Can You Write a Poetry Collection That’s a Page-Turner?

When embarking on crafting a poetry collection that feels like a page-turner, the goal shifts from merely recounting events to inviting readers into an emotional landscape where each poem reveals the next layer of a story. In my second poetry collection, Future Tense, a memoir in verse, I sought to create a work that doesn't just document events but pulls readers through a labyrinth of emotions, much like a novel.

Each poem serves a purpose: to deepen the narrative, evoke feelings before they're fully understood, and hold contradictions that mirror real life.

Creating a poetry collection that maintains urgency and momentum involves focusing on the emotional architecture—the speaker's desires, obstacles, and stakes. The plot, in this context, is the sequence of events that challenges the speaker, propelling the narrative forward. This approach can be seen in works like Edgar Kunz’s Fixer and Sharon Olds’s Stag’s Leap, which maintain a tight grip on the reader's attention through conflict and resolution.

To achieve this effect, I deliberately employed a structure that mirrored the unfolding of real life: a progression of events that deepens over time, much like a countdown. By structuring the book into sections named after time measurements (Six Months In, One Year In, etc.), I created a sense of urgency and progression that mirrored the passage of time in the story.

This structure allowed me to present a book that feels both innovative and inevitable, as each section builds upon the last, much like the way Victoria Chang’s Obit or Caitlin Conlon’s Burning the Ghostlight engage readers through their innovative structures.

The stakes in poetry collections, like in novels, are crucial for maintaining momentum. Each poem should have a specific role, revealing how events complicate the speaker's journey and why they matter. In Future Tense, the stakes are personal and life-altering: the speaker's struggle with infertility, her mother's battle with cancer, and the unraveling of her marriage.

These stakes are not just thematic but are woven into the narrative through the tension between wanting to become a mother and the reality of her situation. The tension between waiting for a pregnancy and the wish to adopt becomes a central conflict that drives the narrative forward.

By carefully structuring the collection and ensuring each poem serves a purpose, Future Tense aims to transcend the typical poetry collection. It seeks to engage readers not just intellectually but emotionally, creating a reading experience that feels like it can't be put down. Each poem serves as a step forward, building a narrative that is as compelling as it is profound, showing that poetry can indeed be a page-turner.