Concrete Poetry

Synopsis

In concrete poetry (also known as visual poetry), the visual presentation of words is equally as important as the words. Often, the words are structured and formatted such that they create a picture relating to the topic of the poem--such as a love poem in the shape of a heart. This form of poetry is often introduced early in childhood and is fun to experiment with.

Image from deviantart wallpapers

My Tips, Tricks, & Opinions

Feel free to leave your opinions, tricks, questions, etc. in the comment section below.

Tricky Situations

There are two keys to visual poetry: choosing the best image or shape and crafting just the right number of letters and spaces. With concrete poetry, there is the constant warring of the visual image and the poetic flow of the words. What may be the perfect word or phrase poetically, may not fit the image you are trying to create. Early on, the easiest solution is to sacrifice one for the other, but practice allows for mastery in both. When I write concrete poetry, I usually keep a thesaurus on hand for tight situations.

What I Like

This is one of my favorite poetic forms (and I'm still working on mastering this style). The potential to express both verbally and visually is quite fascinating. It's fun to create, not to mention the amount of pride you feel when your poem actually makes the image you were attempting to create!

Examples

Square (June 25, 2014)

Boring--the sound
of your voice now
and forever, rings
hollow--in a room
Your voice shrinks.

Recent Concrete Poems

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