30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets #15: Leslie Rzeznik on Recording Yourself

Today's guest poet is Leslie Rzeznik, who blogs at A Boisterous Life.

Many poets advise practicing Leslie's habit -- as part of the revision process, record yourself reading a poem. Then, listen to the recording. You will hear wonderful wordplay you hadn't noticed on the page, or hear phrasing that needs to be tweaked in the next draft. While I don't record myself, my friends and I almost always read our poems aloud as we prepare for feedback.

I brought a new poem (about a recent Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performance) to my friend Ann Bracken a few weeks ago. Reading the poem to her, I heard a phrase I had stolen from another of my own poems! Whoops. I missed that with my eyes, but the sound was familiar to my ears. I revised the line.

Leslie has some great advice about how to make this poetry habit effective for revision.

Here's Leslie: The Voice of the Poem

Some poets don’t think about how a poem looks on the page or how it sounds when spoken aloud. There are some who argue that their poems are not meant to be read aloud. Spoken Word or Slam Poetry aside, every poet can use the spoken word as a means to become a better writer. 

When I read a poem aloud, I can hear its musicality better. Its rhythm is more defined. I can feel on my tongue when the words just don’t work. I can detect dead spaces, run-on lines, and natural caesuras which often help with determining my line breaks. I can even hear mis-associations that I might not catch when reading in my head. But wait!

We don’t have to fantasize about training our dogs to recite our poems (as Wordsworth might have) and we don’t need to be in workshop to hear our poems read outside of our own head space. No, fellow poets, this is what we have technology for. Many poets are Luddites, and so don’t have the fanciest new iPad or digital recorder. However, most people in the Western world have cell phones. And most cell phones have voice recording apps, no matter how ridiculously old or basic they are.

The original Luddites destroyed industrial textile frames.
Have you done any "machine breaking" out of frustration with technology?
(actforclimatejustice.org)

Record your poem. Make note while you’re recording where you stumble over words and where your pace lags. When playing it back, listen for rhythm, flow, more places where you stumble. If the poet herself can’t read the poem without mistakes, how will others? I have a copy of my poem in front of me and make notes as I listen, just as I would if I were work-shopping someone else’s poems. Sometimes I close my eyes so I can concentrate on the sound. 

I’ve come to record each iteration, and I think it has sped up the editing process substantially. But, hey, it’s just another tool. If you hate the way your voice sounds, get someone else to read your poem. Or just get over your phonophobia. Other than work-shopping with other poets whose work I admire and input I trust, this is the best way to get some distance from my writing.

Oh, and that cell phone? A great way to record your middle-of-the-night inspirations, too.

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