going to be "sent from heaven above." I mean, you tap your feet to it; you know there's a line ending with -incter coming up somewhere; the image of the dump truck comes back in the end; a metaphor holds the poem together.

Now, before everybody jumps on my ass, I think there's a WHOLE FUCKING LOT of room to play in poems, even when your goal is repetition. As evidence, consider that my poems (ie, repetition-focused) are generally more original than the most out-there free-form poetry on poemranker. The trick is surprising people just a little. Put 'succincter' in the middle of a line instead of the end. Toss up the beat a little. Make an odd refrain or repeat an image where it's not expected. But repeat something, anything. Or you'll sound like one of our resident Californian poets reading a Whole Foods grocery list in a monotone. Rhyme's a good place to start, but I wouldn't do it for a living.