Ruth Daigon Makes Poetry Sing
a certain chunk of time daily," she advises. The foundation behind her success has to do with the process as much as anything. "I start with pen and notebook because I feel that I'm in full control with the pen between my fingers, and something begins to happen on the page. Then, I type it into the computer and take a good hard look at it."
Like all successful writers, examining her work objectively is key to producing good work. "I experiment with line lengths to give the poem different emphases. Sometimes I write without punctuation just to see how the poem flows. Sometimes I move stanzas around. Sometimes I erase all the adjectives and adverbs and extra verbiage just to see the bare bones of the poem." Then she might allow some to slip back in. "It's amazing," she says, "how few words you need if they're the right words. " Ms. Daigon says the title is important, because, "it can enhance the poem and grab the eye of the reader." Like many accomplished writers, she isn't averse to using the thesaurus. And the sound is paramount. "The sound of the poetry," she notes, "the music, the rhythm, the flow is one of the driving forces in my work."
Ms. Daigon has a yes-and-no list that is beneficial for any writer. A few items follow.
- Let the words flow across the page without interruption.
- After a cooling off period, start the questioning process. Have no allegiance to any words. If the poem can survive without them, cut .
- Don't write propaganda, or try to make people cry by writing tearjerking soap operas.
- Don't pontificate. Don't take yourself so seriously.
- Chant the poetry aloud to see how it "sings."
- Don't clean your desk. Leave your pages out. There's nothing more discouraging than an empty page or a clean desk or a blank screen.
Poetry on the Net
Like many writers, Ruth Daigon views the Net with a mixture of feelings. "I think the Net is fantastic and slightly scary," she says. "Fantastic because it gives you access to readers all over the world." She appreciates the speed in delivery. "Never before," she remarks, "have my poems been accepted so quickly, and published with such immediacy." And the globality of it? "How can I not rejoice at hearing from poets, editors and readers in Israel, Chile, Australia, Japan, England, and who knows what editor is sitting waiting for me online this
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