I used to have a friend who felt the same way as I do about a lot of poetry-related things. We agreed that when you feel slightly embarrassed or nervous about sharing a poem, that usually means it’s a good one–that you’ve pushed yourself beyond what you’re comfortable with in the writing of it. And there’s something innately embarrassing about poetry, because to say you’re a poet or that you like or write poetry, it brings to peoples’ minds someone who’s totally overcome by their emotions. And what’s more embarrassing than that? Maybe all that irony or whatever you’d call it in poetry–or even more so, the TWEE–is an effort to barricade oneself against–or to explain away–the humiliation that comes with the feeling and thinking about feeling that’s so connected to writing poetry.

One of the first smart things I ever thought of, when I was like sixteen, is that embarrassment is not DEEP, but it’s POTENT. I probably thought of that then because my life was all about embarrassment. I think of it again now because I happen to have done some pretty embarrassing things in the past week.

Write a non-narrative poem that USES embarrassment. Don’t describe the embarrassing thing that happened; I won’t be able to stand to hear about it–just write about the feeling; channel the embarrassment of being human.

Yours in humilation,

Lucy

Related links:

http://www.seventeen.com/fun-stuff/today/daily-trauma/panties-in-a-twist-dt-032210