Jane Draycott's Tips on writing a good poem.

We asked one of our past Foyle Young Poet Award judges to offer some tips to help you write the best possible poem.  
 

Moving images:

Try thinking like a film-maker or photographer and look hard at the film in your head, the details, the just-off-camera images, the sound-track, the colours and shapes in your mind's eye.

Streaky bacon: 

Play with Charles Dickens' idea of how contrast in writing works so well ('as the layers of red and white in a side of streaky bacon', Oliver Twist). Experiment with ideas and images which explore your subject using contrast eg. dark/light, noisy/silent, interior/exterior far/near etc.

Economy:

Imagine you have to pay for every word, and like the poet Basil Bunting once advised to young writers 'Cut out every word you dare..' . Make every word count...

Read and Listen:

Read as much poetry (especially contemporary poetry) as you possibly can. And listen to it too, on the brilliant Poetry Archive  www.poetryarchive.org