All Episodes

September 10, 2024 21 mins

Explore five key strategies for creating attention-grabbing, meaningful poem titles. Whether your titles come easily or feel like the final battle in your revision process, we’ll find you some practical tactics to use the next time you need the perfect title. Stay tuned to the end where Danielle shares a special bonus prompt to guide you when you’re stuck, inspired by the mentoring of poet Shira Erlichman.

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.

 

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

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


(00:00):
we know the title is the name of the poem
but what are the aims of a poem's title
according to the book poetry a writer's
guide in anthology by w todd kinko and
amaura kui
titles must
get our attention entice us to read more
be meaningful
and stand the test of time

(00:23):
imagine a reader browsing the table of
contents in a literary journal or in an
anthology the title offers the reader the
first indication of what a poem might be up
to and whether they might find that
interesting
a successful title engages the reader's
intellectual and emotional
curiosity
the best titles are themselves lines of

(00:45):
poetry even if a short line sometimes just
a single word but they offer a kind of
weight and gravity all their own
like a poem itself a good title should pay
off with the more reflection and rereading new do
even when we revisit a title after
completing our initial read of a poem it's

(01:06):
nice to find something fresh waiting there
the meaning of a title has evolved somehow
by the experience of reading the poem
so in this week's episode we're gonna ask
the question how do we create attention
grabbing enticing meaningful titles that
will stand the test of time

(01:27):
welcome to the poetry lab podcast
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

(01:47):
and collaborate
we help writers tap into their craft with
radical self compassion unlike anything
you've ever seen creative writing 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

(02:09):
and the inspiration to keep writing your
new shit
are you ready poet
let's get into it
hello my friend welcome back to the poetry
lab podcast i'm danielle and i'm really
excited to tackle this question because

(02:30):
titles can be so challenging when they just
don't naturally come to us you know that
feeling when you're just unsettled when a
poem hasn't found its title
i do and it's my least favorite battle to
wage in revision
you know that feeling when the title just
comes sometimes even before the poem does

(02:51):
today we're going to explore five
strategies to help you create titles for
your poems
these are not hard and fast rules pretty
much nothing we talk about on the poetry
lab podcast ever is but they're great
starting points i'd even say that
they've helped me
understand and differentiate different
kinds of titles in a way i hadn't thought

(03:13):
of them before
we'll also talk about how different poets
use titles with great examples
before we jump in i want to give a big
shout out to the poetry lab fellow bridget
kreiner
her article in the resource center called
making it work five jobs for poem titles
was the inspiration for this episode i'll

(03:35):
link to the article in the show notes for
this episode it's episode 35 of the poetry
lab podcast
i highly suggest you go over and read the
article even after you've listened to this
episode because i've brought in a lot of
different poem examples and title examples
from bridget's article and in her article
she links to a bunch of poems that all

(03:57):
display the different techniques we're
gonna talk about today it is a wonderful
read so check it out
let's start with one of my favorite tactics
for titling a poem
providing your reader the grounding factors
of time placed
or location
bridget calls this locating a poem

(04:19):
a great example of a locating poem that
you've probably heard of before
is james wright's lying in a hammock at
william duffy's farm in pine island
minnesota this is that poem that ends and i
have wasted my life so you've definitely
come across it before but the title is
incredibly specific

(04:40):
just from the title we know exactly where
we are and we can visualize the setting
before we even read the first word of the poem
locating titles work because they set the
stage they help your reader slip into the
world of the poem without getting lost
i find locating titles especially helpful
when what takes place in the poem is

(05:02):
surreal or ambiguous the grounding of the
title gives the reader a foothold before
the earth gets shaky under their feet
more examples of locating titles are
ros gay's
over in short hills new jersey 8 am
also
tiana clarks

(05:23):
nashville and maybe my all time favorite
the city in which i love you by li yungli
notice how some location titles are very
specific and some are less so
li liang li does not name the city and yet
for the next six and a half pages its
descriptions are luminous

(05:44):
and when in the city in which i love you
even my most excellent song goes unanswered
the poem begins
and i mount the scabbed streets the long
shouts of avenues
and tunnel sunken night in search of you
now the question is not just what a

(06:06):
locating title can do but when to use one
i see a few opportunities here as i
mentioned when the poem's content is
abstract or surreal you give it a clear
time or a place you offer a concrete point
of reference that allows the reader to
navigate the poem's more elusive themes

(06:27):
without feeling lost
another time you might use a locating title
is when you want to create a specific
emotional or cultural
context
sometimes a location carries emotional or
cultural weight that deepens the reader's
understanding of the poem
mentioning a particular city country or
historical moment can evoke certain

(06:47):
associations or feelings before the reader
even begins
for instance setting your poem in a well
known place like paris 1940
or a personal location like my childhood
home can immediately give the poem this
emotional resonance and it informs the
reader's perspective on the unfolding themes
this morning i was reading loudest when

