January 12th, 2010 / 6:39 pm
Craft Notes

Moves in Contemporary Poetry

Way back in the comments on Danika Stegeman’s poem “Panacea,” a discussion started about “moves” in contemporary poetry, and I mentioned that I’d seen the poet Elisa Gabbert start pretty awesome discussions about “moves” on her own blog and on the Ploughshares blog. Then she posted the following comment: “Hi Mike, I have definitely talked about moves before, moves I like and moves I don’t like and my own signature moves, but haven’t made a real list, certainly not a comprehensive list, certainly not the DEFINITIVE list. Let me know if you want to collaborate on a list of moves for HTMLGiant.”

Well, I thought that sounded like a terrific idea. So here it is, our stab at cataloging 41 popular moves in “contemporary poetry,” an exercise that’s fraught with peril, what with the competing definitions, camps, roles, and processes of “contemporary poetry,” the nebulousness of calling something a “move,” the inevitable non-definitiveness of such a list, and so on, but hey: dancing is fraught with peril too, and no one’s managed to stop me from doing that. So here we go. 41 moves. With mildly related pictures! In no particular order! Please argue and add in the comments. Many thanks to Elisa Gabbert for the bulk of the work on this list.

1) Exposed revision

Example: Alice Fulton’s “About Face“:

At least embarrassment is not an imitation.
It’s intimacy for beginners,
the orgasm no one cares to fake.
I almost admire it. I almost wrote despise.
1b) Variation: Revision by way of “I mean”
Example: “Confession” by Suzanne Wise:

I can only imagine
how hard it must be for you
to believe me. I mean, to hold
blame. I mean, to be you.

2) Starting a line with the final clause from a previous line’s sentence and finishing it with a single short and often fragmentary sentence.

Example: Jack Gilbert’s “Searching for Pittsburgh”:

The rusting mills sprawled gigantically
along three rivers. The authority of them.

3) Abstract epistolary: Using “Dear [abstraction or common object]” in the title or first line.

Examples: Countless. Dear Body: by Dan Machlin, “Dear Final Journey,” by Lynn Emanuel, which begins, “Dear Noose, Dear Necktie, Dear Cravat”


4) The “blank of blank” construction
Examples:From “Marriage Proposal” by Sarah Messer: “I want to be trapped by the cage of your ribs”

From “Synchronized Swimming” by Angela Sorby: “How did decay work its way into the theater of water”
From “I want you to see me” by Kate Greenstreet: “Red and blue and the white of my transparency”

5) Use of “etc.”
Examples:
From “Mezzotint for A” by Ben Lerner: “My better half had left me so I wrote her hemi- / stiches in the half-light of my halfway house, etc.”Jessica Fjeld’s On Animate Life: Its Profligacy, Organ Meats, Etc.

6) Verbing a noun or other nonverb
Examples:From “[when you touch down upon this earth.little reindeers”] by D.A. Powell: “little reindeers / hoofing murderously”

From Scape by Joshua Harmon: “perceiving only how vertigo / secretaries me into the office”

7) Ending a question with a period
Examples:From Farrah Field’s “Things Are Starting to Look Up Again”: “Is it possible / to completely cover someone’s body with semen.”

From C.D. Wright’s “Scratch Music”: “How many threads have I broken with my teeth.”

8) Ending a non-rhyming poem on a rhyme

Examples: “What He Thought” by Heather McHugh
And poetry—
(we’d all
put down our forks by now, to listen to
the man in gray; he went on
softly)—
poetry is what
he thought, but did not say.
9) The reversal of size, expectation, etc.
Example: “Ready-Made Bouquet” by Dean Young
The despair
of loving may lead to long plane rides with
little leg room, may lead to a penis full
of fish, a burning chicken, a room filled
with a single, pink rose. Funny, how
we think of it as a giant rose,
not a tiny room.

