No, you’re not technically writing, but creating “magazine poetry” is a good exercise to get you out of your own head. Experiencing writer’s block? Spread out, use new tools and muscles, find words that aren’t your own and claim them. Here’s a quick guide to magazine poetry that will have you generating new work in minutes.

SUPPLIES

Magazines. Glue. Tape. Scissors optional.

There’s a really good chance you have old magazines lying around, or someone you know has magazines that they’re done with. And I know you’ve got glue somewhere in that house, if not, tape works just fine, and if you don’t have tape then what are you doing with your life? Scissors are useful, but frankly, you could always just tear the words/images out. The point is, this is free!

A large workspace and your brain.

As you spread out your magazine pages and words, take up as much space as possible and let the project surround you. It might feel overwhelming at first, but your mind will get used to it and open up too.

ADVICE

1. Don’t change the poem after you’ve finished. Sure, you can add to it, but once it’s glued down it’s there for good! This, in my opinion, will bring a sort of peacefulness to the work you’ve created when you’re done. It’s a good experience to finish something and know that you cannot change it.
2. It doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, the less perfect, the better! Don’t try and cut words out perfectly, and don’t try and rip out pages with a flawless seam. The uneven cuts and the torn pages will add character to your work with no effort.
3. That being said, you don’t have to love or like what you create. You are making art out of garbage, so if you truly hate it, tear it up, throw it away, burn it for all I care! Maybe that step alone will free up something in your writing. Regardless, find the good in the process, no matter how you feel about the end result.

BENEFITS

Get Physical

As a writer, it can feel confining and boring to have only a pen and paper, or a computer, to work with. Take old magazines and just start ripping them apart and use all the physical space you can.

Cathartic Crafting:

Magazine poetry gives you an excuse to do arts and crafts, what more could you want? Also, if you’ve got kids, this is a fun way to keep them busy while you also get to be your creative self.

When I made some of my first magazine poetry, I only had magazines that my roommate and my Grandma gave me, which included modern house designs, cooking tips, and ads for Ritz Crackers. Something about creating work out of things I DON’T like was strangely uplifting. I also had a great time ripping and cutting apart the boring, modern rooms that I hated.

Build Your Word Bank:

This exercise provides you with an insane range of words that you don’t normally use. Yes, a lot of words in magazines are common words, but that doesn’t mean that you use them in your writing. Take my two pieces for example; the words, ‘shelter,’ ‘couture,’ ‘hunt,’ ‘emerging,’ ‘mighty,’ ‘adjustments,’ etc. These are all average words that don’t spark some big excitement in me, but I don’t think I’ve used any of them in any past writing of my own.

The Three Rs:

Here you are, making art out of garbage. Can you say, reduce, reuse and recycle? Look at you, using your resources to make something instead of printing a poem on a brand new piece of paper. The earth will love you, and so will the trees you save.

You really have no excuse NOT to try this. And poems will come easier than you think! While it might feel overwhelming at first, try to concentrate on the moment, and the process itself. And have a little fun.

Author:

Douglas Fir

1. Tell us about your poem in Volume 20. How did it come to be?

“You’re the deciduous forest” was written a few years ago while I was writing a lot of poems that were basically litanies of contradictory statements. In truth, I tend to write quite a few of these. This one is particularly interested in exploitation, whether it be environmental or work-related.

2. What was an early experience that led to you becoming a writer?

When I was in 5th grade, I wrote a serial called “The Time of Dinosaurs,” reading it to my whole class every Friday. It was an original creation about a boy who goes back in time with his tiny dinosaur friend, though it may have included some unauthorized characters, such as Garfield, Fred Flintstone, and Danger Mouse. (I wasn’t too versed in copyright violations at the time.) The immensely positive audience reaction pretty much sealed the deal for me.

3. How has writing shaped your life?

I left for Argentina upon graduating from college, spent 4 years in Buenos Aires and Mendoza while writing a series of horrible manuscripts I’d hoped would one day turn into bestselling critically-acclaimed novels, and slowly gravitated towards only writing poetry. Upon returning to the U.S., I became a Spanish interpreter, which allows me plenty of time to write, rewrite, and send out my poems into the greater world. Also, I married an extraordinarily talented writer with whom I immediately connected in large part because we’re both writers. In short, I have no idea who the hell I’d be now if it weren’t for writing.

René Magritte, The False Mirror, Paris 1929 (Photo from The Museum of Modern Art)

4. What books, writers, art, or artists inspire you and your work?

I mention this in almost every interview, but here I go again: Camus, Camus, Camus. The Plague is my favorite book, and every time I think about it I wish I could one day write something as phenomenal as that. The same goes with One Hundred Years of Solitude. And Leaves of Grass. And To the Lighthouse. And Moby Dick. Before I realized I’d never be a good painter, I prayed at the altar of Magritte, Picasso, Miró, Monet, and Rivera.

5. What projects or pieces are you working on right now?

I just finished a series of 90 sonnets, most of which are probably never going to see the light of day. I usually don’t have “projects” so much as I have loose configurations of similar forms and subject matter. It’s hard nowadays NOT to write about the current political climate, but I do try to mix it up a bit. I’m going to my first writing retreat in May [2018], so I’m very curious to see what comes out of it.

Visit Jonathan’s website.

In my first semester at Hamline’s MFA Program, the poet Gretchen Marquette came to visit one of our classes. During a Q&A with our class, she was asked about her writing practice. The student asked whether she wrote everyday, and if she did, whether her requirement was based on amount of time spent writing or amount of work produced.

