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Hi, I'm Jayne.
This year we're examining how to escape the 'sameness' that creeps into our poetry. Whether it's repetition within the broader body of poetry or simply copying-pasting our own internal tropes, we're sussing out the difference between how we write and what we want to say. Using practical methods of identification, we'll delve into effective ways to interrupt the patterns we default to.
Last month, we talked about samenessâhow poems can be competent, polished, and technically sound, yet still feel interchangeable. I had asked you to observe yourself as you generated new poems and try to identify any of your own âliterary crutches.â I discovered I have several, and I donât know about you, but I found it a bit uncomfortable.
But uncomfortable doesnât always mean bad. Identifying those repetitive quirks is a net positive in the long run, as youâll be able to find new ways to say what you want to say on the fly.
Now, a weird thing happens when you go looking for something: you tend to find it (unless itâs the glasses sitting on your head).
Itâs a lot like when you want to buy a blue carâsuddenly you see blue cars everywhere. With our poetry exercise, is it possible you noticed patterns because your brain was in pattern mode? Human brains love patterns. Is what we noticed true across our work?
This is where poetic forensics comes in.
So, before you âfixâ anything, before you experiment, before you deliberately break a rule, you need to learn how to read your own work like evidence.
What the Heck, Poetic Forensics?
I know, I know. It sounds a little âout there,â and it sounds a lot like work, but hear me out.
Poems leave fingerprints. You can change what youâre writing about, but how you arrive at meaning tends to remain stubbornly consistent. The evidence is the repeated choices that show up whether you intend them to or not. They persist across subject matter, tone, and even form.
And to be clear: this is not about your voice. This is about the writing behaviours that bring your voice to the page. Writing behaviours are the mechanism of voice.
When I talk about dissecting your work, Iâm not asking you to decide if a poem is good or bad. I donât want you to aggressively revise, nor am I sending you on some spiritual journey to find your âtrue selfâ on the page.
This is practical stuff, not existential drama.
How to Read Your Poems, CSI-Style
If we consider poetic forensics as:
Treating poems as evidence, not expressions Looking for repeatable markers across multiple poems, such as conventional imagery, familiar arcs, repeated words and phrases, and âsafeâ topics or resolutions Identifying when those markers survive revision, genre shifts, and subject or mood changes
we can objectively look at our own poems without judgment. You were probably your own worst critic twenty minutes ago, and youâll probably still be snarky with yourself twenty minutes in the future. But for now, tell that version of you to take a seat, because this isnât an opinion column. Itâs a fact-finding mission, and nothing you discover is a problem.
Itâs just data.
Take a small handful of your poemsâletâs say five if youâre hesitant and ten if youâre all-in. Donât revise them. Donât rank them. Donât judge them. Simply look for patterns:
Sentence Behaviour
Do they sprawl or compress? Do they over-explain themselves and dilute the core message? Do they circle an idea, meander, or barrel through a straight line and stop abruptly? Do they withhold too much and sabotage the reader?
Imagery
Do your images tend to embody the same metaphorical phrases and concepts, or are they more concrete but still repeated? Are they tactile, visual, abstract, domestic, or something else?
Structure and Timing
When do âfeelingsâ come into play? Do your poems always resolve? How? Do they end on bright notes? Do they comfort the reader, even if the poem dictates otherwise? Does it make you uncomfortable to end poems without a âproperâ finish? Do you insist there must be no mistaking the meaning? Do you trust the reader?
Notice I didnât list âtheme.â You can write about the same underlying theme(s) your entire life. Itâs the gulf between concept and execution that weâre dealing with.
Despite their different subjects, they feel unmistakably authored by the same hand. Something persists across both poems that makes them unique and avoids sameness. Itâs not the topic, but the way meaning is made.
Keeping Your Voice While Refining Your Methods
Remember, itâs not that your poetry is bad. It may simply be a bit rote in its delivery, which can flatten its meaning. If it sounds the same as a thousand other poems on the same subject, it becomes forgettable.
I get itâit can be confusing to reconcile that how you write isnât the same as what you say. Theyâre intrinsically linked, but when you rely on defaults, youâre not engaging the core message or emotion you want to communicate. But how on earth is âwritingâ not âvoice?â
If we take Dickinsonâs âBecause I could not stop for Deathâ and compare it to Sylvia Plathâs âLady Lazarus,â we can see that the same topic does not mean âsamenessâ of execution. Your voice will survive common themes once you recognize your own writing behaviours.
I promise you, your voice is already in your work. It may be hidden under a few âsafeâ mechanisms, but itâs there.
Donât rip your poems (or your self-esteem) apart. Simply notice what youâve said, how youâve said it, and whether it matches what you were seeing in real time.
Once you can do that, the fun starts: interfering with the scene and distorting the evidence.
Next month: what happens when you interrupt your own habits?
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Poetry: February 04, 2026 Issue [#13582]
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