Poetry to creative nonfiction and back again
I read an essay earlier this semester in Creative Nonfiction about how you should write a poem before you write a CNF piece, to get all your thoughts out. Interesting. I’ve never tried it before–usually I do the opposite–but I’m trying it today. For my CNF portfolio, I’m basically starting fresh on a piece, except for this poem and a 300-word journal entry I wrote.
The essay I’m writing is about how I got to where I am in my poem. It’s going to open up with the scene in the poem, then go through and set up the how. I don’t know how this CNF piece is going to come out, but hey, it could be something.
—
(The line spacing is a little screwed up. So it goes.)
I should have stayed home
Five beers and fourteen cigarettes later:
“You’re the best girl.” I kiss the back of your
ear and pretend that I am.
You light your
fifteenth and watch me turn away. I smile
only to avoid that scrunched-face look you
give to me and, “Are you alright?” Of course.
You find my lie convincing enough to
turn your attention back to your friends. You
explicate your theology.
“Jesus
was not God of God, light of light.” A friend
responds, “I think he’d a’ smoked weed.” You laugh.
I cough. You squeeze my hand. I ignore you.
I attempt to contribute to the slurred
conversation of a couple of drunk
girls. (I laugh—it is all I know to do.)
But really I want you to notice how
uncomfortable I am without having
to ask. “I’m fine,” I say. I’m never fine.
—
Scriptwriting Archive:
Broken-down Poetry, and what it means
The strenuous marriage of writing
Poetry as Therapy, pt. II
Imagination
Sh*tty First Drafts
Cross-train
Go get a life
Wishing writing could change me
Install me in any profession
Tell all the truth but tell it slant–
April 16, 2011