10) Description or declaration by way of posing a question and then answering it
Examples:From “Brazilian Groom: Dream No. 1” by Kathleen Rooney: “The window? Open. / The curtains? Flung wide.”

From “Panopticon” by Brenda Shaughnessy:

My bedroom window can be seen from the viewing deck
of the World Trade Center. I’ve seen it.
What I saw?
My roommate experimenting with my vibrator.


11) The “the new X” construction
Example: From “Snow” by David Berman: “Our voices hung close in the new acoustics.”

12) Comparing something to itself
Example: “At Peter Pan Mini Golf After the Wedding of Rebecca and Brian, Or Any Binary System” by Dan Boehl:
I could say this guy was like Spicoli,
or I could say this guy was like Sean Penn,
and both would be wrong because really
this guy is like a guy that works weekends
for the family mini-golf business.

13) Extreme (ironic) egotism
Examples:From “My Ravine” by Dan Chiasson: “How will you know what my poem is like / until you’ve gone down my ravine”

From “Vermont” by Dan Chiasson: “I was the west / once. I was paradise.”

From “Why I Am White” by Mathias Svalina: “I wasn’t going to tell you about my boats, / but now I want to tell you about my boats.”

14) Explicit references to poems, especially the poem in question
Example: From “The Vandals” by Alan Michael Parker: “In the poem about the vandals, the vandals / Back their Dodge 4 x 4 up to the door”

15) Mention of a forest animal
Example: From “Only So Much Fits in a Petri Dish” by Julia Cohen & Mathias Svalina:

When the tree climbs down its bark, I follow
seedlings buried in cake. I’ve hidden the sin in roofing,
de-veined by a plum falling from the child’s hand.

A wolf of her own.

16) Use of casual hedges like “sort of” and “kind of/kinda”
Example: From “Kasmir” by Jon Leon: “I’m sort of in a dunebuggy”

17) Humorous use of ecstatic “O”
Examples:From “On Old Ideas” by Dorothea Lasky: “O the lovely bankteller, like a moose he / Rode my spirit quite outside my clothes”

From “John Albertson in the Summer Sun” by Dorothea Lasky: “O John Albertson, you are so summery / In the summer sun.”

18) The very long title
Example: Many from Tao Lin’s You Are a Little Bit Happier Than I Am, e.g. “book reviewers always praise books as ‘life-affirming’ because the more humans there are on earth the better”

19) Poetic allusion as joke
Examples:

From “As If To Say” by Chris Nealon: “I seriously have a mind of winter”
From “Sheer Commerce” by Phillip Byron Oakes: “Grecian urn your / pay”

20) Surprise re-framing of an utterance

Examples:

From “Gone Before” by Dobby Gibson: “Sadness, though your beard may be fake, / your anonymity is quite real, / whispered the dying man to his nurse”

From “Running Away Jam” by Jason Bredle: “I wish I could take a microphone everywhere I go so everyone / would hear me / is how I began a letter to my parents”

21) Verbs as reasons for linebreaks

Examples:

From “Homecoming” by Dorianne Laux: “At the high school football game, the boys / stroke their new muscles”
From “Vehicle” by Heather Christle: “… Man / in the dining car, stop eavesdropping / on children talking about balloons.”

22) Fake proper names

Example: From “Governors on Sominex” by David Berman: “They’d closed down the Bureau of Sad Endings”

23) Moving the poem forward by associating one word with an unrelated word that sounds similar

Examples:

From “Social Life” by Alice George: “I’ve / got the wrong end of the stick or maybe // it’s the way I’m holding it, the way it’s sharp. / The shtick of the party, the excuse of it”

From “Hounds Begin to Howl” by Clay Matthews: “Like calling people meat. Meat, meat, meat. / It’s a might, might, might and I don’t know.”

