Rob McLennan recently invited me to contribute to his “Talking Poetics” series, to share a little about my writing process. How do I make a poem, I wondered?

I thought: every poem is different! My writing process is organic! In short: I was resistant.

However, in taking some time to sit down and write about “Neighborly,” a poem and tiny book I’d just finished, I realized I do tend to follow a certain writing process:

• I begin drafting by hand
• I let my first drafts sit for a while
• I explore poem-words in tactile ways
• I share and discuss versions and drafts
• I wait for the poem to surprise me

Go figure! You can read more details about my process of writing “Neighborly” and creating the tiny book in my short essay, Talking Poetics: a poem for my neighbor, in the ottawa poetry newsletter.

And, you can see more images of my tiny book and read the poem “Neighborly” at Eileen Tabios’ Mintage Editions tiny book site.