Hugo and Poem Processing

Writing about Hugo

I just finished the book, "The Triggering Town," by Richard Hugo. I believe that Hugo provided a lot of clever insight about writing poetry and I will take the information he stated and apply to my own personal style and way that I write poetry. He proposes that there are two types of writers, public and private, and I think this is a fairly decent way to categorize the different ways in which poets write. I feel that all of his chapters in the book were designed to cover a basic understanding and concept of writing poetry. My favorite quote from the book is where Hugo says, "Writing is a way of saying you and the world have a chance." I really like this sentence in the book, because it makes me think about my writing acting as a form of expression for me. It comforts me to know that I have a chance to let people hear what I have to say.

Poem Processing

When I write a poem, I let my creativity flow. I start off by getting a specific image in my mind and from there on I just write about what ever comes to me next. Sometimes I like to write about stuff I know really well, and when I do that I like to keep it pretty close to the facts. Other times, I let my imagination soar and I write about whatever pops into my head. I normally tend to make my poems rhyme and I like to write line by line. What I mean by writing line by line is that I start with the first line of the poem and go on to the second...third... forth... fifth... and so on. A lot of the times my poems either tend to have a comic undertone to them or they are mystical and yet sinister. Basically, when I write poetry, I just start writing and don't stop until I clearly get across what I am trying to say.