24) An often campy obsession with science/sci-fi terminology

Example: From “Side Effects” by Dean Young: “… but his experiments / at the cyclotron don’t amount to much dark matter”

25) Self-aware naivete of tone and diction

Example: From “The Crowds Cheered As Gloom Galloped Away” by Matthea Harvey: “Everyone was happier. But where did the sadness go? People wanted to know. They didn’t want it collecting in their elbows or knees then popping up later.”

26) The act of identification as an opportunity for humor

Example: From “Poems About Trees” by K. Silem Mohammad: “the products he’s hawking have names on them like KABOOM”

27) The throwaway pun

Example: From “Play It Again, Salmonella” by Jeffrey McDaniel: “I’m a card-carrying member of a canceled party.”

28) “Scare” quotes

Example: From “Let’s Say” by Bob Perelman: “A page is being beaten / back across the face of ‘things.'”

29) Stacking up of ten-dollar words
Example: From “Within This Book, Called Marguerite” by Marjorie Welish: “As time separates us / from the evaporating architectonics to sweeten mythopoetic / substances, you start to count heroically, / hurled down upon a profile of an as yet / unrevealed know-how.”

30) Breaking a line so as to stack a repeated word on top of itself
Examples: From “November Elegy” by Mary Jo Bang:

November is more of the usual
November

From “She Remembers His Hat” by Mary Jo Bang:

And what you do–the syntax
Of inaction versus the syntax
Of deliberate action

From “Small on Sunday” by Jennifer Knox:

We woke up under an overpass on I-90
(at least the underside looked like I-90)

From “Autobiographia” by Karl Parker:

consider this more like drawing
a picture of someone drawing


31) Ending a poem with a question
Example: From “Evelyn’s Kitchen” by Shafer Hall (last stanza):

What roiling ritual is this?
What does this dance mean?
What are the shapes that I know?


32) Embedding a fragment of a quote
Example: From “Nothing Moving” by Hazel McClure:

“nothing but blue
skies” all gone, thick wool,
wintered rotten logs.

33) Including a brand name in a list
Example: From “Poems for Everyone” by Matt Shears: “Cocktails, little forgotten disasters, Lunesta®.”

34) Clipping or altering a cliche
Example: From “While You Were Watching Richard Harris” by Ben Mazer: “Simple patter, nothing to write home.”

35) Correcting a cliche
Example: From “Autobiographia” by Karl Parker: “life is scared. Dogs only rarely eat other dogs”

36) Definition or description by negation

Examples:

From “Situation in Yellow” by Stephanie Anderson: “She does not take paper / clips or protractors.”

From “This Is Not About Pears” by Matthew Hittinger: “whole sections left white, not blank, / but the white where light lifts form / into pears (even though this is not / about pears).”

From “Lessons in Stalking” by Michele Battiste: “Caveat: This is not a charted series of locations. This is not some coded spygame—pubescent, discarded, outgrown. This is not about getting close or being loved.”

37) Compound nonce words

Examples:

From “Autobiographia” by Karl Parker: “That was prettymuch the story of my life”

From “Grand Central Terminal” by Darcie Dennigan: “1913, the girlghost died here in a gas explosion”

38) Polysemy: Language deliberately meaning multiple things at once

Example: From Scape by Joshua Harmon: “to balance my bicycle and my checking account”

39) Parataxis: Pairing nebulously related things/utterances

Example: From “Sunset Debris” by Ron Silliman: “Can you smell rain? Will you use bleach? What is a fretless bass?”

40) Illogical causation

Example: From “Cryptozoology” by Sabrina Orah Mark: “Walter B. was so relieved he slept in his boots.”

41) Ending with an end (e.g., fade to black, death, credits, Fin“)

Example: From “Bleeding Hearts” by Harryette Mullen: “Where I live’s a wren shack. Pull back. / Show wreck. Black fade.”

Tags: , ,

229 Comments

  1. brian foley

      Our bag of tricks, exposed!

  2. brian foley

      Our bag of tricks, exposed!

