Improving Your Confessional Poetry
By: Alan Asnen
Tags: Poetic Form, Prose, Empathy, Poetry, The Writing Life

A kind of workshop

Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash

That the haughty neck is happy to bow

And the proud back is glad to bend

Out of such chaos, of such contradiction

We learn that we are neither devils nor divines

— Maya Angelou

Here’s the secret to writing “confessional” poetry in one easy lesson:

Do not tell people how much pain you are in, how lonely and heartbroken you are, UNTIL you have mastered the techniques of communicating these feelings to the reader as they experience these feelings in their own lives while acknowledging (to yourself) that you know nothing of their lives.

In the end, confessional poetry isn’t about the writer. It’s about the reader.

An easy lesson to know, difficult to actually learn.

Amazing though how some people do take to it so quickly and early on. Some call it “empathy,” but it is actually the accumulation of genuine knowledge about the lives of others.

There are poets, right here on Medium, who do a crackerjack job of this, and seem to have been doing it almost right out of the box.

Myself, for example? I cannot do it. I was dropped on my head too many times as a child, so I have to depend upon abstractions and metaphors, a lot… you know, old fashioned poetic junk to make my point.

I don’t go in for “confessional” poetry. I leave confession for prose. You know, punch in the nose writing.

And most confessional poetry, as far back as the “form” goes, would have been better suited to prose. Actually, you see, if you read, there’s nothing wrong with prose. People like prose. You’re reading it right now! Don’t you love it?

And why is this the case? Because straight confession usually doesn’t “sing” the way poetry sings. It flows the way prose flows (ooh, that flows nicely, doesn’t it?).

Photo by Felix Koutchinski on Unsplash

And, if you look around THIS PLACE, you will see something fascinating. People, as in readers, tend to like confessional prose far more than they like confessional poetry. Now, if you are searching for some kind of “metric” by which to measure the accuracy of my words… Thar she blows.

Now, before you blow some “creative” gasket, hold on. We’re not talking about trading your emotions in for a buck. Although, if you actually could…

Do they like poetry? Sure. Not as much, in general, but there clearly is an audience for poetry here.

Just as clearly, though, a much bigger audience for that confessional prose!

Soooo…

You want to get some of that confessing done? Do it in prose. A suggestion. Nothing wrong in doing it that way, first of all. And it certainly is easier, as far as writing is concerned (formally speaking). It doesn’t inhibit your growth as a writer, generally. It does (theoretically) expand your potential audience based, once again, on the existing “metrics.”

The prose form gives you far more opportunity to develop certain skills as a writer that poetry does not (especially these days with the “wild west” attitude in poetry…sorry, but honesty is the best policy when speaking of learning things…). Hardly anyone “demands” discipline in poetry. Discipline and detail are absolutely demanded of the writer in prose.

More important, in the bargain, you may learn that crucial lesson about the readers, their lives, and how they feel when they experience what you are experiencing.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

How so? By engaging with more readers from a wider body of experiences (as you will when you write prose). This is simply a matter of a different level of interaction. Think of it as a larger writer’s group! A different writing lab!

Then you can carry these lessons back to your other work.

The new experiences, like any new experiences, only open your eyes. As far as your work is concerned, it only changes what you want to change.

Alan Asnen copyright 2019