In a survey for Tweetspeak Poetry (please take our main survey if you haven’t yet; we’re listening), one reader suggested we create a place for you to ask us anything about poetry. So we did.
Now, we certainly don’t claim to have all the answers. But we’re happy to use our collective experience as award-winning poets and reviewers to answer your questions, or at least point you in the direction of getting your questions answered through another excellent resource.
One question that arose along the way of a previous Poet is In discussion had to do with taboo words in poetry. Some of you were surprised (incredulous?) to discover that as part of our acquisitions process for Every Day Poems, we keep a list of poetry taboo words, and we rarely acquire a poem that includes such words.
A few of these words include: breathless, achingly, and grace. There are more. But suffice it to say, the words tend to be overused or used in predictable ways. We don’t go for predictability in poetry.
When our young writer Sara Barkat heard about our acquisitions practice, she was inspired to try to create a taboo word poem that wouldn’t get the taboo word axe. Here it is.
Breathless
Because there was less
than breath, we said
it’s true; —but Death
was tardy and sat on the bed
until we all just wished
It would get on with it already—
rumpling the covers,
exchanging stories
smiling as only Death smiles—
and ranged around the sickbed,
breathless and afraid to speak
we eyed each other with
the unspoken awkwardness
of a meteor that had come late—
it just wasn’t right.
The doctors had their predictions,
the mourners were ready,
arrayed in black and less confused
as mourners always are,
practicing their anguished moans outside the door
while the pre-deceased sat with Death,
who twirled Its scythe aimlessly against the floor,
and chatted like old pals, with no thought to
propriety.
—Sara Barkat
One Poet’s Practice, Regarding Taboo Words
Like many writers I know, I keep a taboo list. Nothing too long or formal, this is simply a list of words I must not write—at least at first, when beginning a new piece. Often they are ones I have worn to pieces, like a favorite shirt or lucky underpants. Trees are there on my taboo list right now; as it happens, so is rain—just until I get some new work under my belt after Contingency Plans. It’s a way of pushing myself toward growth, toward deeper, more colorful, more dynamic writing.
—David K. Wheeler, from Taboo: Writing the Trees
Poetry Taboo Words Discussion and Prompt
1. Alright, the Poet is in. Ask us anything about poetry taboo words.
2. Are there any poetry taboo words you think should be added to our list?
3. Write a poem using one of the taboo words in this post (or one that’s offered in the comment box). What approaches can you potentially take to skirt the poetry editor axe?
Photo by Scott Robinson, Creative Commons, via Flickr.
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About One of Our Resident Poets
Tania Runyan has served as an editor for Every Day Poems and is the author of four books of poetry, including A Thousand Vessels and Simple Weight. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Atlanta Review, Nimrod, and Southern Poetry Review. She received an NEA Literature fellowship in 2011.
In Tania’s latest title, from T. S. Poetry Press, she secured permission to work with the Billy Collins poem Introduction to Poetry. Enjoy her teamwork with Collins in How to Read a Poem…
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Richard Maxson says
Given that Sara’s poem was not axed, that would imply that what makes a word not taboo is either context, the strength of it as metaphor, the syntax of the poem (maybe that is the same as context?) and maybe just the uniqueness of its use in the poem, which may involve all of the previous three. together.
You could say that the word poetry itself used in a poem borders on cliche, one of the main symptoms of tabooitis. But any or all of the feature of poetry above can rescue any word (I think), just as breathless is saved by context and Death is rescued, of all things., by an excellent use of personification!
Which leads me to my question, if a poem is a good poem with well oiled moving parts, aren’t all the words in it safe? Doesn’t truly original and provocative language get away with just about anything, within reason?
Didn’t Sara just prove this equation?
L. L. Barkat says
I truly look forward to others’ thoughts on the matter, but I know that for my part this poem works because it tips things.
The first instance is the taking apart of the taboo word and switching its order, followed very quickly by some slant rhymes that really work “less” “breath” “said” “Death.” Those are really pushing the bounds of rhyme, which makes it interesting on the level of sound.
Then there is the matter you raise, of syntax. This is not just any sentence-of-a-poem. It keeps tilting, tipping, surprising. And the use of words like “ranged” and “arrayed” make sure that some kind of strange philosophical voice is in tension with the common story that’s playing out (but in equally strange ways, with those mourners at the door, who we know must at some level be metaphorical but they are treated as real… giving it a surreal feel).
Personifying Death could surely be trite. But somehow this Death is quite the character, and so we forgive that, or I do.
Here’s the thing. If you (we) are going to use an overused word (add “holy” and “sacred” to the list!), then I think we’re called upon to make everything else work even harder. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if we choose to do the work.
Richard Maxson says
By the way, i just mentioned this feature of TS Poetry in the most recent writing assignment for Charity’s and Ann’s On Being a Writer Course (Excellent Course and accompanying books!).
I learn so much from all the questions and the answers.