  3. Noah

      I really like this. I am going to reread it now.

  4. Noah

      I really like this. I am going to reread it now.

  5. Sean

      Wow, this is badass! Going to settle in with it…

  6. Sean

      Wow, this is badass! Going to settle in with it…

  7. sasha fletcher

      2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 [i don’t mean it ironically sometimes only hyperbolically but i generally mean it in some sort of real and unironic way], 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 25, 26, 31, 34, 36, 38, 39

  8. sasha fletcher

      2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13 [i don’t mean it ironically sometimes only hyperbolically but i generally mean it in some sort of real and unironic way], 14, 15, 16, 18, 20, 25, 26, 31, 34, 36, 38, 39

  9. Paul

      This is great!

      Hopefully no one referenced in the examples snipe you out.

      “He knows our secrets! Now he must pay . . . ”

      hehe

  10. Paul

      This is great!

      Hopefully no one referenced in the examples snipe you out.

      “He knows our secrets! Now he must pay . . . ”

      hehe

  11. Clay Matthews

      This is nice work.

  12. Clay Matthews

      This is nice work.

  13. Nate

      Using the title as the first line, or having it lead into the poem is another fun move I like.
      Example by John Ashbery:

      “The Favor of a Reply

      is requested.” That’s where it began–

  14. Nate

      Using the title as the first line, or having it lead into the poem is another fun move I like.
      Example by John Ashbery:

      “The Favor of a Reply

      is requested.” That’s where it began–

  15. Daniel Romo

      Excellent post!

  16. Daniel Romo

      Excellent post!

  17. Blake Butler

      totally killer. i like that number 30 is also a tactic used in thug rap.

      i would add that when referring to food, it’s often dainty or scenty or lavish ornamental things more for sound that use, never just common things people actually eat, and almost always appears in lists.

  18. Blake Butler

      totally killer. i like that number 30 is also a tactic used in thug rap.

      i would add that when referring to food, it’s often dainty or scenty or lavish ornamental things more for sound that use, never just common things people actually eat, and almost always appears in lists.

  19. Mike Young

      ha, yes, this is a good one, i wrote a poem about this.

  20. Mike Young

      ha, yes, this is a good one, i wrote a poem about this.

  21. Mike Young

      good one!

  22. sasha fletcher

      i guess i do use 30, i just don’t use line breaks. i will have runs of sentences that begin with the same word or phrase.

  23. Mike Young

      good one!

  24. sasha fletcher

      i guess i do use 30, i just don’t use line breaks. i will have runs of sentences that begin with the same word or phrase.

  25. Amber

      I love this. So well done! Just finished The Anthologist and this is like a nice big piece of pie after the meal.

  26. Amber

      I love this. So well done! Just finished The Anthologist and this is like a nice big piece of pie after the meal.

  27. Amber

      Also, I like how many of these work for prose as well. For example, I use 23 all the time to move the story forward.

  28. Amber

      Also, I like how many of these work for prose as well. For example, I use 23 all the time to move the story forward.

  29. audri

      these are great
      i need to incorporate #24 more often
      maybe write a poem about the tardis

  30. audri

      these are great
      i need to incorporate #24 more often
      maybe write a poem about the tardis

  31. Matt Cozart

      That’s what parataxis is?

      Now I know.

      Thanks!

  32. Matt Cozart

      That’s what parataxis is?

      Now I know.

      Thanks!

  33. mimi

      This is really, really great.

  34. mimi

      This is really, really great.

  35. Kevin

      I found this very helpful. Thanks guys.

  36. Kevin

      I found this very helpful. Thanks guys.

  37. Kyle Minor

      God bless you, Elisa Gabbert

  38. Kyle Minor

      God bless you, Elisa Gabbert

  39. Christopher Higgs

      Wow! Awesome! Thanks Mike & Danika & Elisa. I will certainly use this in the classroom.

