The Keys to Poetry (and Success)
Learn from the success of our most prolific author.
Author Tania Runyan is one of our most prolific writers—and one of our most successful, too. If you count book sales.
But, of course, we also count poetry. And the way it touches lives. How it is a light for the heart and soul, easily hidden in slim places—easily passed along.
Among Tania’s six books with us are The Poetry How-To Trio (How to Read a Poem, How to Write a Poem, and How to Write a Form Poem); Making Peace with Paradise, a memoir that shows her path to becoming a writer (and a woman who has found a measure of healing from her past); and a helpful guide on How to Write a College Application Essay (Tania was an SAT, ACT, and college essay tutor for many years before becoming the middle school teacher she currently is).
According to big data, as discussed in Don’t Trust Your Gut, being prolific is one of the key ingredients for success as a creator. Artists and writers who bring numerous creative works into the world are poised to succeed commercially, far beyond their peers.
Of course, there’s commercial success and then there’s life success. The two aren’t necessary related. Though, in Tania, we feel that they are.
If you’d like to succeed as a poet, we suggest you write poetry prolifically, with a little guide (or three) by your side. To get you started, please enjoy this opening from one of Tania’s poetry guides—How to Write a Form Poem: A Guided Tour of 10 Fabulous Forms.
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every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home
–matsuo bashō
even the briefest form of poetry
can have a wingspan of immeasurable breadth
–jane hirshfield
with gratitude for the back deck
that welcomed me to its solitude
in a time of loss
—tania runyan
Opening Map
Life is short, and you don’t need anyone telling you what kind of poem to write. You especially don’t need anyone teaching you a complicated formula with which to express yourself. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of “creative” writing? And anyway, it’s not like it’s 1723. Generations of fore-poets have worked hard to earn us the right to compose in free verse. Walt Whitman shall not have labored in vain!
Still, as Mark Strand and Eavan Boland write, “Forms are—as we believe—not locks, but keys.” Forms don’t just open doors; they can start a journey and ultimately determine where you land.
Having moved across the country after college, then having three kids (which really racks up the cost of plane tickets!), my husband and I quickly became believers in the road trip. With his job as a high school teacher and mine as a writer, we’ve had the luxury of carving out large chunks of time to ramble across prairies, mountains, and deserts on our way to visit family in California. We’ve seen and experienced a lot, from the famous Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountains to the not-so-famous, but no less inspiring, object of my affection featured in my book How to Write a Poem—a small, metal Loch Ness Monster statue at a city park in Wyoming. Some destinations are on the itinerary, and some are found on the way, even in a spontaneous moment of taking the nearest exit to grab an ice cream cone.
Throughout this book, I’ll rely on the travel metaphor to help you get a sense of how each of the ten forms functions. I’ll also share my personal history, experience, and sample “destination” (poem) for each of the forms. That is not to imply that I’ve mastered these; in many ways I’m still setting out. However, I hope that by reading about my personal experiences, you, too, will feel encouraged to climb lighthouses, visit city murals, and stand in the ocean waves to experience the power of these forms. Mostly, I want you to learn just how freeing form can be.
Each instructional chapter will focus on one of ten forms, then end with an exercise to send you on your way. What’s important is to get writing, to produce that first villanelle, sestina, or ghazal, to see if you can do it. (Hint: you can.) Once you get writing, you can dip your toes into the additional sample poems and prompts at the end of the book. As you advance, you can then circle back to the “Go the Extra Mile” sections, containing next-level suggestions (you can find these sections, written by Sara Barkat, after the end exercises in virtually every chapter). If your, um, feet feel tired, or not yet ready for the hike, remember there is no need to go the extra mile!
Most of all, my hope is that by working through these pages, you’ll discover that forms are not formulas, but rather colorful maps to the unexpected, with an abundance of rivers, bridges, side roads, and sights to explore. Enjoy the journey—and the destination—and remember to pack plenty of snacks.
Featured photo by Iza Gawrych, Creative Commons, via Unsplash.