Sara Barkat says
The thing with cliches is that there isn’t anything wrong with the phrases, they’ve just been used so much that when they appear, they’re a shortcut, an easy and quick way to convey something, but it has no originality or emotional punch to it because it’s so expected. It was kind of because of that that the first time I used the word ‘breathless’ I took the word apart and switched it around, because in that way the eye couldn’t slide past it taking in only the surface/expected meaning. It stops the reader in their tracks, it forces an actual attention to the words themselves. It also drew attention to the inherent rhyme of breath & less that the reader wouldn’t otherwise notice or think about.
the one line that i had some trouble with in the poem was the line “like a meteor that had come late” the way it appeared in my head was “like a train that had come late.” But that didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the poem, and trains come late all the time, so it didn’t really have the effect i wanted it to have, but i couldn’t think of something. I even think I considered a metaphor about a slide projector, but that was way too weird and involved to fit into the poem.
The thing is, a cliche can be an opportunity, if you realize how & why they’re repetitive, & how they’re used, and then think up–well, how are they not used? What is this cliche usually leading toward, in the writing and in people’s minds? How can you make it lead to something different, or parody it in a way? You have to have a sense of humor.
Will Willingham says
Quite often when I’m writing a poem the ‘taboo’ word simply becomes the subject of the poem. So if I’m were to write a poem about time, for instance, I might try to avoid using the word ‘time’ in the poem, but still somehow convey it’s essence. (And if I use it then, it might only appear as the title.). I suppose it might not be fair to call that a taboo word because there wouldn’t necessarily be anything wrong with using it. But I try to write around it instead because not allowing myself to take that shortcut makes me work harder, and since writing poetry is one of the things I do to write better in general, doing that work feels important.
Bethany R. says
I perk up each time I see a fresh post in this feature.
It’s almost like I’ve enrolled in this course as part of an Indepedant Study Project: Write Better. Thanks for being available to demystify unspoken or unclear guidelines of excellent poetry writing for us.
Sara,
I love that you bring up a sense of humor when writing around or through cliches. Yes, original, creative thinking is necessary for both – great point.
L.L. Barkat says
Bethany, it would be fun to see you try Sara’s or LW’s approach to a taboo word poem: either take the word apart and reverse it or make it the unspoken subject.
Some words can’t be taken apart as simply as “breathless,” but it could be a cool exercise to figure out how to get to the essence of a word where it could be pulled into pieces of root meanings or nuances.
Bethany R. says
L. L.,
Fun! I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks for the invitation. 🙂
Bethany R. says
Do you mind me asking for a couple more of your taboo words? Would something like, “romantic” be on there?
L. L. Barkat says
Romantic isn’t on there. Spirit, blessings, and holy. (Lots of short-cut religious stuff, I guess 😉 However, I think romantic would need to be well-used in a poem to work. We prefer that the images themselves speak. Show us romance rather than telling us something is romantic. How fun that Maureen provided more words and a whole dictionary on the matter!
Bethany says
I liked the idea of writing about fluffy clouds without naming them. Here’s my attempt:
How about we talk about it?
Please be kind enough to
not.
Consonants, conjunctions and questions
are not the way
just now.
Let me lift my cheeks out of the hammock of my hands,
part my eyelids a little,
and take in what’s overhead:
The sky has filled its lungs
with mounds of visibly held breath.
This colossal batch
of egg whites whipped into soft peaks
hangs
Suspended
like divinity confections
that I would like to eat
in silence.
Bethany says
Isn’t it interesting how stepping away from a piece for a few days can change your view of it? When I look at my attempt below, I feel like whittling it way down into something else. Maybe:
A bowl of dulcified whites,
wind-whipped into soft peaks,
hang in dollops above me
–Suspended divinity
L. L. Barkat says
I like where you’re going with this, Bethany. Revision takes time 🙂
Bethany says
🙂 Thanks for the encouragement.
Maureen Doallas says
One of my taboo words is “soul”, except where its homonym serves for wordplay.
L.L., have you read Peter Pereira’s poem “Holy Shit”? (You can find it at Poetry Foundation.) Context is everything!
Peter Sansom, author of ‘Writing Poems’, has a personal favorite: shard (however, see Seamus Heaney).
Other possibilities noted around the Web: maundering, especially joined with reflections; seeps or any of its forms; crimson; translucent; myriad; languid and languor; evil; curlicue; mind; woe; sorrow (but see Shakespeare); hence, thence or, whence; pent; yonder; quiver; dappled; fluffy clouds; adorable; sunset; cute; life journey; hackneyed; outworn.
For those who might wonder: yes, there is a ‘Dictionary of Cliches’. And Marshall McLuhan published a book titled ‘From Cliche to Archetype’ (Edward Hirsch cites it in his tome ‘A Poet’s Glossary’).
L. L. Barkat says
oh but I do love a good dose of well-placed crimson 🙂 Fluffy! Definitely hard to use well in a poem 🙂
Bethany says
I find this fascinating. Thanks for the information and the resource, Maureen.