It wasn't until week five of my poetry class with Mark Tredinnick that I felt like I was hitting my stride. The first few weeks saw me floundering with form and trying to squeeze my words into weird new cages. Mark calls it 'dancing down the cage'. Rhythm, especially iambic pentameter with its tricky feet and beats is beginning to make sense but I struggle to use it consistently in my poems. I didn't even go near rhyme as my rhymes tend to be naff.
Hearing all the other poems each week helped as did Mark's comments everyone's work. Each week Mark would go through our poems in class. It was such a good insight into what makes good poetry and how it can be edited to make it stronger.
One of the poems I wrote for week four was a success and well received so that took off some of the pressure. Having only one more class left also helped – there's the wonderful feeling of relief as the end of the journey comes into view and you know you can take a well earned rest.
But mostly I think it was finally figuring out my process for writing poems for these new forms. Now I know I need to sit down at my computer and research the new form. Find instructions and some good examples of the form. Mark always gave us examples in our reader for the week but I like discovering poetic gems – there's a delicious thrill that goes with stumbling upon a beautiful piece of poetry.
I'm so glad I signed up for this class and grateful to Mark for so generously sharing his wisdom and expertise.