Alex Barr
HITCHING A RIDE

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Sometimes the struggle to write a poem gets messy. You long to pour the churning gruel into some satisfying container. It isn’t always messy, but when it is, there’s a solution. Like an urchin sneaking a ride on the back of a farmer’s cart, you can get practical help from a fellow poet. This is where wide reading and a long bookshelf comes in. We all read poetry for the feeling it arouses, but this writing tip is about the technical aspect. 

When I taught architecture I would set students an assignment called ‘In the Style of’, to design something as would a well-known architect. When dealing with an amorphous word-mess, I’ve felt a sudden sense of relief when I realized I could use the tone of voice of a well-known poet. The problem might simply be finding an opening line. Struggling to start a poem about a riverside walk with my daughter, I happened to notice the first lines of one by Robert Minhinnick in Poetry Wales (of which he was then editor). They read, “Ah, the sea/its screed adazzle.” That succinct tone of voice solved my problem. I’m grateful for rides I’ve hitched with Wallace Stevens, Stevie Smith, T S Eliot, Michael Longley, and Harold Massingham. 

Apart from tone of voice there’s the question of form. Wrestling with a poem about my failure to learn physics, I remembered that Charles Causley made good use of the ballad format. I poured my angst into that container. I was also grateful to W S Graham for “Approaches to How They Behave” with its sequence of numbered sections. That format made it possible to deal with another poem about my daughter, describing a visit to a lighthouse. Also, I’m not forgetting the poet’s well-tried standby of writing a “version” of a classic poem. I’ve jumped on the backs of Baudelaire, Laforgue, and Emerson. Some of my versions stray quite far from the original, but I think that’s allowed, and I firmly recommend the procedure. 

Hitching a ride is a good, honest practice. Arriving where you want to be, you can get out, thank the driver, and tip your hat. Whether you learned from their tone of voice or favorite form, or saw the possibility of a “version,” Eliot’s phrase in a transformative manner is fundamental. Whatever the influence, it will filter through your brain, and the outcome of the journey will be yours alone.

Alex Barr’s third poetry collection “Light and Dark” has just been published by Kelsay Books. His previous collections are Letting in the Carnival from Peterloo and Henry’s Bridge from Starborn. He is co-author of “Orchards”, a verse translation of Rilke’s French poetry sequence “Vergers” published by Starborn. Alex Barr lives in Wales.