Writing Tip #4: Take an Old Idea and Say It in a New Way

Take an old idea and say it in a new way. Everything has been said before, but how can you say it in a way that is informed by your own experiences? This is how writers craft unique voices. W. H. Auden said so himself that “Some writers confuse authenticity, which they ought always to aim at, with originality, which they should never bother about.” In this manner, the purpose of poetry is purely to articulate how the piece is connected to you. Anybody can write the same three lines. Why is it important that you wrote them? 

A useful writing exercise when working off of inspiration from another poet’s work is something I like to call a puzzle of opposites. In this exercise, you must write a new, original poem where every word is the opposite of the corresponding word in a poem of choice. This may seem restrictive in form, but who’s to say what the opposite of bumblebee is? The more creative liberties you take, the more authentic your poem might become. 

Here is an example from Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Ross Gay’s Lace & Pyrite

Original by Aimee Nezhukumatathil 

Excerpt from SPRING

I cannot explain the click-step of beetles.

You are on your own for that. I grew up with patience

for soil and stars. Lace and pyrite. I believe

in an underworld littered with gems.

In another life, I have to. Sometimes I lose track

of all the bees and their singing.

You thought I said stinging.

– AN

‘Opposite' Version

He should recognize the flying of butterflies.

I will be with him till then. He ran from the years, 

from skies or shallows. Cotton or obsidian. He ignores

the abodes decorated with stones.

For this age, he shouldn’t. Every day he grasps

the birds and their reign.

I heard you wrote rain.