Bad Poetry
Unfortunately, there's a lot of crappy poetry and sometimes we get stuck with it. But it can be hard to get rid of books. You want to believe it will get better, maybe it needs aging. You've invested in it — monetarily, emotionally — so it's got to get better!
Yeah, that doesn't work.
So what does a writer (me) do when they have writer's block and an unwanted poetry book?
Erasures
One of my favorite creative writing exercises is to take someone else's work and erase words, lines, whole sections, as a way to create something new. It also helps releases anger! Here are a few:
morning dirge
when I done this
me
dish
for
my have
God
that that
eyelid
the of the to
it has days
or of the rumors
unchecked moths
rinsed
latched, damp
and
and
in nothing, we the of
a, almost real
desert cold as if
of the start
its roof, press
now, now
draw ox
us, and down
our
membrane
dog
water
don't.
ugu
I take
the crickets
the
on the
these
laying out
to