Poetry AAAH!

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How does an Aspie, who is very literal, write poetry? I don't get it. I need this for a writing class. Any help would be...erm...helpful

Write literal poetry.

Not everyone's poems are wrapped up in metaphors.

Just write it as if it was a monologue or some prose, but on different lines.

'I've seen the look on her face before.
She's lying.
She knows it, I know it
But we pretend, even so.
Pretend that I'm normal
Pretend that she cares
Pretend this is different to every other time'

etc.

It's fun to analyze metaphors and find double meanings in poetry. Also, the rhythm of the words feels good. There is a thread about AS and right brain thinking, maybe you can find that useful.

There aren't really any rules in poetry - you can make it up as you go along.

I used to write a lot of rhyming poetry because I found rhyming easier. I used to deliberately write things to annoy the teachers - and I always got good marks for them.

You can read my "stuff the ethiopians" poem online... I wrote that in about yr 9 at school.

stuff the ethiopians

Too bad you are forced to write poetry. If it doesn't come out of a spirit of fun and curiosity it's a pain in the ass.

Here's one I wrote just for fun.

DISGUSTIBUS

Beware of trolls in toilet bowls
And witches in the sink.
They make their spells
From cockroach shells
Overstuffed with stink.
With screeching cries they squint their eyes
In maniac frustration
When some poor soul sits on his bowl
With concrete constipation.
They slice up farts and take the parts
Which they roll out flat.
Then, folded queer, stuck in one ear,
They wear it for a hat.
With blood red eyes, they bake s**t pies
In searing white hot ovens.
While they scream, they spread whipped cream
And serve it to their covens.
With grunts and groans and drawn out moans
They compliment the cook
And vomit in each other's laps
To take a second look.
Then with a "glup" they swallow up
The predigested feast
Washed down with foaming tankards
Of piss from some old beast.
Flashing grins they wipe their chins
And burp and sigh content.
The odor from this dining hall
Can forcefully dement
And crack the strongest household wall,
Dissolving the cement.

I learned how to write Haiku and Limericks. Maintaining their structure is a bit of a challenge, but it forces me to think about the meaning of the words and the image I am trying to impart. The Sonnet form is still a bit out of my reach, but I'll get it eventually.

Free verse? My opinion is that anything that has no metre or rhyme is not poetry, but apparently some people are proficient enough to make a living writing free verse, whereas I could only come up with 6 or 7 new verses for "Here I Sit, Broken Hearted..." to add to the bathroom wall at school.

I'm looking up at the poem before me. It's brilliant!

Executive dysfunction can make it hard to write poetry, because of the mental dexterity required. I haven't written decent poetry since I was around 14/15, which for my schools literary magazine. Pretty much the only work I did in that school, other than paint a mural.

One of the tricks I used for poetry was to shamelessly borrow a couple of lines of lyrics in songs I liked, and mix that in. Surprisingly few people guessed, even though I made no bones about it.

Use words that have two meanings eg talk about how someone thinks they are deep mentally/spiritually then compare them to a puddle's physical depth.

Write about something that you feel strongly about like this one.

THE MAJESTY OF DEATH

The majesty of death
Cannot reign without love.
All power draws its strings
From the intimates of common things
That cross and tie our lives
From day to day, one to another;
The touch, the look, the joy
Of living in a world to share
In happiness and misery.
Time blooms with wondrous insights
That intensify when held in hands
Together.
To feel and know each other's universe
Weaves a web of mutuality that
When ripped by death
Leaves threads
Swinging in a midnight wind.