#49 How to Write Collaborative Poems

Collaborative poems can break creative blocks wide open. In this episode, Leo shares her experience writing with partners and groups, along with tips and playful exercises to help you try it yourself. Whether you're stuck or just craving connection, collaboration can reignite your writing in unexpected and joyful ways.

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 and Lori Walker, with special guest hosts bridgette bianca, Leonora Simonovis and Ravina Wadhwani. 

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

 

Episode Transcript

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A few years ago,
I took a class at the Poetry Lab with the
poet Jubi Arriola Headley.
The topic was writing collaborative poems.
During the two hours we spent together, we
talked about authors like Kenji Liu,
Douglas Kearney,
and Venus Khouri.
We also did some exercises that required us
to play with rhythm and repetition to get

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warmed up,
and then wrote a poem with a partner from
the class.
I still remember the poem my partner and I
wrote and how much fun we had exchanging
ideas and figuring out how to put it all
together.
It wasn't about writing something good,
but rather experimenting with what we had
and making sure both of our voices were

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present.
Our experiences were different, and yet,
the end result showed the beauty that
happens when two poets create something
together.
This workshop gave me so many ideas about
the different ways collaboration can be a
part of my own writing practice.
You can write poems with others, but you

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can also bring in other voices into your
poems by writing, for example, a sento.
In this episode, I will talk about my
latest collaboration with a group of
writing friends
and offer a few suggestions for you to try,
either on your own
or with a partner or group.
Ready, poet?
Let's go.

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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,

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and collaborate.
We help writers tap into their craft with
radical self-compassion,
unlike anything you've ever seen in a
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,

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the courage,
and the inspiration to keep writing your
new shit.
Are you ready, poet?
Let's get into it.
For the last four years or so, I've been
meeting once a month on Zoom with three
friends I met in poetry workshops and in my

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MFA program at Antioch University Los
Angeles.
The structure of our meetings goes
something like this.
Catch up for about 30 to 40 minutes, write
for about 20, then share.
Usually the day before, we send each other
a list of words and lines to use in our
writing.
A couple of months ago,

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one of the members of our group told us
about a call for collaborations
from About Place Journal,
a wonderful venue that posts a wide range
of calls a few times a year.
So
we decided to go for it.
wasn't an easy process.
We all have different styles and voices,
but it was so worth it and a good way to

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find common ground in our work.
This was more or less our process.
First, we read the submission guidelines
very carefully
to make sure we understood what they were
looking for, the length of the pieces, and
the deadline we were working with.
Then we had to decide what kind of

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structure we wanted this piece to have.
Did we just want to have our poems one
after the other?
Or did we want to write an essay and insert
a stanza or two between paragraphs?
This part of the process took a few weeks
as we went back and forth discussing.
In the end, we decided on alternating
paragraphs where we talked about our group

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process,
followed by a poem from each one of us
that contained the same set of words.
After sharing all of our thoughts, we
created a Google Doc where we each began to
draft the prose sections of the document.
We also copy-pasted our poems
which we revised until right before we

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submitted.
Then came the fun part.
We met over Zoom for almost three hours and
went over the document,
editing, changing a word here or there,
until we all felt like we were satisfied
with what we had.
We let the document rest for a few days and
tinkered with it,

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then hit send.
And I'm happy to report the piece was
accepted for publication.
I've left a link in the show notes for
interested readers, in case you're curious.
I've seen other journals recently with
calls for found poetry, erasures, and
centos that also accept collaborations.
But where to start?

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I have a few suggestions that hopefully
will inspire you to play and experiment.
The first prompt is called the Oracle,
and it's an exercise you can do on your own
or with a partner.
If you're on your own, get your writing
implements out and pull out three to four
books of poetry.

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You can also use magazines, children's
books, a car manual,
anything that can provide some language you
wouldn't normally use in your writing.
Write down 5 questions you don't know the
answer to.
Make them strange, surreal.
Then,
read each question aloud,

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open one of the books
on a random page, and write the first line
that jumps at you as an answer.
Do that for each of the questions.
When you're done,
read the piece aloud.
Let it rest for a few days and then come
back for revisions.
You can always add more questions and
answers as you revise

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and/or
Turn the questions into statements.
Take them away.
If you feel like they're not working, and
leave the answers.
You can also do this exercise with a
partner.
Each of you writes your questions and then
ask them to each other.
You search the answers for your partner,
and they do the same for you.

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After that, you can talk about how both of
your pieces can be weaved together.
Remember to always credit your sources.
You can do this in a footnote
and list the names of the authors you
borrowed lines from.
Our second prompt is called Half and Half.
A friend of mine and I did an exercise
where one of us wrote half of a poem
and the other one had to complete it.

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I can't remember where we got the idea
from, but it was such an interesting way to
weave all the images, language, and
structures together.
You can try something like this, taking
turns with a friend,
so that one of you starts the poem and the
other one finishes it,
and then you both choose the version that
you feel works best.
After this,
you can begin to revise and see if anything

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needs to be rearranged or changed.
The most important thing is to have fun
with it.
Our third prompt is an exquisite corpse.
which you might have done in a class or
workshop just for the fun of it.
This one works better with a larger group,
where one person writes a line, another one
follows, then another and another,
until you all decide to stop.

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And then you get to look back and read and
sometimes laugh at the surrealness of it all.
Our last prompt is writing a cento.
And this one can be really fun.
If you don't know what a cento is, I've got you.
A cento is a poem created from lines from
other writers.
It's kind of like a puzzle.
Once you pick your lines, you'll need to

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arrange them so that all those separate
parts turn into a cohesive whole.
Once you're done, you can credit your
sources in a footnote.
The Poetry Lab Resource Center has a couple
of wonderful articles about the cento
that talk about what this form is and offer
some examples.
I'll include the links in the episode notes.
And one more thing,

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the central lines don't have to be
exclusively from poetry books.
You can challenge the form by including
lines from other sources, like
a movie dialogue, a novel,
the title of a painting,
and see what comes through.
In this episode, we talked about how
collaborative writing can open up new
pathways to create different types of poems.

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It can also inspire you and motivate you to
play and experiment with others.
If you liked this episode, please give us a
like and follow, and help us spread the
word about our podcast by texting the link
to a few creative friends.
You can also find us at
thepoetrylab.com/podcast.
Be sure to check out our curated playlist

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for a deeper look on DIY marketing tips,
writing techniques, and inspiration to
create.
Again, I'm Leonora Simonovis, and you can
find me on Instagram at @leosimonovis.
or check out my website at
leonorasimonoves.com.
That's all for now.
I'll catch you soon at the Poetry Lab.