The Self-Destructing Poem

Sandra Cisneros, when speaking about her poetry-writing practice during a long pause between published collections, describes the liberation in writing for the self: “Poems were to be written as if they could not be published in my lifetime. They come from such a personal place. It was the only way I could free myself to write/think with absolute freedom, without censorship.” Inspired by Cisneros’ approach to drafting, this exercise explores what it means to write a poem that will be read by no one else.

Your mission: to write the poem that you are afraid to write. After you write the poem you are afraid to write, destroy the poem.

After you have written and destroyed the poem you are afraid to write, take 8-10 minutes to reflect on the experience in a freewrite:

• What did you learn?
• What did you think it would be like to write the poem? What was it actually like?
• How did knowing the poem would be destroyed change what you were able to write, or your experience of writing?
• How would your poetry-writing practice be impacted if you wrote only for yourself?