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Words I'm Not Going to Use in My Poems Anymore

Today I went through the poems I wrote this year, and I began to see some patters in my writing. I tend to use the same words over and over again when what I really need is a good thesaurus.

This is a list I can see myself adding to, but here are the words I will no longer allow myself to use in my poems ... at least for a while.

  • dark
  • dumbstruck
  • poem
  • unspoken
  • disappear
  • underlife
  • fingertips
  • flower
  • sky
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Anonymous said…
Interesting that you should post on this. I was pondering the same subject recently and came up with a couple in my own works in progress: ethereal scents, muse, and the color yellow seemed to stand out. Go figure...

But, thanks to your post I am now keeping a document on the computer with a running list of words I use more than a few times...

Good Luck with this one! :)
11:36 PM
Leila said…
Sometimes we forget that writing is 5% inspiration and talent, but 95% craft. I like the idea of keeping a list of overused words. Like a cliché watch. Thanks!
12:38 AM
Catherine said…
"Unspoken" is one of the daily prompts from NaPoWriMo that I haven't figured out how to use yet.
I'm wondering if a corresponding list of words you haven't used and would like to, would be useful. I can imagine a list of "words not to use" might make you keep thinking of them, keep wanting to slip them in.
3:03 AM
Anonymous said…
I find it difficult enough to piece most of my poems together bit by bit over time. Excellent discipline though the notion is, if I employed some sort of a word-check I'd freeze up before I'd even begun to write!
8:35 AM
January said…
Dick, I had to stop myself from adding "I" and "this" (I loved ending poems with the word "this."), but I thought that would be a bit ridiculous.

I am always tempted to use these words, but the idea is to stretch myself and continue to find interesting language.
9:13 AM
January said…
Catherine, I like the idea of a list of words to be used in future poems. Thanks for the suggestion.
9:14 AM
jz said…
If you're not going to use them, can I have them?
2:56 PM
Deirdre said…
I've begun to see the same words popping up over and over again in my writing too. Making a list of over-used words might get me onto another track.

BTW, you could use the same word twenty-seven times in the same poem and it would somehow still sound lyrical and fresh.
3:08 PM
Anonymous said…
In my fiction, I use just, look, remembered, together, turned, and glanced ALL THE TIME. I have to do an "Edit/Find" global search in Word to catch those nasties.

I heard once that the human brain tries to impose a pattern on everything it recognizes (that's why we see faces/objects in clouds, ceiling/wallpaper patterns, etc).The same is true when writing--when you get in a groove, your brain slips into a pattern. When you revise, your job is to bust up the pattern and make it different.
5:48 PM
January said…
Now that's interesting, Erin. Makes sense that the brain creates patters and revision is the way to correct them. Cool.
9:49 PM
January said…
Jim, my words are your words!
9:50 PM
Reginald Harris said…
What an interesting idea! I've noticed this in my own work, but it usually happens when I'm reading and I think to myself, dang I just said that in the poem before this one! Also I keep remembering one of Audre Lorde's poems that begins "Tired of poems beginning with 'I'..." It haunts me and I have to catch myself to not do that
11:40 PM
paris parfait said…
I think we all do this - we tend to use the words we use in everyday life most often. I must take a leaf from your book and do the same!
10:08 AM
Alex said…
I love that you're doing this. It'll force your mind to stretch even further as you write. As a sendoff you should write a poem only using those words.
9:59 AM
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