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Putting the fun back into poetry | Jerome Coetzee
Fri, 12 January 2024
If you ask most people, they will tell you that poetry is a serious business, far too deep for them. This is not surprising: after all, most of us had to sit for school exams on set poems we may not have liked.
Jerome Coetzee is a young writer and prize-winning poet who knows the secret of bringing poetic fun and adventure back into your life. Apart from being a Master’s candidate in the Department of Afrikaans at the University of the Western Cape, he is also a passionate mentor and facilitator of online poetry workshops.
He became a teaching assistant to high-school learners during the COVID pandemic, and started creating spaces in which they could express themselves creatively.
As we head into a new year and set ourselves new writing goals, Jerome has generously shared some of his own insights and creative writing tips.
Watch people, then write their story. Just write what you see and create a back story.
Listen repeatedly to the same things. Listen deeper. As a challenge, stand in a lift. Pay attention to the people getting on and off. Listen to the robotic voice say, “Level 1” and “Going down”. Or listen to the announcement in a store. The world we live in has so many digital voices, and I find them interesting. What does connection to a device mean when we add society, creativity and connection to the mix?
Here is a recent example from my own practice. I was in the kitchen of the Wendy house we live in when I realised the fridge had its light on, but made no sound. Was it broken? Meanwhile, a guy was fixing a broken car engine, making a loud sound and shouting with hope to his friends. In the street behind me, an Antie was shouting at kids throwing stones in her garden (scared for her plants, I imagined). All these interactions around something being broken happened on one day.
My overall advice is to keep exploring and challenging. Do not become comfortable with your writing. Find a random object and write a love letter to it. We need to be available to the world and offer our pages as platforms to tell these different lived experiences.
As you head into the new year, make Jerome’s writing practices your own. Use these exercises to become a more attentive, adventurous watcher and listener.
Remember that the AVBOB Poetry Competition will reopen on 1 August 2024. Visit our website regularly at https://www.avbobpoetry.co.za/ for editing tips and advice as well as updates about upcoming workshops.
Jerome Coetzee is a young writer and prize-winning poet who knows the secret of bringing poetic fun and adventure back into your life. Apart from being a Master’s candidate in the Department of Afrikaans at the University of the Western Cape, he is also a passionate mentor and facilitator of online poetry workshops.
He became a teaching assistant to high-school learners during the COVID pandemic, and started creating spaces in which they could express themselves creatively.
As we head into a new year and set ourselves new writing goals, Jerome has generously shared some of his own insights and creative writing tips.
- Watch and listen, and not only to people. Go into the same café multiple times but listen and watch for something interesting every time. Always make notes. Once we learn how simple it is to draw from our surroundings in this way, we eliminate the constant need to search for inspiration. Now, inspiration comes to find you.
Watch people, then write their story. Just write what you see and create a back story.
Listen repeatedly to the same things. Listen deeper. As a challenge, stand in a lift. Pay attention to the people getting on and off. Listen to the robotic voice say, “Level 1” and “Going down”. Or listen to the announcement in a store. The world we live in has so many digital voices, and I find them interesting. What does connection to a device mean when we add society, creativity and connection to the mix?
- Explore your surroundings. What is happening in the room or space where you are sitting? What is being repeated in this space? Start with what is closest to you. Then move on to what could be in the next room. What is immediately behind the door or in the street?
Here is a recent example from my own practice. I was in the kitchen of the Wendy house we live in when I realised the fridge had its light on, but made no sound. Was it broken? Meanwhile, a guy was fixing a broken car engine, making a loud sound and shouting with hope to his friends. In the street behind me, an Antie was shouting at kids throwing stones in her garden (scared for her plants, I imagined). All these interactions around something being broken happened on one day.
- Take any object and ask it questions. For example, an apple. Ask the apple what it was before you received it. Well, of course it was a seed. But take a step back and ask what the process from seed to apple was like. We writers have the ability to connect past, present and future. Look at the future and ask what the apple will do once you’ve have eaten it or left it aside. Investigate what objects would say, and what their life before and after might be.
My overall advice is to keep exploring and challenging. Do not become comfortable with your writing. Find a random object and write a love letter to it. We need to be available to the world and offer our pages as platforms to tell these different lived experiences.
As you head into the new year, make Jerome’s writing practices your own. Use these exercises to become a more attentive, adventurous watcher and listener.
Remember that the AVBOB Poetry Competition will reopen on 1 August 2024. Visit our website regularly at https://www.avbobpoetry.co.za/ for editing tips and advice as well as updates about upcoming workshops.
