Sherry Chandler

A few days ago, Terry over at I See Invisible People provided a link to an essay by Stephen Leigh called “Weaving the Worlds:”

Here’s the problem… You know that old adage “Write What You Know?” It’s garbage. Or rather, writing what you know means that you have exactly one story to tell, and unless you happen to live a particularly interesting life, it’s probably a boring one. If you have a dream of being a working writer, then you’re quickly going to be writing what you don’t really know. In fact, if you’re a writer of science fiction and fantasy, it’s not even possible to write what you know…

Good advice for fantasy writers. And, it turns out Ron Offen has the same advice for poets in the latest issue of Free Lunch:

The second reason I question the rule that seeks to place observation above imagination is that too many contemporary poets place undue emphasis on it. Under its constraint, thier poems, often focused on the quotidian, the commonplace, the personal, either strain for depth or are devoid of it. Their lines swell with meticulous but usually extraneous details that frequently add up to nothing. In short, their reliance on what they know (or remember) results in drab, boring poetry.

…I would maintain that it is time for poets to start using their imaginations again. Let them write what they don’t know for a change.

Free Lunch is an independent little magazine – my favorite kind – that has been publishing twice a year since 1989. It is supported by the Free Lunch Arts Alliance with the intention of proving that there is such a thing as a Free Lunch – in the form of a free subscription to the magazine for all serious poets living in the U.S. The free subscriptions are given on the basis of poetry submitted to the magazine, whether or not they are chosen for publication.

I nearly always find a friend in Free Lunch. In the latest issue, it’s Louisville poet Reid Bush.