(07:09):
startled by luna ray hall one of the
opening poems in that book is called
topography of a family farm circa age 9
i'll link to all the books and the poems i
mention in this episode on the show notes
page at the poetrylab com
podcast so be sure to check it out

(07:30):
next let's talk about titles that signal a
specific poetic form
we often see this for cestinas or gazal's i
know we can all appreciate it too more than
once i've been in a class or a book club
contemplating hidden forms in a book of poetry
they're hidden only in the sense that they
are not named in the title

(07:51):
and so we have to do some extra digging in
research to confirm their forms
sometimes a title can directly name the
form though and that's what we're talking
about here
this can be seen in a e staling's poem
cesina like in that poem
the word like is both the title and the
word that repeats throughout the poem which

(08:12):
hints at how the form and content will
intertwine for the reader
this approach lets your reader know up
front that they'll be reading a formal poem
which can shift their expectations about
how the language might behave
another example is ra
villanueva's poem
sonnet 146
which both nods to the sonnet form and pays

(08:35):
tribute to shakespeare sonnets numbered in
a similar way
at other times poems are not directing the
reader to a specific form but to a mode for
poetry such as patrick rosewal's crew love
elegy which is one of my favorite poems
poems that announce to the reader that they
are nocturnes obods or even essays such as

(08:56):
samida shak warti's essay on thunder from
her book arrow
when we set the mode or form for the reader
in the title we're providing them with some
comfort i'd say maybe also giving ourselves
some relief too i especially like
unexpected combinations of titles such as
brenda constantine's nocturne that is just

(09:18):
titled noct
and even from my own work my google gazol
which felt to me like an unfamiliar pairing
of pop culture and form when i first
conceived of it
another reason to signal the poetic form in
your title is to create a connection to
literary traditions or modes
naming a poetic form in the title allows

(09:40):
the poet to engage with or pay homage to
established literary traditions
it makes us feel connected to the grander
scheme of things and i think we as writers
we like that feeling
but once again you get points for turning
that tradition on its head such as how
terrence hayes does with american sonnets

(10:02):
for my past and future assassin
another powerful tool is the alluding title
this type of title can reference another
work of literature a historical figure or
even a pop culture element which can add
layers of meaning to your poem
take amakajo's poem 13 ways of looking it

(10:26):
references wallace stevens famous poem 13
ways of looking at a blackbird but it's
also its own distinct work the title gives
the readers a little nudge
saying hey if you know of that stevens poem
you'll get a little bit more out of this
illusions are like easter eggs for your
readers

(10:46):
rewarding them with deeper connections if
they're familiar with the references and i
love a good easter egg
i think a similar effect is created by
titles that reappropriate a word or phrase
from another sector of society
such as natalie diaz's orange alert or
morgan parker's miss black america so your

(11:08):
referencing title might have a few
functions it could create layered meaning
illusions and titles can invite readers to
engage with your poem on multiple levels
especially if they are familiar with the
reference
but buyer beware are they familiar familiar
with your reference source when you use an

(11:28):
illusion you always take the risk that the
reference could be missed or largely
unknown to your readers
your referencing title may also set an
expectation
it can guide the reader's mindset before
they even start the poem
if you reference a well known work or
moment you can signal the tone the subject

(11:49):
matter or philosophical direction your poem
will take this is especially effective when
your poem comments on reinterprets or
challenges the original work
but just keep in mind that these things are
not universal experiences
sometimes onboarding your readers with an
epigraph or some kind of reference or

(12:11):
context maybe something in the end notes
even this can be helpful
think about ways to use references and
illusions to create contrast or directly
subvert expectations
by referencing a well known cultural
artifact you can set up an expectation that
your poem then disrupts or challenges this

(12:32):
creates tension and you know my friends i
love some good tension
sometimes the simplest titles are the most
effective
titles that name the speaker the subject or
object of the poem can be incredibly direct
but they also offer clarity
in camille dungies from the unwritten

(12:55):
letters of joseph friedman the title names
the speaker of the poem giving us insight
into who is voicing these words
for persona poetry this tactic is
especially useful it establishes the
identity up front
this allows the reader to accept the
narrative perspective right away

(13:16):
this helps us avoid confusion and lets the
language take over there are some other
great uses for this tactic as well
i love the
poem in which framework
sometimes poem in which can be dropped from
the title after you've used it as a formula
to create a subject or object based title

(13:37):
it's essentially
poem in which this thing happens to this
other thing or poem in which this really
great thing gets closely examined
for example roskay's a poem in which i try
to express my glee at the music my friend
has given me
or chelsea wagner's
poem in which elephants are stupendous

(13:58):
i'll link to both of these in the show
notes this technique balances specificity
and authenticity
it's flexible enough to allow poets to
introduce nearly any subject event or
emotion
while maintaining a sense of formality and
structure this frame can be used for
personal observational or narrative poems

(14:20):
while still leaving space for creative
exploration
it names the subject or object but it also
leaves the details of how that subject will
be treated to the poem itself
in this way the title acts as both a guide
and a teaser orienting the reader without
giving away the full experience of the poem

