"The Genesis of a Poem" by Chen Chiu-Fei
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From conception to organization, layout, and revision, a new poem typically undergoes these three stages. For many beginners and inexperienced poets, the process of creating a new poem may seem like a difficult task that requires a great deal of effort. Drawing on my forty years of experience, I have put together this short essay to offer some guidance for those interested in cultivating their poetic skills.

Section 1: Conception and Inspiration
Inspiration is not always necessary

How does the germ of a new poem form in the brain? Some might suggest the concept of "inspiration." I do not deny that inspiration can play a motivational role in the initial stages of conception. In fact, the English word "inspiration" carries the connotation of "to motivate." My understanding of inspiration is that it is an idea that has a stimulating effect, sometimes playing the role of a magic key that opens the door to a fantastic journey of imagination, and at other times, a spark that ignites various associations. While inspiration can certainly trigger the brain to engage in imaginative activity, it is not a panacea. If you can make good use of various associations, you will find that flexible application of these associations is more effective and reliable than relying solely on inspiration.

Section 2: Determining the theme
The primary function of the theme is to provide the author with a focus for various associations during subsequent brainstorming sessions. The author revolves around this focus and radiates outward to find related imagery through various associations. Then, the author performs imagery screening and theme focusing, removing peripheral imagery that is not closely related to the theme or has no added value, and integrating these screened images into the paragraph layout to begin organic imagery combinations.

During the brainstorming phase of a new poem, the author often has not yet decided on a theme. For example, on June 4th, 1996, during the Tiananmen Square massacre, the author was deeply moved by the television images of tears and blood and began to brainstorm and formulate a poem to record this event. The poem's title changed from "Tiananmen" to "Please Come and See the Blood on the Street" at the end of the poem. However, coincidentally, the author later discovered that this phrase appeared in the final section of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's poem "I'm Explaining a Few Things." This similarity was a wonderful experience. In other words, if you have already determined the theme, don't rush, you can still change it during the subsequent paper-based work phase.

Based on my experience as a writer, the inspiration for a poem often comes from:

(1) A novel or touching image that triggers the desire to write poetry. For example, in front of Taipei Main Station, there was a one-legged man leaning against a short wall with a guitar in one hand and a harmonica in his mouth. He was a self-reliant street artist. At his feet was a wooden box containing his personal music CDs. His quiet daughter sat on a small stool, helping him collect money and deliver the CDs to customers. This scene deeply moved me and inspired me to write a short story as well as a new poem.

(2) A timeless sentence or a thought-provoking quote. For instance, "Some people treat you as a friend, but they treat you like a stepping stone, and forget you once they have crossed over." This inspired me to think about my past experiences and friends, and I wrote a new poem titled "Some People."

(3) Traveling to an unfamiliar city or countryside. Traveling, in my opinion, means leaving your familiar hometown and visiting other people's familiar hometowns. For example, when I arrived at a remote town during a trip, I encountered a wintry landscape - huge snowdrifts piled up in front of the Kakunodate Station in Akita Prefecture, and snowflakes falling from the sky. Standing outside, I soon turned into a snowman. Besides taking photos, the idea of writing a poem also popped up in my mind. However, this thought was eroded by the exhaustion of traveling. Nevertheless, the experience of this beauty has been hidden in my mind, waiting for the right time to be expressed in poetry.

Starting various associations This is the ideation stage, the main psychological activity. You can conduct simple associations based on the theme or your current emotions: association by similarity, association by relation, association by contrast, association by causality, association by sensation, or directly challenge creative associations.
(1) Simple associations

1)Association by similarity:
Definition: Based on the similarity in nature or appearance between two things, the creator or speaker seizes the similarities between the two and compares A to B, pointing to one thing by referring to another, and making analogies. "Association by similarity is based on the law of similarity, that is, the association formed based on the similarity or closeness of the nature, state, content, etc. between things." Explanation: When perceiving or recalling one thing, it can trigger associations with other things that are similar or close in nature, which is called association by similarity. Association by similarity reflects the similarities and commonalities between things. Generally, metaphors are made by using association by similarity, such as using "autumn winds and rains" to compare the revolutionary situation, and using "evergreen pine and cypress trees wither in the cold of the year" to describe strong willpower and remarkable integrity.

