Why I Love Collaborative Poetry*

*which Blythe and I also lovingly refer to as Co-Po

I’ve been very interested in collaborating for some time, and I’ve done a little of it here and there. But recently, I decided to give it more attention and make a concerted effort to do some collaborative writing each week.

The process has been nothing short of amazing. I can’t believe I waited so long to approach writing in this way. The surprise of the poems we’ve written. Oh, the unforeseen turns the writing takes. Going in and not knowing where you’ll come out, or when or how. The way we each respond to the words and phrases the other person contributes. How a piece that in one moment seems like it’s headed nowhere fast can, in a word or two, find its way somewhere startling, strange and gorgeous.

Collaborative poetry makes me all zingy — it gives me a pins-and-needles kind of weird-happy feeling.

Collaborative writing has helped me make it through a few days when I thought I wouldn’t get any writing done at all, when I was certain my creativity was waning or dozing or had wandered off into the woods for a nice afternoon hike in the Pacific Northwest but had somehow managed to get all turned around and (of course, being the impractical creature it is) hadn’t had the foresight to take any survival gear along so I would have had to wait anticipatorily for its return for who knows how long before filing a missing-inspiration report and sending the poem-sniffing dogs in after it.

But collaborative writing kept all that from happening and has shown me that, even when I don’t think I’ve got a single good line in me, someone else + me can still = some damn fine poetry.

For lack of a better word, something pretty neat can happen when two people make a commitment to write together. And that something pretty neat has put a big fat smile on my face more than once. Right now, even, I am smiling.

Some Ideas for Collaborating
There’s no end to the ways two (or more) poets can work together. Below are a few suggestions for anyone who’s interested in trying it out:

(And if you have any ideas for ways to collaborate, feel free to leave a comment.)

• Use instant messaging to write a poem with a collaborator by taking turns one word, one phrase or one line at a time. With group chat, you can do this with more than one partner.
• Send a chainpoem to a collaborator through e-mail or regular mail. Supply the first line and ask the recipient to supply another line then pass the poem on to someone else, and so on and so on, until a recipient adds a final line and deems the piece finished.
• Write a list poem, with each collaborator supplying one or more items for the list. Just think of a topic and you’ll be on your way.
• Write a poem, then take out all the important words, leaving only blank spaces. Send it to one or more collaborators and have them fill in the blanks. All the variants could even be collected in a series.
• Put together a group of words you like, and send it to a collaborator with instructions to use those words in a poem.
• Send an interesting news item to a collaborator, and each of you write a poem based on the same story.
• Send one of your poems to a collaborator so he or she can write a companion piece.
• Cut one of your poems up into words and phrases, place everything in a paper bag, and give the poem puzzle to a collaborator to piece together in a new way. (This can also be done through e-mail if you are collaborating with someone in a different area.)