The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace is about her healing after emotional abuse.
The first thing I learned is that sometimes less is more when it comes to words in poetry. Lovelace has a very condensed style, so each word is effective in conveying the purpose. For example the poem "My Steel and Thorns" uses a total of seven words to convey the pain of an abusive relationship: "blood/runs/wherever/his/fingertips/graze/me." The few, well-chosen words effectively convey the purpose without being too vague or too specific. I often find myself over-explaining, so seeing this put into practice has made me think about using fewer, more powerful word choice.
The second thing I learned is that it's okay to step away from traditional structure in poetry. In her book, Lovelace puts the titles to her poems at the end to wrap up the poem rather than introduce it. This was effective because it gave the actual poem priority, so the title was more of an after thought that was more of a reflection of the content of the poem. For example, "food/is/not/the/enemy" came first and the title, "society is." came second, giving the poem a final reflection that addresses the true issue in the poem that could not have been achieved with the title first. This unique structure helped to open my eyes to different kinds of structure I could use in my poetry to make it more unique and visually purposeful.
The final thing that I learned is that personal writing doesn't need to be first person all of the time. Lovelace often writes in third person from third person as a princess. This detached persona maintains the personal feel of the poetry, but it also has a way of putting the reader in the shoes of the speaker because the perspective is from the general term "the princess." For example, in the poem, "I Didn't Realize I Could be My Own Knight," Lovelace writes as the princess in a relatable situation: "the princess/locked herself away/in the highest tower,/hoping a knight/in shining armor/would come to her/rescue." With this, it is easy to access the emotions of the speaker, but also your own emotions. I think that I could use this technique in my own writing, especially because I don't like writing about myself. This could really give my writing the universality I want in my writing while also making it personal.
The first thing I learned is that sometimes less is more when it comes to words in poetry. Lovelace has a very condensed style, so each word is effective in conveying the purpose. For example the poem "My Steel and Thorns" uses a total of seven words to convey the pain of an abusive relationship: "blood/runs/wherever/his/fingertips/graze/me." The few, well-chosen words effectively convey the purpose without being too vague or too specific. I often find myself over-explaining, so seeing this put into practice has made me think about using fewer, more powerful word choice.
The second thing I learned is that it's okay to step away from traditional structure in poetry. In her book, Lovelace puts the titles to her poems at the end to wrap up the poem rather than introduce it. This was effective because it gave the actual poem priority, so the title was more of an after thought that was more of a reflection of the content of the poem. For example, "food/is/not/the/enemy" came first and the title, "society is." came second, giving the poem a final reflection that addresses the true issue in the poem that could not have been achieved with the title first. This unique structure helped to open my eyes to different kinds of structure I could use in my poetry to make it more unique and visually purposeful.
The final thing that I learned is that personal writing doesn't need to be first person all of the time. Lovelace often writes in third person from third person as a princess. This detached persona maintains the personal feel of the poetry, but it also has a way of putting the reader in the shoes of the speaker because the perspective is from the general term "the princess." For example, in the poem, "I Didn't Realize I Could be My Own Knight," Lovelace writes as the princess in a relatable situation: "the princess/locked herself away/in the highest tower,/hoping a knight/in shining armor/would come to her/rescue." With this, it is easy to access the emotions of the speaker, but also your own emotions. I think that I could use this technique in my own writing, especially because I don't like writing about myself. This could really give my writing the universality I want in my writing while also making it personal.