C. N. Garraway

Photo by: Irina Kvyatkovskaya

What is making your poetry fall flat? Could it be your words? Could it be you’ve lost interest, or need to leave it to marinate for a while? Sometimes, simply changing a word makes a difference.

Are you getting tired of repeating the same words all the time? If you said yes, then we’re on the same page. When I write poetry I aim to stir emotions, but sometimes I feel like I’m falling short because the words lack depth. I’ve noticed that I tend to recycle the same words. I wanted to switch things up in my writing and poetry. So, I decided to go through the dictionary daily to discover new words and their meanings. I started this practice a while ago, but I eventually stopped. Now, I’m getting back into the routine. I’m eager to incorporate fresh words to enhance my poetry.

So, if the poems are falling flat, I will go back to them and work on some new words to see if they will bring my poems back to life. If changing some words in your poetry doesn’t work, you may need to scrape it and start again. I’ve had to do this multiple times. It strengthened the poem and made it better. Put it away for a few days to a week and then come back to see if your poem still feels strong and evokes a reaction out of you. Pass the poem to a couple of trustworthy people and tell them to give honest feedback on how the poem made them feel.

This is an example of a poem I wrote years ago and revisited.

Faulty Abyss

The colorlessness of the moon

shine down on her face.

Her eyes sparkled like

scarlet gold as pure as wine.

As pure as pearls of shrine goodness of the youth of eternity.

She let her lust falter beneath the veil of her disguise.

Revealing all her insecurities and faulty abyss.

This is the revised version:

Faulty Abyss

The moon shined down on her face.

Her eyes sparkled like gold as pure as wine.

As pure as pearls with the youth of eternity.

She let her lust falter beneath the veil of her disguise.

Revealing all her insecurities and faulty abyss.

I took out colorlessness because it did not add to the poem. I also took out scarlet because then that would make her eyes associated with red which doesn’t fit the poem. Gold by itself was a better fit as it is pure. I would associate red in this instance as more of a fiery person. The woman has insecurities so she wouldn’t be fiery or feisty. The words shrine goodness were also removed. The poem deals with purity and insecurities so removing these words created tighter imagery for the poem and its meaning. So, when your poetry is falling flat replace some words, rewrite, or leave to marinate for a while. It will allow you to evoke feelings in your poetry you want your reader to feel. It will help keep your poetry tight and help the reader better interpret your poetry.  How do you feel about the poem Faulty Abyss? Feel free to comment below.