2)Association by contiguity:
Definition: Things that are close in space or time are easy to form connections in experience, making it easy to think of one thing when we think of another. "Association by contiguity is based on the law of contiguity, that is, the association formed based on the closeness between things in time and space." Explanation: Because two things, A and B, are quite close in time or space, the creator often links them together in relevant experiences, forming a stable conditioned reflex. When we perceive A, it triggers the association with B and arouses corresponding emotional reactions. For example, mentioning the high mountain railway easily reminds people of Alishan, and mentioning the Qijia Bay Creek reminds people of the cherry salmon, because they are close in space. When mentioning Huangmei, people think of the rainy season, and when mentioning blooming cherry blossoms, people think of the cold of spring, which is close in time. Spatial proximity and temporal proximity are also closely related. Things that are close in space must also be close in time, and when we perceive temporal proximity, spatial distance is often close.

3)Contrast association Definition:
Contrast association refers to the association between two things that have opposite characteristics based on the perception or memory of one of the things. It is mainly used to strengthen the understanding and feelings of the opposing relationship between the two things. In other words, contrast association refers to the ability to associate something with its opposite. It involves associating two things based on the contrasting properties or states of the two things, reflecting both the commonality and the relative individuality of the things.

Example: Thinking of light when in darkness or summer when in winter. Contrast association allows people to easily see the opposite aspects of things, which is important for understanding and analyzing things.

4)(Causal) Relationship association Definition:
Relationship association refers to the association between the meaning of one thing and its relationship with other things, such as cause and effect, connotation and extension, whole and part, species and genus, etc. Causal association is particularly important among them. Causal association refers to the association between things based on their objective causal relationship. This is a very common form of association.

Example: Thinking of Tao Yuanming's retreat to the Nanshan Mountains when seeing chrysanthemums or thinking of Lin Bu's "Dark Fragrance" when seeing plum blossoms. Part-whole or species-genus associations, such as thinking of a pen when seeing stationery, or thinking of stationery when seeing a pen, and causal relationship associations, such as thinking of pine and cypress withering after the cold winter or thinking of warmth when seeing a bonfire, are also forms of relationship associations. The connections between things are diverse, and the relationship associations reflecting the various connections between things are also diverse.

5)Sensory Association

Definition: Refers to the response that occurs when the five senses receive external stimuli. If the sensation shifts and the various senses are used interchangeably, exchanging the sensory areas of each sense, and "sensory confusion" occurs, it is called "synaesthesia" (cross-sensation).

Explanation: The various attributes of an object that comes from the same source of stimulation can be received through various sensory organs (vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). Once these senses overlap in perception, a "replacement effect" occurs, in which the image originally perceived by one sense is replaced by the image perceived by another sense.

(2)Creative Imagination

Definition: "The mental activity of creating novel, unique, and bizarre images by synthesizing stored representations in memory without resorting to descriptions provided by others is called creative imagination." In creative imagination, the creator uses their imagination to create a clear image of something they want to achieve, focusing their attention on this idea or image and giving it affirmative energy until it becomes an objective reality.

Explanation: In rhetorical devices, "symbolism" and "hyperbole" are typical examples of "creative imagination." "Symbolism" is a free association with suggestive characteristics that occur in the subconscious, while "hyperbole" is a partial deformation (expansion or contraction) of imagined objects that appear through the subconscious mirror during free association. In addition, surreal fantasies, montages, and temporal and spatial shifts are also forms of creative imagination.

For example:

No1 Surrealistic imagination
"Afternoon of the Cloth Lotus" / Lao Fu
Afternoon. The pool is crowded
with pregnant cloth lotuses.
This summer is so lonely,
let them give birth to a pool of frogs.

Ah, the problem is
we are just corpulent.

The pregnant cloth lotuses give birth to a pool of frogs, and this absurd sequence of events is not an exaggeration of reality, but a surrealistic and imaginative concept. Readers do not reject this bizarre idea but find it novel and interesting.