  40. Christopher Higgs

      Wow! Awesome! Thanks Mike & Danika & Elisa. I will certainly use this in the classroom.

  41. Mike Meginnis

      I like this as a huge, weird poem in itself.

  42. Mike Meginnis

      I like this as a huge, weird poem in itself.

  43. Elisa

      For sure. And mentioning booze in any capacity is an easy way to curry favor with rebellious youth.

  44. Elisa

      For sure. And mentioning booze in any capacity is an easy way to curry favor with rebellious youth.

  45. Josh

      Called out twice by Elisa Gabbert! I am getting her back in the next New England Review.

      #1, for me, always recalls a poem from Michael Davidson’s The Prose of Fact:

      “Tonight is closer than we thought (he meant to write ‘colder’ but moved closer to the heater instead)…”

  46. Josh

      Called out twice by Elisa Gabbert! I am getting her back in the next New England Review.

      #1, for me, always recalls a poem from Michael Davidson’s The Prose of Fact:

      “Tonight is closer than we thought (he meant to write ‘colder’ but moved closer to the heater instead)…”

  47. Mike Young

      Hahaha that’s a great line!

  48. Mike Young

      Hahaha that’s a great line!

  49. Stu

      Nonce words!

  50. Stu

      Nonce words!

  51. Sampson Starkweather

      E,

      you forgot the one that makes Matt Rass go crazy, the line by line deletion of a word to change the meaning each time move, usually ending a poem, which would be something like:

      never sell your self short
      never sell your self
      never sell your
      never sell
      never

      Also the over use of “face” is a big one i hear at brooklyn hipster readings all the time, especially used twice, like “face of your face” or something.

      i’m not sure if definition by a negative is the same as the use of the negative like in a declarative sentence stating something that didn’t happen: “No one yelled shit down a river”

      or the Tao Lin move, to follow a declarative sentence, especially a bold statement by, I think

      the James Tate repetition of he said, she said a million times move

      the place tons of first names without telling us who they are (even though we all know they are probably the poet’s quasi-famous poet friends) throughout your poems, i think Hogland has a whole book like that, What Narcissism Means to Me (or the lone initial in place of a name move, you know to create “mystery”) (or the use of one’s own name constantly, Ben Mirov pimps this move pretty sweetly)

      jack spicer references

      the random scientific fact dropped in (probably found in the back of Harpers Magazine, that’s where i get mine)

      the so and so-shaped cloud or other noun, with the so and so being something unexpected like Barack Obama or scrotum (actually “scrotum-shaped could” would be pretty good)

      lists in 3s, and the use of “all”, especially describing something with words you’d never normally use like “the sky went all cadmium, pith and permafrost”

      the same title for a bunch of poems (usually a series), like Julia has All My Friends In High School Are Dead for like 20 poems, which sounds pretty cool coming out of her voice one after the other

      although i’m not sure some of these are moves per say, like the blank of blank construction is just a metaphor, Lorca is the master of that particular construction, and ending a question with a period is just how you write a rhetorical question, that sort of thing…

      i fuckin’ love that dan boehl poem, is that in Work?

  52. Sampson Starkweather

      E,

      you forgot the one that makes Matt Rass go crazy, the line by line deletion of a word to change the meaning each time move, usually ending a poem, which would be something like:

      never sell your self short
      never sell your self
      never sell your
      never sell
      never

      Also the over use of “face” is a big one i hear at brooklyn hipster readings all the time, especially used twice, like “face of your face” or something.

