Tell Me How You Really Feel!

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Table of Contents

• Freewrite

• Poem: "Interview" by Jordan Kapono Nakamura

• Divinations

• Prompt

• News!

• Archive

Freewrite

With this freewrite, as well as all freewrites, do not put any pressure on yourself to be good. You are simply getting thoughts on the page. You can write in poetry or in prose, but feel free to write poorly, sloppily, redundantly, and with cliches. Now is the time for ideas—we will eventually sculpt those ideas into art.

Think of a context or setting in your life in which you are forced not to speak your truth. Perhaps it's your job, your family, your relationship, a community you belong to, or some other form of work or relation.

What do you want to say, but can't? Say it in your freewrite. If it helps, address your freewrite to the person you cannot speak to.

Poem: "Interview" by Jordan Kapono Nakamura

Retrieved here.

Divinations

Seriously, though, when have I ever had to lift 35 pounds in a job?

I love this poem's edge and candor. It takes so much of corporate jargon's soulless language and recalls what poetry is for: an interrogation of language and selfhood; the necessary reminder that language is not merely linear or transactional. It is also, I think, true to the poet's feeling whenever having to apply to a job that isn't in poetry—and Lord, don't I wish I only worked in poetry.

I've written before about juxtaposition and poetry's effective estrangement. But it is worth highlighting, specifically in this poem, an idea called the "juxtaposition of incongruous features."

Put simply, this is when you put next to each other two things that simply don't belong near one another. It's orange juice and toothpaste, which taste horribly, or popcorn and hot sauce—which I've recently been informed is actually delicious.

This poem operates on the juxtaposition of incongruous features because it uses casual and poetic language in the context of a job interview. A few examples:

• I want this job because 
  it sounds like something I could do 
  and I’m hungry, physically. 

Refreshingly honest, and, of course, the exact kind of thing that doesn't get the job.

• I have sworn an oath against the roman calendar 
  and its derivative mutations. 

Do NOT get this man on Calendly.

• My two letters of recommendation are
  f and u. They can be used in surf, which 
  is one way to step on what wants me drowned. 

This last line is a sudden bit of poeticism—I assume it's a gesture towards the destructive nature of corporations and managers, or perhaps a more poetic "f u" to the interviewer.

• I think a lie can be worse than murder but also 
  I have never died. I can definitely think of a time 
  when I had to multitask while under immense pressure, 
  but would prefer not to. My goal is to recall my past lives 
  and be free in each. My strength is being scattered 
  and rooted at the same time. My weakness is entertaining 
  a party of every kind of consequence. 

Here, I notice an interesting shift in the poem's decisions: more enjambments and sentences finished mid-line. The effect this has is overwhelming the reader with the series of canned interview questions that, ultimately, signify a disinterest in the interviewed subject. Multitasking, goals, strengths, weaknesses—what do these actually reveal in any person? It is less about demonstrating the ability to work well, which only the work itself demonstrates, and more about demonstrating the subject's ability to speak the language of business: passive phrases and empty signifiers; the violence of obfuscating violence beneath "quarterly goals" and "restructuring."

And then,

• .My kink is a copless land where no one hoards anything.
  I can start on any day you are prepared to train.
  I can end on any day that ends in why not, 
  for real, I don’t need this, 
  the people got me you know, 
  I’m with the people. 

Of course, most interviewers won't ask about your kinks, but this unexpected sentence brings us back to end-stopped lines and a closing flourish of irony. The punny idea of "I can work on any day that starts with y" is the kind of thing I expect to see on someone's office desk—and, anyway, why look for a company to take care of you when it's people that provide?

Not only does this poem have a lot of great irony and juxtaposition, it also feels freeing to read. The craft elements here heighten the effect of speaking truth to power, but it just feels good to have this reminder of poetry's purpose and of our own immutable humanity, c-suite be damned.

Prompt

Write a poem in which you speak honestly and directly in a context you usually can't. Say what you need to say and use poetry's craft tools to heighten the effect. Invite the reader into this shared experience of saying what otherwise goes unsaid.

News!

First! Keep an eye on our newsletter for an announcement about a call for submissions. We have a really exciting opportunity to feature your poetry, but I can’t say more until everything is ready.

Second! If you benefit from these prompts, craft analyses, and invitations to write inspired poetry, you may be interested in my newly launched self-guided Writers.com course Toward Your Poetic Vision. The materials can be worked through at your own pace and will never expire, so you can return to them again and again as it pleases you. Students will end the course with endless inspiration, a thorough grounding in poetry’s craft, lineages, and theories, and a richer relationship to language so you can write your best poems yet. (You’ll also get a bonus Q&A with me in January!)

More soon!

Archive

Check out our full archive of prompts at the Poemancer website!