Christopher Reilley

RS: 

You write mostly free form. Do you have any other favorite formats? Are there any you avoid?

CR:

I love rhyme. There, I said it.

As someone with a deep and abiding love for language, I get a charge out of the interplay of sounds and meanings that comes with playing in rhyme. Humans have been rhyming for well over 6,000 years, and we will continue to do so. Every children's song ends up deeply ingrained because of the way rhyme carves patterns into our memory banks. Rhyme is important. It is also the basis of every other structured poetry format in existence. For example, the abbaabba rhyme scheme of the first octave in a sonnet.

But two important things about rhyme: 1.) It is not the most popular poetic style currently. That trend will likely change, in time, as trends do, but for now, rhyme is relegated to Hallmark cards and song lyrics. 2.) Rhyme is difficult to do well, which is why in our modern world it is rare; so much of it is crap. This is why I publish primarily free verse.

Every poet's evolution is different, but I started writing poems for the structure, the convoluted schema, the word-puzzle quality of matching meter and tone to result in a coherent message across time. As an engineer, troubleshooter, and professional problem solver, I was attracted by the puzzle structure of poetry forms.

Which is my convoluted way of answering your question; I enjoy writing all poetry forms, it is my favorite mental gymnastic pastime. I've been playing a lot with ghazals lately. Good times.

I don't avoid writing any challenge, I tend to jump on them feet first, and wrestle them into submission.

RS:

What do you think is the biggest mistake some poets make?

CR:

Being afraid to murder their darlings: "In other words, sometimes, when editing, you have to get rid of your most precious and especially self-indulgent passages for the greater good of your overall work." (Slate.com) Many folks have attributed that bit of literary advice to everyone from Ginsberg to Faulkner, but it was actually first said by Arthur Quiller-Couch, who spread it in his widely-reprinted 1913-1914 Cambridge lectures On the Art of Writing. In his 1914 lecture "On Style" he said, while railing against "extraneous Ornament": 

If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: "Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it - whole heartedly - and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.

As you mentioned, I often get involved in workshops and critiquing groups. Countless times I have seen poets receive a critique that suggests they cut out a morsel that they would rather leave in. Whether the critique is valid or not, the writers' anguish at this experience has cost the world more great writers than poverty. I've seen countless good writers stay good, instead of reaching for great, because they cannot bring themselves to delete a line, phrase, stanza or section.

Do not be afraid to hack your work to shreds. Hell, you can always rebuild it again, or revert to the original if what you did isn't working. Bravery made more poetry than caution.

RS:

Favorite tip for poets?

CR:

The only one that really matter: READ. Read a LOT. Read everyone. Read stuff you hate and figure out exactly what you hate about it. Read someone you never heard of (then share it if you liked it.) Read newspapers, trade magazine, bargain bin books, pulps, romance novels, and biographies. Read for pleasure, read to dissect, read to learn, read to be informed, read for leisure, read for work. Every page you consume WILL inform and fertilize every poem you write.

I've written an essay about writing tips (wow, nine years ago!) and anyone interested can find it here: 

I Am a Poem

I am a poem.

I am more than a collection of random words.

I am much more than meter and rhyme.

I was wrestled from magic, fixed into place,

and spun like candy floss into being.

If I can live one day,

one single day

before moving down the list of poems

like me

that wish to exist

I will have meant something.

If I can relay to you, and you, and you,

something different,

something other,

in a way you not only understand

but feel -

I will have succeeded.

If I can become;

deep meaning in every line,

taught to future poets,

loved by one and all

I will have triumphed.

And win or lose, pass or fail,

I will happily

break down into words

to be wrestled into shape

for the next poem

at the top of tomorrow's list.