      i’m not sure if definition by a negative is the same as the use of the negative like in a declarative sentence stating something that didn’t happen: “No one yelled shit down a river”

      or the Tao Lin move, to follow a declarative sentence, especially a bold statement by, I think

      the James Tate repetition of he said, she said a million times move

      the place tons of first names without telling us who they are (even though we all know they are probably the poet’s quasi-famous poet friends) throughout your poems, i think Hogland has a whole book like that, What Narcissism Means to Me (or the lone initial in place of a name move, you know to create “mystery”) (or the use of one’s own name constantly, Ben Mirov pimps this move pretty sweetly)

      jack spicer references

      the random scientific fact dropped in (probably found in the back of Harpers Magazine, that’s where i get mine)

      the so and so-shaped cloud or other noun, with the so and so being something unexpected like Barack Obama or scrotum (actually “scrotum-shaped could” would be pretty good)

      lists in 3s, and the use of “all”, especially describing something with words you’d never normally use like “the sky went all cadmium, pith and permafrost”

      the same title for a bunch of poems (usually a series), like Julia has All My Friends In High School Are Dead for like 20 poems, which sounds pretty cool coming out of her voice one after the other

      although i’m not sure some of these are moves per say, like the blank of blank construction is just a metaphor, Lorca is the master of that particular construction, and ending a question with a period is just how you write a rhetorical question, that sort of thing…

      i fuckin’ love that dan boehl poem, is that in Work?

  53. Mike Young

      i am guilty of the “face” and “name” thing

      that would be a good title

      I AM GUILTY OF THE FACE AND NAME THING

  54. Mike Young

      i am guilty of the “face” and “name” thing

      that would be a good title

      I AM GUILTY OF THE FACE AND NAME THING

  55. alan

      Let me be the twentieth-or-so person to say: great post.

  56. alan

      Let me be the twentieth-or-so person to say: great post.

  57. alan

      So what if anything can we gather from this compilation?

      Is it a handy toolbag for the working poet? A list of cliches to be avoided?

  58. alan

      So what if anything can we gather from this compilation?

      Is it a handy toolbag for the working poet? A list of cliches to be avoided?

  59. Roxane Gay

      This is exceptional work. Fiction writers use some of these movies too. I’m going to reread this now.

  60. Roxane Gay

      This is exceptional work. Fiction writers use some of these movies too. I’m going to reread this now.

  61. Lily Hoang

      awesome post. parataxis is an amazing word & trick!

  62. Lily Hoang

      awesome post. parataxis is an amazing word & trick!

  63. Stacie Williams

      Brilliant! Bookmarked, printed, shared. Thanks.

  64. Stacie Williams

      Brilliant! Bookmarked, printed, shared. Thanks.

  65. Elisa

      Ha ha, Chris Tonelli HATES the “it was all blah and blah” move.

      The DB poem is from Work, yes.

      Blank of Blank isn’t necessarily a metaphor, like if you take the phrase “light bulb” and make it “bulb of light” that’s not necessarily a metaphor, you just changed the syntax and made it sound poemy and aggrandized.

      Anyway great additions! Steve Schroeder added a bunch more here:

      http://thefrenchexit.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-poetry-moves.html

  66. Elisa

      Ha ha, Chris Tonelli HATES the “it was all blah and blah” move.

      The DB poem is from Work, yes.

      Blank of Blank isn’t necessarily a metaphor, like if you take the phrase “light bulb” and make it “bulb of light” that’s not necessarily a metaphor, you just changed the syntax and made it sound poemy and aggrandized.

      Anyway great additions! Steve Schroeder added a bunch more here:

      http://thefrenchexit.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-poetry-moves.html

  67. Elisa

      I’d say moves are to be used wisely and deliberately. Don’t let them become tics. And try to cultivate some signature moves — don’t just gimp Tao Lin’s, for example.

  68. Elisa

      I’d say moves are to be used wisely and deliberately. Don’t let them become tics. And try to cultivate some signature moves — don’t just gimp Tao Lin’s, for example.

  69. Matt Cozart

      i would say it’s pretty much a largely unavoidable toolbag. incidentally, cliches aren’t the worst thing in the world. except when they are. but not when they aren’t.

  70. Matt Cozart

      i would say it’s pretty much a largely unavoidable toolbag. incidentally, cliches aren’t the worst thing in the world. except when they are. but not when they aren’t.