I don’t remember Gretchen’s answer in its entirety, but the essential point was that she didn’t write everyday, but she did make sure to live her writing life everyday, which for her meant things like taking walks and conversing with friends. I remember being really struck by this, so here I’ve listed four ways to live your writing life in the Twin Cities (although these ideas could broadly be implemented in any town or city).

1. Like Gretchen said, try going for a walk. Experiment with listening to music during your walk, then not. Calling a friend, or walking in silence. Observe the scenes around you. Attempt to brainstorm ways to describe what you are seeing and what moments you are finding. I highly recommend walking in Summit Avenue’s Historic District in St. Paul (and maybe finding yourself at Nina’s Coffee Cafe to write afterwards).

2. Visit one of the city’s great bookstores. Visiting places like Magers & Quinn, Milkweed Books, Moon Palace Books, Common Good Books, or one of the many other bookstores in the area is an act of engaging in a conversation with both literature and our community. Many of the stores also regularly host authors or events. Rain Taxi provides a wonderful and thorough calendar of literary events throughout the Cities.

3. Try reading when you’re wishing you were writing. Grab an old favorite or reach for a new release. Consider your reading experience both as a reader and a writer. Additionally, get out of your typical reading/writing routine by reading/writing outside of your home. Try reading or writing outside by one of our many lakes, like Bde Maka Ska (formerly Lake Calhoun), Lake of the Isles, or Como Lake. Or visit a coffee shop such as Groundswell in Midway, Spyhouse on Snelling, or Botany Coffee in Powderhorn.

4. Interact with art outside of literature. The Twin Cities are home to some exceptional museums. Take advantage of the fact that the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s permanent collection is completely free. Wander through the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden by the Walker Art Center, where you can encounter Jenny Holzer‘s Selections From the Living as well as a John Ashbery poem strung across the bridge that connects the garden with neighboring Loring Park. Go to a concert at Turf Club or 7th St Entry. Try to consider these forms of art and how they can inform your writing.

Author:

1. Tell us about your poem in Volume 20. How did it come to be?

I’m working on a collection that’s in part about turning fifty, and it contains a lot of poems that riff on that number in one way or another—a poem called “L” in fifty-character lines, for example. I wanted to write a very short poem in counted verse—ten lines, five words per line—so I started looking up the meanings of the letter “L,” besides its status as the Roman numeral for fifty. Once I had a rich list, the poem happened fast.

2. What was an early experience that led to you becoming a writer?

There are so many ways I’ve answered this, including reading voraciously, having encouraging teachers at key moments, and a couple of early successes. Another answer is just loneliness. Reading and writing help me feel connected to others about non-superficial matters in a sustained way.

3. How has writing shaped your life?

The practice eases all kinds of pain and gives me delight; it feels wholly good, even when it’s hard. The getting of writing out into the world is much more costly!

4. What books, writers, art, or artists inspire you and your work?

As a reviewer I read a lot of very contemporary work with excitement and admiration. I’m especially attracted to sound-driven poetry, and also to writers who think formally but are in various ways disobedient to form, too. Dickinson is my desert-island poet and I teach modernism, so I keep coming back to H.D., Moore, Hughes, Cullen, Millay, Brooks, and others.

5. What projects or pieces are you working on right now?

The poetry book mentioned above is She Will Not Scare. I’m also doing a lot of work that hybridizes criticism with personal narrative, including some short pieces (most recently, “Women Stay Put” in Crab Orchard Review) and a book about reading twenty-first-century poetry.

Visit Lesley’s website and follow her on Twitter. In addition, check out Shenandoah, the literary magazine where Lesley serves as Poetry Editor!

1. Tell us about your poem in Volume 20. How did it come to be?

I first wrote the poem “Ventriloquist” when I was living in the Rio Grande Valley. It’s by no means uncommon to hear English and Spanish (or a combination of both) spoken throughout the region. However, Spanish wasn’t my first language, and it wasn’t necessarily because it was discouraged (as it was in my parent’s generation) as much as it was neglected, placed on the back burner for what I assume my parents thought was the more practical English. The poem is a reflection on my struggles to learn Spanish throughout my childhood, and the hope that, through every Post-It note and botched pronunciation, I could connect with an important part of my culture that always seemed out of reach.  

2. What was an early experience that led to you becoming a writer?

 As a graduate fresh out of college, I was living somewhat aimlessly, unsure what direction life was bound to take me. I started writing as a way to cope with the boredom and it quickly became a habit, then an obsession, and then a way of living. No one experience shaped my inspiration to write, rather, it was the process and struggle of trying to put something on paper that shaped the writer I am today. It’s still a process and it’s still a struggle, but if wasn’t, I know I wouldn’t have anything to say.

3. How has writing shaped your life?

Short answer: for the better.

4. What books, writers, art, or artists inspire you and your work?

I try to read as much contemporary poetry as possible, but I find myself returning to collections by Bob Hicok, Dean Young, Tony Hoagland, Daniel Borzutzky, and Valzhyna Mort. No other contemporary writer for me, however, creates such poetic (and often nightmarish) landscapes quite like Cormac McCarthy. Each time I reread his novels and plays I discover something new and meaningful about the world I had never considered before, which is what good writing, regardless of genre, is supposed to make its readers feel.

5. What projects or pieces are you working on right now?

I’m currently working on completing two manuscripts, one that extends on the themes and narratives of my first completed manuscript, Portraits from the Orphaned Plains (where “Ventriloquist” appears), and another (still untitled) that centers on war, violence, and the struggle to make meaning through chaos and destruction. Although they differ significantly in content and style, they each allow me to push my writing further, and to say something new about the world and the human condition.

Esteban’s collection of poetry, “Dusk & Dust,” will be published by Hub City Press this coming fall. Learn more about the book here. Pre-order now. Follow Esteban on Twitter.