What do you think about while driving? I reason through ideas, pray, chat with my imaginary friend, play imaginary games, and think up poetry. My poetry-on-the-go starts with one line that seems interesting or sounds pleasant and then evolves into a complete thought. When I reach my destination, I write down what I came up with. If I like it, I’ll type it up and flesh it out. Then I’ll revise it, giving it a solid structure.
My most recent poem, “When Outcasts Meet,” started with the line “But I don’t even know your name.” I loved how the line sounded, but I needed a story to build up to it. As I came up with lines, a story took shape about love at first sight between two people on the social fringes.
The rhyme pattern is rigid, yet so complicated that the poem sounds almost like free verse: aaa, bbb, ccd, eeff, f, ggg, hhh, ccd, iiff, f. The same goes for the pattern of syllables per line: 9, 7, 11, 9, 7, 11, 9, 7, 11…
You can read “When Outcasts Meet” or listen to me read it on the all new “Other Writings” page here>>