  71. claybanes

      Thanks for making me happy the rest of the week. We thank. [The weary we]

  72. claybanes

      Thanks for making me happy the rest of the week. We thank. [The weary we]

  73. Matt Cozart

      my favorite blank of blank is “swan of bees”, from a poem written by one of kenneth koch’s grade school students in “wishes, lies, and dreams: teaching children to write poetry”. the kid meant to write “swarm of bees”. there’s a whole chapter of poems made of this type of line:

      http://tinyurl.com/yzyxud7

  74. Matt Cozart

      my favorite blank of blank is “swan of bees”, from a poem written by one of kenneth koch’s grade school students in “wishes, lies, and dreams: teaching children to write poetry”. the kid meant to write “swarm of bees”. there’s a whole chapter of poems made of this type of line:

      http://tinyurl.com/yzyxud7

  75. Elisa

      OMG. “I would like to have a boat of kittens.” I really would.

  76. Elisa

      OMG. “I would like to have a boat of kittens.” I really would.

  77. mimi

      Sweet.
      I like “A letter made of words.”
      Because a letter is made of words, and a word is made of letters.

  78. mimi

      Sweet.
      I like “A letter made of words.”
      Because a letter is made of words, and a word is made of letters.

  79. LEE

      I love this so much.

      Maybe it’s a subset of the “blank of blank” construction, but what about the “science word of abstraction” phenomenon? The calculus of love, the archaeology of my grief, quantum of solace, etc. etc. etc.

  80. LEE

      I love this so much.

      Maybe it’s a subset of the “blank of blank” construction, but what about the “science word of abstraction” phenomenon? The calculus of love, the archaeology of my grief, quantum of solace, etc. etc. etc.

  81. Elisa

      Oh, totally! It’s a subset. Calculus of love. Ha.

  82. Elisa

      Oh, totally! It’s a subset. Calculus of love. Ha.

  83. Mink

      Yeah, I’m trying to figure a way to bring this to my thesis class in two weeks without seeming douchey

  84. Mink

      Yeah, I’m trying to figure a way to bring this to my thesis class in two weeks without seeming douchey

  85. Chris Tonelli

      dude, me and sarah bartlett have a whole chapbook called MULE-SHAPED CLOUD! now i feel like douche-shaped cloud. thanks a lot SAM!

  86. Chris Tonelli

      dude, me and sarah bartlett have a whole chapbook called MULE-SHAPED CLOUD! now i feel like douche-shaped cloud. thanks a lot SAM!

  87. Amy McDaniel

      This is a great poem with so much of #32. It is so sad. It makes me feel ashamed, but I do feel challenged to come up with new moves. So thanks. One annoying quibble…isn’t #38 an example of zeugma, not periphrasis, in that no single word has a double meaning, but that “balance” applies to the two words in different senses?

  88. Amy McDaniel

      This is a great poem with so much of #32. It is so sad. It makes me feel ashamed, but I do feel challenged to come up with new moves. So thanks. One annoying quibble…isn’t #38 an example of zeugma, not periphrasis, in that no single word has a double meaning, but that “balance” applies to the two words in different senses?

  89. alan

      I’m sure that’s good advice.

      Actually, one of the things I liked about this post was its neutral presentation, but at the same time I felt the need to interrogate that.

      I also liked the move of calling figures “moves.”

  90. alan

      I’m sure that’s good advice.

      Actually, one of the things I liked about this post was its neutral presentation, but at the same time I felt the need to interrogate that.

      I also liked the move of calling figures “moves.”

  91. Elisa

      I didn’t think that was the best example, actually. Probably the title of Josh Harmon’s book, SCAPE, is itself a better example of polysemy.

  92. Elisa

      I didn’t think that was the best example, actually. Probably the title of Josh Harmon’s book, SCAPE, is itself a better example of polysemy.

