Writing Funny Poems

This is not intended as a master class in writing poetry, but rather an opportunity to share some personal insights into the writing process. If it persuades a few people to have a go at writing funny poetry - actually committing something to paper (or html) and sharing it with a wider audience - then it can be adjudged a success.

Can Anyone Write Poetry?

The question has both a practical and a pragmatic answer. The practical answer is that anyone, absolutely anyone, can write poetry and most will find the experience life enhancing. The writing process can be exhilarating, absorbing, self-revelatory, dispiriting and humiliating - often all at the same time. The pragmatic answer is that it is your audience which determines whether you have written poetry, or have produced a stream of doggerel of sub-McGonagall standard. So everyone can endeavour to write poetry and, if it doesn't receive the audience response you were expecting, it may be easier to change your audience than your writing style.

What Equipment Do I Need?

Writing poetry isn't like taking up hiking; you'll probably find that you already have all the equipment you need to get started. What is required is a writing instrument - pen, pencil or quill - and something on which to write. I strongly recommend buying a notebook just for your poetry, rather than relying on finding poems hidden amongst your other jottings or consigned to little scraps of paper. If you want the authentic literary look, as advocated by Bruce Chatwin, et al, nothing beats the moleskine notebook which has hard covers, a place marker, a piece of elastic to keep it closed and a useful little pocket at the back for little scraps of paper. Ideally you should carry you poetry writing kit everywhere with you, so that any ideas can be recorded as and when they occur.

Will Anyone Read My Poems?

For some people simply writing poetry is satisfaction enough and they genuinely do not seek to share their work with an audience - in effect a form of literary onanism. The remaining 99.9% of writers are poetic exhibitionists, the thrill coming less from the writing than the reaction of the audience. It is the internet that has dramatically altered the odds of anyone reading your work. In the dark ages, you had to find a publisher or decide to self-publish your work if it were ever to see the light of day. Even then, only a tiny fraction of the population buy poetry books and the print run for a collection by a previously unpublished poet might only be a thousand copies.

Online Poetry Publishing

The internet allows you to be your own self-publisher, or to submit poems to any number of collaborative sites, and if the poems, or the site, or your search engine optimisation skills are good, you will quickly generate an audience. So good luck and happy poeting! Not that luck really comes into the equation at all.