No2 Montage
"The Female Ghost (II)" / Lao Fu

She was lifted by a rope
Into an extremely beautiful and mournful
Liao Zhai story

Following the sound of the flute
Every window could potentially have
That fortunate thin scholar
Who went to the capital for the imperial examination
The wind blew silently
She jumped into
The just closed thread-bound book

The image of a woman committing suicide by hanging is so tragic, but the following scene is edited with "an extremely beautiful and mournful / Liao Zhai story", which dilutes the reader's sadness and shifts the focus to the beautiful and mournful story. "The wind blew silently / she jumped into / the just closed thread-bound book" - the action of jumping into the thread-bound book is like a 3D special effect shot, which cannot be interpreted by mere exaggeration of language, but by the montage editing technique.

 

No3 Interweaving of Time and Space
"Rank Seven in the Mountain Heat:
The Sleepless Dog" / Yu Kwang-chung

After the last bus has gone
The vastness of the world is reduced to
Just a mile or two outside
The barking of a distant dog, two or three times
Only the lamp can understand At this moment,
the white-haired man under the lamp Is also a sleepless dog
But he guards a different kind of night
Barking at a different kind of shadow
Just listen from a distance --
say, a hundred years away
And the barking is clear and distinct

In this poem, the poet uses "exaggeration by spatial reduction": "The vastness of the world is reduced to∕ Just a mile or two outside∕ The barking of a distant dog, two or three times", compressing the vast space of the world into the "sound" of a dog barking from a distant house. This is also a "transformational exaggeration", as although the sound of the dog barking from the distant house is a way of measuring distance, it is impossible for the vastness of the world to condense into "two or three times" of a dog's barking. This indicates that it contains elements of "synaesthesia" and "transformation of qualities". Later in the poem, the poet uses another "transformational exaggeration": "Just listen from a distance∕-- say, a hundred years away∕And the barking is clear and distinct", using time (a hundred years) as a unit of measurement to calculate distance, as a decorative "transformative image". Time and distance are obviously not the same type of imagery, so this is also a technique of "transformational exaggeration".

Section 2: Layout and Organization
Draft Text
The draft text is a written version of the initial organization of ideas in the brain, following the predetermined order. It presents the author's original thinking and aesthetic experience. If the draft text is close enough to the author's intended value, it may be accepted and become the "final draft." However, such an ideal state of "completing the whole thing in one go" is not common, hence the need for a second round of processing.

The draft text mainly consists of paragraphs that compose a poem. In the past, discussions about the layout of articles often referred to the four-part method of "beginning, development, transition, and conclusion." Here, the author introduces the narrative theory and proposes a six-part method of "opening, development, turning point, conflict, climax, and ending (suspense)." For more details, please refer to the author's article "Chapter 9: The Narrative of Poetry."

"Ancient Temple" ∕Bei Dao

The vanished sound of the bell
Forms a spiderweb in the cracks of the pillars
Spreading out like concentric rings
The stones have no memories
Echoes reverberate through the misty mountain valleys
Stones without memories
When the path turns away from here
The dragons and strange birds fly away too
Taking with them the dumb bells from the eaves
Wild grasses grow every year
Indifferently, so indifferent
To the submissive owner, be it the monk's shoes or the wind
The stone monument is fragmented,
the words on it worn away
As if only a raging fire could discern them
Perhaps
With a living person's gaze
A turtle will resurrect in the soil
Bearing heavy secrets, crawling out of the threshold

This landscape poem, rich in historical and cultural significance, is written in the third-person omniscient point of view. The author observes every aspect of this ancient temple, transitioning from personal observations to historical research and religious and cultural exploration. Through this process, the author gradually uncovers their understanding of the value of ancient cultural relics. Although the poem does not have distinct paragraphs, the narrative can be divided into six sections: opening, development, turning point, conflict, climax, and conclusion.

1)Opening:
Bell sound → spider web → cracks in pillars → tree rings The poem opens with synesthesia, using sound to create a visual image of a bell sound turning into a spider web, which leads to the image of cracks in pillars, and then to the idea of tree rings.

2)Development:
Stone → valley → echo The poem develops by exploring the stones, the valley, and the echoes that reverberate within.

3)Turning point:
Path bypassing → departure of dragons and monsters → taking away the mute bell → annual weeds → monk's shoes, wind → damaged stone tablet The turning point involves a shift in perspective, from personal observation to exploring the history and culture of the temple. The author describes how the path bypasses the temple, the departure of mythical creatures, and the disappearance of the bell. The author also describes the annual growth of weeds and how the wind and monks' shoes contribute to this. Finally, the author notes the damaged stone tablet.

