Developing a Poetry Collection

I have always been a fan of poetry. When I pursued my MFA in Creative Writing, I often marveled at my poet friends’ ability to spin such emotion in so few words. Because of their limited space, poets have to learn to master mining the language to find the perfect words for their works. They must also be well-versed in timing, rhythm, and cadence and allowing all the senses that we can’t see just looking at a word to resonate from the poetical page.

But those are not the only things a poet needs in her or his toolbox to become a great poet. If you are looking to develop a poetry collection, whether it’s audio or print, there are things you must consider when developing that collection. It’s not about simply writing a slew of poems and just putting them all together in one document and voila: a poetic masterpiece.

Just like a novelist must consider organization of chapters to make sure the tension and conflict builds appropriately and climaxes at the right moment, so too must a poet consider how to organize her or his “poetic story” in order to achieve the intended purpose. What is the overall feeling (purpose) you want the collection to convey? Knowing this can help you determine which poems make the cut. What themes/subject matter will you cover in the collection? Knowing this will help you not only organize poems by those themes, but also move and organize those themes in a way that guides the reader through the appropriate feelings, emotions of the entire collection.

For this article, I called upon some poetic friends of mine—Marc Lacy, Archuleta Chisolm, and Samara King—to offer sound, real advice to those looking to develop a poetry collection. Each of these published authors has a way with the written word that transcends the page and evokes emotions within the reader. They understand the importance of the word, of themselves as poets, as writers, and of the audience to which they write for.

Across the board, despite the varying themes and subject matter that is found within the works of these authors, you’ll find that there are factors to developing a poetry collection that all three agree upon. Developing the collection isn’t really rocket science if you know these factors… and knowing these factors will only make your collection that much stronger as a piece of literary work.

Below are excerpts from each author based on two questions I asked: What are three important aspects to developing a poetry collection and how important is having a well-organized collection.

To keep this article from getting too long, I have compiled full responses, bios, and latest books from each author into a PDF titled “The Write Life for You Presents… Developing a Poetry Collection.” The link for the booklet is at the end of the article.



Marc Lacy, author-poet, latest poetic release, Rock & Fire: Love Poetry from the Core [website; book info]

For Marc, a well-organized poetry collection demands the poet consider keeping the readers’ attention from beginning to end:

Having a well-organized collection is monumental in that it takes more to reel the poetry reader in as it does the listener (of performance). Gaining the attention is challenging enough; but keeping it (when it comes to poetry) is a whole different puppy. One has to almost automatically assume that the reader is going to have a short attention span. With such being the case, well-written and well-organized poetry is key in keeping them engaged throughout the book.



Archuleta Chisolm, author-poet of Heaven Knows Your Existence: A Collection of Poetry and Prose that Speaks to the Soul [website; book info]

The importance of the reader in the development of the collection continues with Archuleta’s thoughts:

The importance of having a well-organized collection is crucial! Readers want to be absorbed by whatever it is they are reading. When their eyes are going left to right on the page, they want to be pulled in and taken away to that place. Having a well-organized collection assists the reader in doing just that, and they will always come back for more. It makes a statement about you as a writer, and it builds a relationship with your audience.



Samara King, author-poet, whose debut poetry collection, The Ebony Kryptonite, will be released later this year [website]

In discussing important aspects of a poetry collection, Samara also mentions the importance of drawing the reader into the work (among other things):

[A poetry collection needs] to have a sense of a story. Though poetry and fiction differ, the two venues of creativity also marry, in which a story is being told. Another important aspect is picture painting. Infuse words that will draw a picture to the reader's mind; it brings them closer to the message you are trying to convey. I would say being true to self is key, too. Your words reflect you and the moment an artist, a writer or a creator deviates from true self, things tend to fall apart.



You can see all the authors’ advice and more by downloading the booklet, “The Write Life for You Presents… Developing a Poetry Collection.” You can download [here].