Sage Cohen's Tip A Day: Imitation Makes the Art Grow Fonder

Editor’s Note: Throughout the month of April, Reading Local and Portland poet Sage Cohen will celebrate National Poetry Month by featuring a new tip each day.

Imitation makes the art grow fonder

Spend some time reading the work of a poet you admire. (Read at least 10 poems so you can get a representative feel of his or her work; the more the better). Write down at least three qualities of the poet’s voice or style that you notice. (Are they particularly apt at metaphors? Do their poems happen in nature, in domestic scenes, or in imaginary places? Are their line breaks rhythmically perfect or the shape of their poems particularly resonant? Do their poems have a music that inspires you to speak them out loud? Is there a certain feeling they typically convey or mood they create?) Choose one aspect of that poet’s voice and style, and imitate it in a poem of your own.

Sage Cohen is the author of WRITING THE LIFE POETIC: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry (Writers Digest Books, 2009), THE PRODUCTIVE WRITER: Tips & Tools for Writing More, Stressing Less and Creating success (Writer’s Digest Books, forthcoming in 2010) and the poetry collection Like the Heart, the World. Learn more at www.writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com.

Image credit Poets.org.