Collaboration rather than Competition

On September 11, 2001 (we'll never forget), the members of a poetry collaborative I founded in Portland, Oregon, came together for the first time. Our mission was and is to come together and create new work, not to critique, which is often what writing groups do.

This group, known as the Portlandia Collaborative, has been one of the best presents I have ever given myself. We gather usually twice a month and each time a different member presents us with a writing exercise. We are all experienced writers who are willing to experiment.

One member, Donna Prinzmetal, is a Poet in the Schools, and brings consistently fantastic exercises from my point of view. I always get a poem from her exercises. Other members swear by the exercises of others. What we have discovered is that different exercises are creative turn-ons for different writers. What one writer might consider a wonderful exercise, another might find a real turn-off. It's extremely intriguing. We're all wired so differently.

Another observation is that some people come out with finished poems, almost all the time, while others of us (I'm alas in this category) usually get just ideas for poems or very rough drafts. But I believe everybody at some time has produced a masterful, completed poem from someone's exercise at our meetings. And these are poems that might never have been written except that another creative individual elicited something from each of our brains through some new kind of stimulation. Amazing!

Exercises have included viewing video clips, smelling different fragrances, listening to music and sounds, reading poems and following some set of directions (which some of us always disregard...we are poets, after all), and collecting words to use through newspapers, lists, or even games.

One of our members, Russian scholar Laura Weeks, made up a game called word poker that was a lot of fun and gave you a list of words to use. We all dressed as "cowboys" or "cowgirls" that night and had a blast.

In contrast, any critiquing group is a solemn affair where your work is held up to harsh light and you are usually humbled and sometimes given bad advice by someone who just doesn't get your aesthetic. Critiquing groups are very helpful, especially for the beginning writer who usually thinks too highly of his or her work, but they can also be morose affairs that dampen your creativity rather than inspire.

I recommend creative collaboration to everyone. Rather than compete, consider forming a group of people who try to inspire each other. Expect experiments that don't work but also you may find that you are stretched in new ways that surprise you. The best poetry surprises its creator and tells him or her new things.

Wishing you creative success, however you define it,

Karen on her birthday