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September 3, 2024 13 mins

Ever wonder how to turn seemingly random words into a powerful poem? In this episode, bridgette bianca introduces you to the art of collage poetry, guiding you step-by-step through the process of creating your own. You’ll hear her build a poem live on the podcast and learn about four occasions when collage poetry can elevate your writing.

Visit thepoetrylab.com to find the Show Notes for this episode. The Poetry Lab Podcast is produced by Lori Walker and Danielle Mitchell. Hosted by Danielle Mitchell, Lori Walker, and bridgette bianca. 

Theme song: "Simply Upbeat" by Christian Telford, Kenneth Edward Belcher, and Saki Furuya.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):


(00:00):
i'm no art buff but i have always loved
collages whether a small scale vision board
using magazine clippings or a larger
surrealist
peace i am always amazed by both the
intentional choices and the unintentional
results of cologic i've even come to enjoy
its distant cousin found art sculptures

(00:21):
there's something magical about the merging
of so many disparate things
to one new thing
but collage doesn't just stop at visual art
it can be done with language as well lately
it has grown to be one of my favorite
constraints
and while constraints are restrictions
regarding form
linux etc

(00:43):
employing the straight like collage can be
kind of freeing yes it limits what we can
choose from but we still do the choosing so
let's talk a bit about the steps to
creating a collage poem
welcome to the poetry lab podcast

(01:05):
the poetry lab started 11 years ago to help
dedicated self taught and formally trained
writers find a place in their community to write
read learn
and collaborate
we help riders tap into their craft with
radical self compassion unlike anything
you've ever seen in a creative writing

(01:26):
classroom before if you're a creative
person trying to establish a writing
practice in the real world
this podcast is designed to help you carve
out the time the courage
and the inspiration to keep writing your
new shit
are you ready poet
let's get into it

(01:53):
it's brigitte and i'm back to talk to you a
little bit about crafting collage poems
step 1
gather your source material the beauty of
the collage poem is that you can take the
text from anywhere so i like to make this
the first limit that i give myself for
example you could grab just
two pieces of writing like two poems you're

(02:15):
already familiar with or a letter from your
grandmother in an article from the new york times
or all four
it's your show
but to start out i would say select pieces
that have something in common just to make
it easier
the commonality could be anything both
poems mention the moon awesome

(02:37):
both poets are left handed hurray
these poems all happen to be about the
latest edition of some
sports thing
yep
it doesn't have to be super deep unless you
want it to be and if you wanted to up the
ante a little bit choose pieces at random

(02:57):
or have a friend provide them i once sat
outside of an awards gala honoring some of
my favorite poets and collecting words and
phrases from everyone who walked in and
then combined them all together alongside
bits from the honorees themselves into a poem
in 45 minutes and then i ran it on stage

(03:18):
while juggling balls of fire okay okay so
nothing was on fire but i definitely felt
the heat y'all
anyway let's move on to step 2 create a
word bank go through those pieces of text
and highlight anything that stands out to
you as interesting i like to go for image
heavy phrases or words that

(03:40):
seem kind of weird
if they're out of context
now you'll still need articles like a n and
the and basic verbs and such even
punctuation but we can always come back for
those right now we need the big stuff
if you are using a lot of source text like
two or three or more i'd suggest copying
your highlighted words over into a separate

(04:01):
document as your word bank for ease if you
want to keep track of where the lines came
from try color coding or using different fonts
step 3
now for this step this is where the fun or
frustration begins you may encounter a few
false starts here just remember that you
are shifting pieces around to see how they

(04:22):
fit together it's a puzzle okay there are
two approaches i like to use first while
creating your word bank you may have
started to notice patterns or themes
arising grab those pieces and see how they
play together on the page
i once created a collage out of a friend's
new book and i noticed a nautical theme
that wasn't really a big part of the book at all

(04:44):
i went back and grabbed those words that
felt like they were shipmates and tried
them out together and as luck would have it
they got along swimmingly now the second
approach is a little more open pull words
and phrases at random and see how they play
see what images arise from odd word
pairings what strange metaphors you can

(05:04):
summon with your
pairings and when you pull things together
that are as unlike like
i don't know a lark in a fishing pole
don't forget to dip back into your source
text for errant articles verbs and you know
whatever else you need
this next step is really something you have
to remind yourself of the entire time step 4

(05:27):
accept that this won't sound like it came
out of your brain at first
these are someone else's words
right and even if you decide to collage
your own words your own poems your own
prose your own conversations
the words still belong to somewhere else
right so it can feel awkward and even

(05:48):
disjointed keep going
embrace the oddness one of the reasons i
like collage so much is that it gets me out
of my comfort zone i have to abandon my
usual moves and try something new and now
the last step 5
it the words are yours now take them in one

(06:08):
of the fears people have round collage
again is that it can feel like opening your
mouth to speak and someone else's voice
comes out
but this is your voice still listener the
other fear people have round collage is you
know visible seams as the reader or
listener is taking in the poem maybe
they'll notice where the separate pieces
are being stacked together but isn't that

