The Poetry Machine
A Look at the value of accountability in A creative process.
For just over three years I have submitted poems into Bob Schneider's creative writing group, The Poetry Machine. Not only has this exercise put me in a stretch zone, but built accountability and consistency into my writing.
Every week Schneider puts fuel into his machine, pitching everyone a prompt, then collects our poems containing that phrase, and distributes all of our work back to the group, along with the next week’s assignment. Some phrases are made up, while others are simply pulled from written works.
He built the engine nearly a decade ago, after talking to a longtime writer friend.
“We both realized that we had at some point stopped writing any sort of poetry,” Schneider says. “We had become too busy or just found it unnecessary to write any. That’s when we came up with the idea to use this method that I had for writing songs and apply it to poetry.”
I remember my first submission. There was a hint of intimidation in pressing that submit button, knowing that a couple of my songwriting favorites could lay eyes on my work.
However, it didn’t take me long to say the hell with it, which freed worry and welcomed failure. Who knows – maybe there’s a co-write down the road, right? As they say in the business, “a word is a third!” Joking.
It also didn’t take long to understand the true value of this group: it’s not about the outcome, rather the process. The most important thing is to activate the creative, then stay consistent, crank out your work, and at least with poetry, whittle on it through your edits later.
Today, I have written over 100 poems from this weekly exercise alone, which reminds me of advice I overheard Texas songwriter Radney Foster provide to a group of emerging songwriters in Jack Ingram’s Texas Songwriter U workshop. I’m paraphrasing:
If you’re going to be a songwriter, start by getting busy with writing your first two-hundred songs.
December 2020, Schneider published Volume 1 of our group’s poetry anthology, featuring works from over two dozen contributors including notables Hayes Carll, Tate Donovan (remember Jimmy Cooper from The O.C?), Owen Egerton, Guy Juke, Gareth Maguire, Turk Pipkin, and of course, Bob.
You can get your own copy of the book here.
While I still have your eyeballs, be sure to check out the hilarious and unfiltered podcast, I’m Okay, You’re Okay. I’m Not Okay, You’re Not Okay, co-hosted by Bob and Nashville session guitarist Clint Wells. It’s like a package of Pop Rocks for your head!
I also publish my poetry through Wild Words, which delivers one new poem, once a week – nothing more, nothing less. You can subscribe to each of these newsletters below. Thanks! Jason
