Reading and writing poetry can help you develop your voice, style, and taste as a nonfiction writer. Trust me, you can do this exercise even if you’ve never read a poem before—it’s not a test, it’s an opportunity to stretch yourself and find some unexpected beauty in your old familiar language.
This week, write a 12-line poem in the style of “The Future,” by Frank Stanford. Notice where he plays with language and try the same games in your own poem.
The Future
What we see down the hill
isn’t the end of the hill
but the waist of the hill
if all my friends would get on their harmonicas
you would have gumption enough
to reach in the hole of a dead tree
and risk the stanza or your hand
in the dead wood you find a locket
you shut your eyes and walk with it
further down the hill
you talk like a fool to the slope of the hill
you wet your feet in the branch and look up the hill
—“The Future,” Unpublished Manuscripts, from What About This, Collected Poems of Frank Stanford