4)Conflict:
Text on the stone tablet → fire A conflict arises when the text on the stone tablet is revealed to be damaged and illegible, as though it would take a fire to reveal its secrets.

5)Climax:
The text emerges → the gaze of the living The climax occurs when the text on the stone tablet begins to emerge, as if in response to the gaze of the living.

6)Conclusion:
The turtle emerges from the soil → carrying secrets → crawling out of the threshold The poem concludes with an image of a turtle emerging from the soil, carrying secrets and crawling out of the threshold.

From this narrative axis, several key points can be observed: (1) the author is emotionally moved by the scenery, (2) emotions and thoughts are intertwined with the scenery, leading to deeper exploration of history and culture, (3) conflicts arise when emotions and thoughts are deepened (the imagined fire), and (4) the conclusion is reached that the value of the ancient temple lies in its existence and witness of history, rather than whether its physical form endures.

Section 3: Revisions and Adjustments
Refining Text
Most drafts are like fragile pig iron, presenting deficiencies such as chaotic imagery, rough language, grammatical errors, and weak rhetoric. They must undergo the author's second round of "forging and refining" to approach the author's expected value. During this process, the author often engages in the following activities:

(1) Adding, deleting, and replacing imagery:

1) Delete the excess:
eliminate the branches and leaves that lack expressive power or that may have a counterproductive effect. This makes the context of the text clearer, so the main theme is not lost due to a confusing and scattered array of images that make the semantic content difficult to interpret.

2) Supplementing the insufficient:
If there are vague expressions, lack of clarity, or gaps in the logical clues of the semantic chain between paragraphs, it is necessary to adjust and supplement the imagery moderately, so that the context of the text is clear and the semantic content provides the necessary clues, and there are no contradictory or broken semantic chains.

(2) Revision and adjustment of grammar:

1) Identify grammatical errors:
identify sentences with grammatical errors and paragraphs with contradictory semantic chains and handle them by replacing words, revising grammar, and adjusting sentence structures. Experienced authors can identify grammatical errors by reciting the text; places with grammatical errors often sound awkward, and there may be issues with ambiguity, deficiency, contradiction, and errors in semantic content.

2) Adjusting sentence and paragraph structure:
if an author feels that a sentence or paragraph in the text needs to be adjusted due to a change in the logical clues of the semantic chain, it is beneficial to adjust the sequence of sentences and paragraphs so that the author's emotions can be expressed accurately.

 

(3) Enhancement and Deepening of Rhetorical Techniques

In the third stage, the manuscript is examined for rhetorical techniques, including the design of its appearance and the methods used to convey meaning in the lines of poetry. The goal is to elevate lower-level rhetorical devices to higher levels, such as replacing less profound "explicit metaphors" with "implicit metaphors," or gathering scattered sentences with the same properties and expressing them in parallel form, or upgrading plain and unremarkable parallel forms to more sophisticated nested forms.

(2) and (3) can be interchanged or carried out simultaneously depending on the author's specific needs. At this stage, the text is a "corrected and revised draft" that is ready for final adjustments.

(4) Feedback from Readers

Even after the corrected and revised draft is complete, many authors may still feel uncertain or dissatisfied. In such cases, it can be helpful to seek immediate feedback from readers. These responses may contain some useful suggestions, which the author can consider incorporating into a final round of revisions. Readers may include friends and family members, online acquaintances, or even newspaper and magazine editors. Authors must have the capacity to accept criticism or judgement (rejection) from readers in order to identify useful advice from flawed works, which can help improve their creative skills and enhance their creative abilities. If the text is fortunate enough to receive feedback from knowledgeable poetry readers or reviewers with theoretical literacy, the author's harvest will be even more fruitful.

After going through the above procedures, a poem is roughly completed, and the author can proceed to submit or post it for more readers to enjoy and appreciate the final text. Of course, the author can use the feedback from readers as a reference to make further adjustments and revisions, which is a privilege of the author.

Chen Quofei, July 26, 2019, Hsinchu City, Taiwan.