(06:30):
the beauty of collage bearing witness to
the feet of putting things together and
making them one so
let the singing show okay
i figured it would be cool to do a quick
collage poem right now on the pod and while
i'm scripting this episode before i record
it i need you to know that it's 12 36 a m

(06:51):
and i have just decided to collage right at
this very moment i type
so this will be raw but hopefully a fun listen
let's do it
i'm going to head online to the poetry lab
podcast site and grab the titles of each
episode currently up
if you want to see this list check out our
backlist

(07:12):
okay it's 12 49 and yes it took me a while
to get the list together okay
we have 25 episodes at this moment probably
more by the time you hear this and so it
took me a second to get the episodes listed
and go through and highlight the words that
caught my attention words like community
anatomy
building
ghosts
types

(07:33):
ultimate why moon
fill down imposter blitz
hard all those words are so interesting
when they're you know pushed together let's
see what'll come
as we make this poem okay
so
in the magic of podcasting

(07:53):
a little time has passed okay it's 1 23 am
and here is our collage poem
you ready
the poem is titled how we started
first
everybody always practices find your
favorite ghosts study mercury and the moon

(08:13):
this shit hard you harder this shit be
poetic be
poets
build the world assembling prose and poems
for bricks fill your banks list organize
write down ignite
well well well dear rita that's head

(08:36):
so let's know when you might choose to
collage
i think about collage as something you can
do whenever you want to but there are times
in which i found to be particularly useful
okay
these times
are not exhaustive but they could be a help

(08:57):
for you
the first is a time to honor
the source text
earlier i mentioned creating a collage poem
out of a friend's book right
okay well it's kind of my thing when a poet
homie asked me to provide a blurb for their
book while marketing i usually have an
advanced copy of the manuscript as i read

(09:17):
it i highlight the parts i love and things
that catch my attention it helps when
writing the blurb about the book of course
but in the end i have all these great notes
and i decided to go back in and make a
collage poem out of what i've noted
it's really simple it seems but it can be
really fun and frustrating to do when you
are hoping that your friend will forgive

(09:39):
you for turning your blurb in a little bit
late okay
the second time in which a collage poem can
be pretty helpful is to celebrate an
occasion
if you are like me you may find yourself on
the hook or excuse me
honored to deliver poems at special events
like weddings holidays graduations etc

(10:00):
these events kind of terrified me i'll be
honest so i turned to collage for a
friend's wedding i selected texts that the
couple knew very well and even incorporated
bits of a conversation i had with them into
the poem
the poem was read by me
before they said their vows and everyone
loved it

(10:21):
for a june t
celebration i gathered 22 different poems
from black poets over the past i don't know
300 years
everyone from francis e w harper to nicky
giovanni to the smith to jericho brown
and create a collage poem about
freedom
number three to send a message or take a

(10:41):
stance this one is tricky and maybe a
little controversial but we're poets and we
do brave things
maybe you want to show the oddness of
conflicting book ban proposals across the
country perhaps you have a couple or
several unhinged messages from people on
hinge that would make adult poem if blended

(11:03):
together come on jim baby show everyone how
you make music out of the myth
i was once invited to participate in the
celebration of a long dead poet's birthday
at first
i wanted to say no because the poet's work
is indeed important to literature and
others i just don't like the guy personally

(11:23):
things he said in and outside of poetry
just didn't sit right with me and dear
listener please understand that i have no
problem engaging with problematic figures
in history and literature i'm an english
professor after all but you know
i felt like his poems only told one side of
the story and there was so much more to it

(11:43):
than that i let the host know my stance on
things and they welcomed me to write what i felt
awesome so i took a couple of his greatest
hits and collaged them with work by poets i
actually liked who wrote about the same
thing or similar topics no i didn't shit on
a dead guy on his birthday even though he's dead

(12:05):
but i did tell the truth i still gave
tribute to his work but i also filled in
the gaps that his hypocrisy left glaring so
i took a stance
use a collage
and number four
another great way to use collage is to
blast away your woman's block often we have

(12:25):
writer's block and we feel like oh god
what are we going to do
for me i turn to reading
okay so i'm always reading but when i have
writer's block i read things and then shake
my fist at the sky and scream
not me why can't i write this
and then
take a breath
and i start to collage in some ways it's

(12:48):
like one of those brain teaser things
i get focused on moving the words around
and the images and ideas pop out all on
their own accord the moment i start
thinking damn it i wish i had these words
or these phrases in my word bank
that would make this poem really great i
know i'm ready to write something on my own

(13:08):
sometimes a theme works its way up from the
word bank before i even begin sometimes
just a single interesting word will spark
something in this case i may abandon the
collage poem which is okay because this was
an exercise to get me writing and it worked
okay friends those are my thoughts on
crafting collage poems if you enjoyed what

(13:30):
you heard today check out past episodes and
be sure to like and follow us for more if
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share this with a friend to help us grow
our community here for more information
about the poetry lab podcast check us out at
the poetry lab
com
slash podcast thanks for listening

(13:51):
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