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April is National Poetry Month in the U.S.
So go read or write a poem! And hug a poet! 
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.
— from “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand
Hi, I'm Sophy -- your Poetry Newsletter Guest Editor this week! In this issue we'll be talking about one of my toughest challenges in writing poetry ... the cliché. |
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Avoid Clichés ... Like The Plague!
One of the hardest things for me NOT to do when writing is to use clichés. In fact, sometimes I feel as if I am a cliché magnet when it comes to writing, no matter how hard I try to avoid them.  My poetry is no exception. For fun I once deliberately wrote a poem using nothing but clichés, hoping to get them out of my system.
"I Cliche' Therefore I Am"
My dear old departed daddy always said that
clothes may make the man (or woman) -
but remember, never judge a book by its cover
because it's always darkest before the dawn
even though there is always a silver lining.
Truer words were never spoken.
There's no fool like an old fool, eh?
Sadly, it didn't work, lol, and I still find clichés creeping into my writing. Though they tend to be of the less obvious kind than those in my poem, they do still tend to sneak in to my work. What exactly is a cliché? In the most common understanding of the word, a cliché is defined as "a phrase, expression, or idea that has been overused to the point of losing its intended force or novelty, especially when at some time it was considered distinctively forceful or novel. It is generally used in a negative context." (from Wikipedia)
In The Discovery of Poetry Frances Mayes writes, "When words lose their voltage through overuse, they become clichés. We're familiar with clichés in ordinary speech: working like a dog, busy as a beaver, warm as toast, short but sweet. These once strong expressions now pass -- to use a cliché -- in one ear and out the other." She then points out that poetry has its own pile of phrases and words that have been overused, and while maybe not as common as a traditional cliché, they are still just as old, tired, and overused. Phrases like: eternal sleep, press your lips to mine, night is falling, days to come, endless horizon, and soaring spirit, just to name a few. To avoid using clichés in poetry, she suggests using "fresh words," by which she means concrete words describing or naming specific things -- which is, pardon the cliché, easier said than done!
Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux point out in The Poet's Companion, that "Poetry deals not in clichéd, worn-out expressions, but in surprising ones that reveal new connections or cast a different angle of light on an idea or experience...Good metaphors and similes make connections that deepen, expand, and energize; they stimulate the imagination." But even good metaphors and similes can soon become cliché. For instance, the expression "she sticks to him like glue" was perhaps a fresh and interesting simile at one time, but now it's a "[cliché] that, if it turns up in your poem, should be sent to the Toxic Language Dump," according to Addonizio and Laux.
Another thing to be careful of is the clichéd subject and situation. Love, death, the moon as subjects, a woman waiting by the phone for her lover to call as a situation -- they've all been done a million times before, so it can be a challenge to find a unique and fresh way to write about them. Which is not to say we shouldn't try -- we just need to be aware of the pitfalls. Some poets can and do use clichés intentionally in their poetry, either as a phrase, subject, or situation itself, and the best ones are able to pull it off. But for the most part it's safer to avoid them altogether, lest they snare us in their trap.
So how does one avoid the cliché trap in poetry? For me it involves conscious effort to say or describe something in a new or unique way that also fits the overall theme of the poem. So in a poem about the death of friend, I will be very particular about the words I use to describe how I feel about the setting sun, or the sound of waves crashing on a beach -- working to avoid clichés while at the same time honoring the heart of the poem itself. (And then I get a good friend to help me edit out any clichés that still snuck in! ) Others suggest compiling a list of words you vow never to use in a poem in order to help you avoid clichés. Personally speaking, that list might include words like soul, heart, pain, feelings, emotion -- which tend to be a few of my cliché triggers.
I'll close with a compelling quote from Harry Rutherford. "Clichés serve a useful purpose in normal speech and perhaps for journalists working to a tight deadline -- they don't require any thought, so they enable you to say what you mean at speed. But that, in the end, is the root of the problem -- they don't require any thought from the writer, and thus don't provoke any thought in the reader." Meaning, if a phrase comes easily to you, without much thought, it's very likely a cliché.
I'd be interested to hear about how you avoid clichés in your own writing -- and if you are successful, how do you do it? |
I found a handful of poems that intentionally use clichés, or the subject of clichés, as their focus. Surprisingly, many were able to bring a fresh approach, and ended up with results that were not at all cliché. If you enjoy any of them, let the poet know!
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Since I am a Guest Editor and this is my first Poetry Newsletter, I have no questions or comments to respond to this week (though I would enjoy feedback about how you are able to successfully tackle the cliché monster).
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Poetry: April 04, 2007 Issue [#1637]
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