10 Habits that Invite the Muses
KELSEY BRYAN-ZWICKINSPIRATION 101
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🔗 Set the Mood
🔗 Edit
🔗 ExperimentAbout the Author 🙋🏻♀️
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There is some truth to the idea of the muses sending their lightning bolts of perfect epiphany, it is this energy that initially attracts many of us to the practice of writing. This spark is only the beginning of the poetic story. To start the muses may show up on their own, or through poems you’ve just read, but that spirit that brought you here today can be an elusive figure.
With this in mind, I like to practice what I call, letting in the muses. What I mean by this is learning to build up a routine and writing habits that welcome inspiration. In the past whole temples were built to honor these immortal beings, the nine muses, daughters of the titan Mnemosyne. All nine daughters inspire creativity, and three Erato, Thalia, and Polyhymnia that inspire poetry. With no temple the muses must still be honored. It is therefore important so find the space and habits to both physically write, but then also practice the manners that make the muses happy. Through this method we hone our skills, keep our writing minds sharp so, that we can better share the stories they inspire. It is these poetry practices: the intentionality of writing, that I will discuss.
1. Set the Mood
Establish a ritual to get into your poetry mindset. Build positive energy going into writer mode, by reminding yourself that no matter how good, a draft is, writing itself is the goal. Think about why you like to write poetry and how many topics you want to explore. Make this a sacred space by creating a ritual around writing practices. This can be done by lighting a nice smelling candle, or spraying a favorite scent, maybe playing some instrumental music to get in the poetry mood. Perhaps all three! This is how we invite the muses in, a ritual they feel safe in to whisper their secrets.
2. Free Write
A free write is a perfect way to ease into writing itself. This is a way to loosen up the poetry muscles, and can be useful to navigate writer’s block, or when stuck in a rut. There are several methods to the free write, that I have found useful in the past. Sometimes I try to write words that don’t match, so that I create a bunch of nonsense new terms or phrases. Sometimes I just try to keep the pen moving across the page till it’s filled up or for 3-5 minutes. Another method is to designate this personal space and know that you never have to share a word of it to anybody. This all helps to declutter the mind. If you decide you do want to build poems from these free writes then you can circle the words and phrases that attract you to keep them in mind as you write new drafts and edit old ones. This also lets the muses know you are ready and receptive to their wisdom.
3. Make a List
When I tackle a prompt or theme I use a listing tactic to clarify my ideas before I start a poem. Let’s say the prompt is to write about rivers, I will make a list of the first 5-7 words that come to mind on this topic. You can also make lists of sensory details, verbs, adjectives, and or nouns, that relate to the prompt. For rivers, I would make a list of sound related details: a steady rushing, a canyon echo, splash, birdsong, the one-two-three of skipping stone.
After making a few lists, circle the words that most attract you, similar to the free write. At this point all these images begin swimming together. This builds up a sort of kinetic energy (the muses) that gets released through the writing. I often learn my own thoughts as I write, the images and endings begin to reveal themselves in the process, though even gorgeous first drafts tend to need the tools of good editing.
4. Edit Fearlessly
The economy of words is hugely important in poetry, do not be afraid to cut away sentence structure as you bare the fruit of your poem. Let little words do their work, to reinforce all your golden lines, to relate back to themes and images already expressed in the poem. If you worry about cutting away too much or being vague, imagine you are completely new to the story, are there enough details to set the scene? If you were giving someone a tour of the poem like the tour of a house, are all the rooms there? And this gets us into the idea of structure. What kind of house is your poem, does it have good bones or is it in disrepair? Where is the house located and what season is it? Trust me, the muses will want to know.
😎 Pro Tip
make sure every word is working as hard as it can to reinforce your metaphors throughout a poem.
5. ASK QUESTIONS
As I edit poems, I ask it a series of questions. Some are basic, like did I spell things the way I meant to? Do words mean what I think they mean? Then there is a layer of, did what I say come out true and authentic, or are some of my images, replicas of things I’ve seen before? I also begin to ask questions about what kind of world the poem lives in, and whether within this world the poem follows its own logic. What else could the characters be doing or saying? Ask these questions so that when you are in the middle of the poem you can do a 360 degree turn and see what surrounds. This practice can manifest details that don’t necessarily belong in the poem itself, instead they help to understand what IS in the poem.
6. EXPERIMENT
Lately, I’ve been obsessing over visual poems, poems that incorporate art, or are displayed in a way that confronts the reader’s traditional expectations of reading on the vertical and horizonal line. For example text may be layered, in columns, or interacting with lines and graphs. Other poems are offered in simple fashion, like how haiku shape a small pearl of words easy to hold all at once, or to string along with other pearls. Try setting up a few artificial boundaries or rules and the mind can focus on other elements of craft (The Poetry Lab also has a treasure trove of prompts to play with). This can also lead to new insights on your own personal style and voice. Think of it as throwing an open mic for the muses, a space where they can say whatever she wants.
7. SHAPE THE POEM
Though there are many forms to choose from, forms in fact being created every day, it is important to find the structure that truly fits the content of the poem being written. Treat structure and setting like characters helping to tell the story. Instead of focusing on how accurate descriptions are, focus on what those images are saying, with their presence in the poem. If it is a lyric or an ode these backgrounds will play harmoniously with the subjects and characters. However, if it is a trauma poem the scene will add stress for the narrator and conflict with their goals. With three muses dedicated to the act of writing poetry there is a never-ending treasure trove of possible forms.
8. DRAFT, DRAFTS, DRAFTS!
The copy/paste trick is your friend! Copying a poem draft into multiple documents allows you to write out different versions. Maybe one is your favorite, maybe you end up with a hybrid, but having your poem in multiple forms will help you develop an instinct for how to manipulate all the elements working in a poem. Keep all your versions and notes on versions if you can, sometimes there is a perfect line that gets lost along the journey and this is one way to keep track of how your ideas are developing. Find those you can share drafts with and get feedback. All those red marks are also your friend, they show that people care what you have to say. As do the muses!!
9. SING TO THE MUSES
Voice your poem, either aloud, through sign, friend, or an app. Try timing your line breaks with longer natural pauses of your breath in the poem, place your commas and other punctuation at shorter pauses. Hearing the poems voiced also helps to find typos and awkwardness in wording. Poems rely heavily on a rhythm made from all its combined elements, so the flow of words becomes especially important. The pacing of this rhythm is often determined by line breaks. Do you want fast lines, slow lines, lines with extra space between words? All poems are serenades for the muses, to comfort them from the pain of existence.
10. BUILD YOUR STYLE
To find your own prompts naturally I suggest reading poetry by living and publishing poets. Find what attracts you and try it out for yourself. Be sure to credit the poet or idea, but allow yourself to play with different voices as you begin to develop your own. There are so many styles and movements in poetry and by reading forms new to us, we can discover new tools to manipulate the structures of our poems. This may be the most powerful concept handed down to me from my professor at UCSC, Gary Young, who explained how every new element offered new “tools” for our “poetry toolboxes.” Any new tricks we learn can be tucked away in our metaphorical toolboxes and used as we write new pieces and revise older ones.
These are just some of the ways to invite the muses, and whatever works for you, I do suggest you invite them! It’s through practice we can achieve an intentionality in our poetry, learn to focus on certain topics for a series of poems or a themed chapbook. It is how we build our way, poem by poem, to full length collections of poetry. In this way, we offer gifts back to the muses, in thanks for all they have given, century following century.
👉 Pro Tip
Whatever your obsessions and side hobbies are, try to use them create your own hybrid forms. This helps us to loosen up ideas on what a poem is supposed to be like.
This article was published July 8, 2021. Written by: