visual poem | nichepoetryandprose

poetry and prose about place

Posts Tagged ‘visual poem’

shaping a visual poem

Rather than being a mere mechanism for conveying ideas, words themselves can become a visual part of a poem’s theme or meaning. In a ‘shape’, ‘visual’ or ‘concrete’ poem, the words of the poem are arranged in a way to represent an idea or image from the poem.

The shape poem is a relatively old form and occurs many times in literature. For example, the Mouse’s ‘Long Tale’ in Chapter III of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is in the shape of a tail ( http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11/11-pdf.pdf ). Other visual poems include parts of ‘Easter Wings’ by George Herbert and ‘Vision and Prayer’ by Dylan Thomas (see Poetry through the Ages: http://www.webexhibits.org/poetry/explore_21_visual_examples.html ).

So, does a poet begin with the goal of creating a visual poem or does the shape of the poem evolve as part of the creative process? For me, the shape suggests itself well into the process, as part of my considerations of line length and punctuation.

Here is a poem about an abandoned wheel barrow, part of my manuscript on derelict elements of our landscape. Like so many items, this wheel barrow has outlived its usefulness.

First, the basic poem:

wheel barrow

lugged every cubic foot of garden, every brick

of the garden wall

tire flat, bucket dented

rusted, scratched

on its side in the compost heap, one handle

broken

And now, as a shape poem:

Children are often asked to write shape poems as an introduction to writing poetry. Writing a shape poem can be a challenge for any writer and a way to explore ideas about line length, punctuation and word choice.