(14:45):
way back in 2008 i was an undergraduate and
my poetry iii workshop didn't know what to
call this technique where a title begins a
thought that's finished in the first line
of the poem
memorably one of my classmates was trying
to remember the word seizura and instead
they called the technique a schissel and

(15:06):
from then on and forever it's been a
schizel for me
but i'm sure you know this technique it's
evident in poems like you could never take
a card at greenland by maggie smith the
poem starts like
you could never take a car to greenland
my daughter says
unless the car could float

(15:28):
unless by car you mean boat
unless the ocean turned to ice
and promised not to crack
unless greenland floated over here
having lifted its anchor
unless we could row our country there our
whole continent
would have to come along wouldn't it

(15:49):
this technique blurs the line between the
title and the pelvis body creating a
seamless flow one of the most famous
examples is william carlos williams this is
just to say which leads directly into the
pelvis first line
i have eaten the plums that were in the icebox
using this approach makes your title part

(16:09):
of the poem's rhythm and pacing
the title and the first line can work
together to create a cohesive thought and
it can pull us straight into the tension of
the poem leaving no gap in the poem's
bottomless funnel
prose poems are especially exciting when
they do this
i encourage you to check out some of taylor
johnson's prose poems for this the first

(16:32):
poem in their collection inheritance starts
since i quit that internet service that is
both the title and the first phrase of the poem
in the prose poem version the poet
capitalizes the title of the poem and then
incorporates it straight into the sentence
and into the text block the title and the

(16:53):
first sentence become this
since i quit that internet service i'm
thinking more about the transitive
properties in books
this is also seen in some of don lendy
martin's prose poem such as i call for my
stranger i long for him from good stock
strange blood
this title is incorporated into the prose

(17:14):
block and it's also the first complete
sentence of the poem i have several
examples of this i mean i think i could go
on and on about prose poems all day
i love the way in which these poems do not
announce themselves but dive in without
preamble
all right well there you have it these have

(17:36):
been five things to think about when you're
titling your poems five different kinds of
ways to approach a title
but i have a final thought for you on poem
titles and it's more of a prompt it's a way
to establish a title when you're really
struggling to get there this method was
taught to me through the mentorship of poet

(17:57):
shira irlikman shira had excellent tactics
for sourcing titles for her poems a few
years ago we were working together one on
one doing some editorial stuff and she
taught this system to me
in one of her methods you treat your title
like a newspaper headline you know in
journalism the headline tells you all the

(18:17):
pertinent information for an article then
the lead paragraph is all the pertinent
information again with a little more detail
than the title
and then each subsequent paragraph adds
more information while slowly getting less
and less pertinent to understanding the key
facts of the story
fortunately for us we don't write poems
like this but we could maybe rethink poem

(18:40):
titles this way take a poem that you are
struggling over and write out its potential
headlines
for a poem i was working on shira suggested
the headline would be young woman finds
love of shoes to horrific ends
she assigned me the task of creating other
headlines for the poem she also advised me
to look into the poem's language to see

(19:03):
what i could pull from the source text for
example there was a line that read here is a waltz
and a final option was to think of what the
poem evoked or what was not in the text
that could be added for more context
so the titles stiletto and date night were
also suggested
in the end i used the second tactic we

(19:24):
discussed here today for the title with a
little bit of sheer as tactics mixed in
i signaled my poetic mode by calling it a
praise song
but i also came to the word stiletto by
using the prompt of looking for what's not
in the poem or what context could be added
the final result was praise song for the

(19:44):
stiletto
and even though that doesn't sound like
much now let me tell you this was one of
the hardest poems to title that i've ever
encountered
it's been published by drunk monkey's lit
journal so i get to link to it in the show
notes so you can go and check out the poem
for yourself
but maybe if you do you'll see just as i

(20:04):
saw how challenging it was to put a title
on that piece the point is i would never
have derived at it without the project of
searching for it and it's okay if you have
to do this too it's part of the revision
process and i hope that the headline for
titles prompt helps you as it helped to me
don't be afraid to write long lists of

(20:26):
options don't be afraid to hunt around for
it paddles don't always come to us but that
doesn't say anything about our caliber as
artists it's just part of the writing
process
well i had to go through everything today
pretty quickly in order to get it all in
but i really hope to create a comprehensive

(20:46):
episode for you all about poem titles so
let me know if we got there
thanks for tuning in to the poetry lab
podcast my friend
if you like this episode please like and
subscribe wherever you are listening and it
also helps if you send the episode link to
a few creative friends let them know what
we're doing here at the poetry lab and come

(21:08):
back next week for more
i'm danielle you can catch up with me at
imaginary danny on instagram or in one of
our classes at the poetrylab com
good luck with your poem titles i can't
wait to read your work in the real world
poet i hope to see you soon at the poetry lab
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Crime Junkie

Crime Junkie

Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.