Gathering In
Reading your poems as a body of work
Image: Leonie Clough, Unsplash
It’s not quite harvest time yet, but summer is a time when, for many of us, day job work slows down or pauses, or we travel beyond our usual everyday environment, and we might have a little more time and brain space to contemplate our creative work—its repetitions, resonances and directions.
I’ve noticed, through my mentoring and editing, that in the summer months poets tend to gather together individual poems and consider their function and impact as part of a broader body of work: a manuscript, a submission bundle, or just a collection of best or most recent pieces.
Recently in Poetical Workshop, my online poetry community, we spent a week gathering together, considering and celebrating our poems — and noticing the patterns emerging across our work. This is something I believe can be beneficial every now and then whether or not we’re working towards a collection; it’s easy to get into the habit of always writing, and reading, one poem at a time.
Here the activities I offered to help community members gain greater perspective on, and understanding of, their poetry. I hope you find something useful here too.
