/lit/ - Literature

>>3011699
Read lots of poetry.

>>3011703

This is probably the best suggestion, I've started on it already. Could you recommend some poets you enjoy? I'm really a pleb when it comes to this.

Well read a bunch of different poetry.
See what style they use whether it's Iambic Pentameter, Cinquain, Free verse etc etc.
Then just practice writing things over and over.
Try to make each word count and a lot of people say avoid adverbs.
You can buy books on writing poetry but I don't know any I'm afraid.

Post something you've written already.

>>3011708
Jorge Luis Borges, Walt Whitman, and Arthur Rimbaud.

>>3011709

Thank you for your help.

I've found I quite enjoy free verse, but I put it down to me being unable to write or appreciate "proper" poetry.

>>3011711

That's probably a bad idea.

>>3011718
It's never a bad idea, if you don't take criticism you'll never understand what you're doing wrong.

Also free verse is where I began with poetry and some people disagree but I think it is true that when you understand how poetry works you gain a 'deeper appreciation' for it.
Try reading Shakespeare normally, then read it in the way it's meant to be read and you'll see how much better it sounds.

>>3011717

I've been reading some poems by Jorge Luis Borges. I really, really like them and I will read some by the others later. Thank you for your suggestions, they're very helpful.

>>3011734

I know I'm doing most things wrong, which is why I think it might be a bad idea. I can't quite put my thought pattern across without it being clumsy.

I suppose I may as well post something. These are a few lines I jotted down in the journal I was given after getting out of bed earlier.

"I lie and stare at your neck in bed
that melts for my kiss
And too holds rigid,
Against the bashing of fists
and replayed chokings.
The forked tongue tip
that drips two dreams,
Of 80 year old porch scenes
and of corpses."

Please tear them apart. It annoys me to read the stuff back as I know it doesn't capture what I was meaning to say at all and instead looks clumsy and muddy.

The Poetry Home Repair Manual by Ted Kooser

this book should be a sticky

My honest advice would be to not listen to these people. If you want to create honest writing, do not study poets with the intent of imitation. it will only dilute the spirit in you "As the spirit wanes, the form appears."

OP, read lots of poetry and try to broaden your vocabulary as much as you can. Some of my favorite poets are Billy Collins and George Watsky

>the basics
The Norton Introduction to Poetry

is there a good definitive guide that focuses on poetic technique and uses one or two examples for each thing and just explains how the techniques are used in conjunction
something that doesn't go too far into detail regarding people and more into how and what

if you can't write how you're feeling in a journal, how the fuck can you do it in verse?

>>3011944
Try 'ABC of Reading' by Ezra Pound, especially the later section on meter. The problem with this book is that he makes it sound like you can't learn poetry without reading in other languages, and suggests folks who you may not be able to read. But conceptually the whole thing is solid, and once you turn onto his weird-ass style of explanation (and get over his egotism) there is a lot to be gotten out of it

Thank you for all of the suggestions, everybody.

>>3011947

That is actually an excellent point.