Tupelo Press 30/30 Poetry Marathon Commentary Days 21-25

By Thomas Page

For the month of January, I will be writing one poem in a “poetry marathon.” The poems will be posted here: https://tupelopress.org/the-3030-project

You may also find out more about the poets and their fundraising campaigns here: https://tupelopress.org/the-3030-poets

As part of the marathon, I will be providing commentary on each of the poems every five days.

General Context:

For Days 21-25, I will talk about how I get feedback on my poetry. Throughout this process, I have been speaking with the other poets and Tupelo Press. In these meetings, we go over the craft of poetry as well as discuss what we like about the other poets’ work. For this week, it was suggested to me that I work on writing more unconventional forms (non-fixed forms) which I have attempted to varying levels of success. I will note what the form was for each day’s commentary.

When discussing my work with other poets, the general tone is instructive. This is something that you’ll learn quickly if you enter into creative communities. As writers, there is always room for improvement which is assumed when you show your work in a space like the 30/30 which is meant for drafts. Other poets will be very specific when giving you feedback. For example, I’ve been told that I use too many words, rely on too few words, and that my imagery was too vague (in my defense, I was trying to write about a subject {a demon tempting a priest with a reference to the Eagles’ song “Witchy Woman”} that the poet thought I wouldn’t write based on my personality). You will sometimes have to go to bat about a single word in a poem.

When you all send me work for AHM, I’m assuming that the piece is done because I am reading it as an editor. I am reading for general content and its ability to fit it with other pieces on our website. I also have John and Jessica Page’s general content guidelines in my head so keep that in mind when you send us work, haha.

Day 21: An Erasure of an Erased Message from March 2020

This is a blackout poem. The form is meant to create a poem out of another text (sometimes a poem, sometimes not). Originally, I was looking for the exact messages that I was sent at the time. However, my (or his?) phone had deleted all messages from 2020. Therefore, I have tried to reconstruct what the messages said into one, longer message. I did notice that the poem is less blacked-out than I intended so know that if it appears again that there will be less words in it.

Day 22: Bear Documentaries 

This is a more conventional free verse poem. The created form is a tercet with a longer third line. There are some repetitions but it is not intended to have a strict rhyme. The poem is based on an observation that my father and I saw a few days before I wrote it. I could’ve added way more content based on what the receptionists were talking about but I do have a space limit.

Day 23: Family History 

This is meant to be a contrapuntal poem. The form is meant to have two poems that are placed together. They can be read traditionally (down) or across to create several poems. This form is notorious at the University of South Florida’s MFA program because at least once a semester a student would try this form and be told by a professor that it didn’t quite work. This one is a bit of a cop-out because the left “poem” is more of a frame for the right poem.

Day 24: How Quick the Bank Knows You’re Gone

This is a form amalgamation of the forms from Day 21 and Day 23. The blackouts are more selective than they were on Day 21. I have also just shown how I achieved the two columns on Day 23 (word processors are notoriously iffy when it comes to poetic formats that aren’t just enjambed). This would be, at least to me, the most “found” form for this section of five days.

Day 25: Dirge in the Dirt 

This is an ekphrastic demi-sonnet based on this photo from the reality competition show America‘s Next Top Model. What the previous sentence means is that it is a 7 line quasi-sonnet describing the artwork. The way I’ve done it is the lazy way in which I’ve just described the context of the photo of making the model do a death-themed photoshoot around the same time she learned that a friend just died.