It's a Party

Crafting Surprise

“It smells like someone is cooking pizza rolls,” my brother-in-law commented as he opened the door to an apartment that was supposed to be empty. He had likely recognized some of the cars outside the complex after a long drive to spend the weekend with his kids, at least that’s what he had been told. We tried not to laugh as we waited for him to appear upstairs. “SURPRISE,” we all shouted though the moment of true surprise had passed. He had driven for six hours with a story he thought to be true while we prepared the space to celebrate his decade milestone.

This section in The Practicing Poet was about crafting surprise in our poems. The authors in this section share ways to take your readers in one direction but then turn them toward an unexpected conclusion. Like my brother-in-law on the road to his birthday celebration, the poem seems to tell one story but then an unexpected turn causes the reader to consider a new possibility. In this section, authors shared tips to help create surprise in our poems:

• Craft Tip #13: Using the Line to Surprise by Meg Day

• Craft Tip #14: Truth’s Surprise by Lawrence Raab

• Craft Tip #15: Throwing the Reins upon the Horse’s Neck by Chris Forhan

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

It is a rare occasion for a poem I am writing to surprise me, but it is something I always hope will happen. Perhaps the challenge for me - and maybe for you - is that I am not good at what Forhan calls throwing the reins to let the horse find the way. In other words - obviously - letting the poem take me where it needs to go. Letting a poem surprise us as we write takes an incredible amount of honesty as well as the willingness to break from where we thought we were headed.

While I often think about the surprise tucked in the meaning at the end of poems, Day reminds us that surprise can be crafted at the line level. She suggests that the way we choose to break lines can impact meaning so, of course, intentional shifts in the line breaks can add surprise at a line level. Meter, and changes in the sound of the poem, can also create surprise.

It’s funny how once you start to think about a particular crafting technique you see it everywhere. Yesterday’s Poem-a-Day was Lightning Bug by Colin Pope. In his poem, Pope shares in detail a scene from a childhood memory of catching lightning bugs to play with the light. Honestly, I almost didn’t finish the poem (no offense to Pope) because of the way the child in the poem handles the lightning bug, but I’m so glad I read to the end because the surprise was right there tucked into the twist of meaning.

I’m not sure exactly when my brother-in-law knew he was about to be surprised by friends, but as he retells the story now he talks about all the clues that were right in front of him. Isn’t that the way a poem should be? Once the surprise is revealed you realize the clues were there all along.

Stop by Merely Day by Day this evening for today’s poem.

The Rabbit Hole

• The Poet by Ralph Waldo Emerson: This essay is referenced by Chris Forhan as he suggests we “throw the reigns” in a poem.

• In an incorrect Google search, I stumbled upon this webpage of prompts I may return to later: 101 Poem Ideas to Spark Your Creativity by Robin Piree.

• Forhan also mentions a poem by Dean Young called How I Get My Ideas. I’m still looking for that poem, but I did stumble upon a page with Dean Young poems at The Poetry Foundation. I enjoyed reading his poem, Dear Reader, and know that I want to return to read the others linked on his page.

• How the Neuroscience of Surprise Can Improve Your Practice by Laura Shovan: This article made me consider the way prompts and forms can help us to find surprise.

• I honestly wanted to go on a hunt for “surprise” in poems. I know that this would not be the best use of my April time, but I have started a list in my poetry notebook.

• The Poem That Can’t Be Written by Lawrence Raab

• Hmmmm. I want to take a closer look at Forms of Poetic Attention by Lucy Alford. Have you read it?

• A search took me to a blog called Structures and Surprise so you know I was intrigued. There’s a lot of content here so I want to come back to peruse it a bit more later.

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It’s National Poetry Month. In April, I will reflect daily on the craft tip offered in The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics, edited by Diane Lockward. You’ll find those reflections here. Of course, I will also write a poem using the craft tip in celebration - and because apparently, I like a good challenge - of Poetry Month. Each day, the new poem will be posted on my blog, Merely Day by Day. Thank you for stopping by.