  93. mike young

      yeah, polysemy the way i understand it is hard to define in the way we were doing the list.. i just glanced at a txt file called “good poetry” and found clay matthews’s “instructions to my old, dead friend” which has this couplet:

      “This is what we leave behind when we wear / straw hats.”

      and this isn’t the best example, but the line break there enables me to read “wear” as meaning “clothing wear” and “wear down” at the same time, and that’s the idea i think of when i think of polysemy

  94. mike young

      yeah, polysemy the way i understand it is hard to define in the way we were doing the list.. i just glanced at a txt file called “good poetry” and found clay matthews’s “instructions to my old, dead friend” which has this couplet:

      “This is what we leave behind when we wear / straw hats.”

      and this isn’t the best example, but the line break there enables me to read “wear” as meaning “clothing wear” and “wear down” at the same time, and that’s the idea i think of when i think of polysemy

  95. mike young

      yep, that’s the million dollar question, alan, and definitely something we consciously avoided taking a stance on.

      i’d say elisa’s advice is sound, and i’d also say that form is untranscendable, and one of the presentational flaws of contemporary poetry in the modes referenced by this list—

      and, let’s be honest, the modes referenced do not comprise the entirety of the contemporary poetic genre but sit instead in some pretty specific bowling alleys

      —is the oft-mystical attitude toward process, borne no doubt a little bit out of the gaggery of “self-expression” as a viable “creative writing” notion and a little bit out of misunderstanding how nerves actually work while agreeing with o’hara’s “just go on your nerve”

      note, those last two points are my opinions and not necessarily elisa’s, and are also kind of random etc.

      aka free verse is never free, rinse and repeat, etc. not a new notion, but always fun to hack at

  96. mike young

      yep, that’s the million dollar question, alan, and definitely something we consciously avoided taking a stance on.

      i’d say elisa’s advice is sound, and i’d also say that form is untranscendable, and one of the presentational flaws of contemporary poetry in the modes referenced by this list—

      and, let’s be honest, the modes referenced do not comprise the entirety of the contemporary poetic genre but sit instead in some pretty specific bowling alleys

      —is the oft-mystical attitude toward process, borne no doubt a little bit out of the gaggery of “self-expression” as a viable “creative writing” notion and a little bit out of misunderstanding how nerves actually work while agreeing with o’hara’s “just go on your nerve”

      note, those last two points are my opinions and not necessarily elisa’s, and are also kind of random etc.

      aka free verse is never free, rinse and repeat, etc. not a new notion, but always fun to hack at

  97. Eric Anderson

      One of my favorite examples of #11 is Heather Christle’s Gloria Evaluates the New Desert: “The new desert magnetizes blood / The new desert bangs me like a man.”

  98. Eric Anderson

      One of my favorite examples of #11 is Heather Christle’s Gloria Evaluates the New Desert: “The new desert magnetizes blood / The new desert bangs me like a man.”

  99. ce.

      haha. Tonelli would hate me. i love the “all blah, blah” move.

      boat of kittens = my dad would hate.

  100. ce.

      haha. Tonelli would hate me. i love the “all blah, blah” move.

      boat of kittens = my dad would hate.

  101. ce.

      strangely enough, “largely unavoidable toolbag” was my nickname in college.

  102. ce.

      strangely enough, “largely unavoidable toolbag” was my nickname in college.

  103. ce.

      Due to busy-ness, I’ve had to click, “Mark as Unread” in my Reader for the past few days, hoping to have some real down time to read this for real. I’m glad I did. Great list.

  104. ce.

      Due to busy-ness, I’ve had to click, “Mark as Unread” in my Reader for the past few days, hoping to have some real down time to read this for real. I’m glad I did. Great list.

  105. Oooh, new poem in the works « Inky
  106. Ana Bozicevic
  107. Ana Bozicevic
  108. Kat

      Too too funny.

  109. Kat

      Too too funny.

  110. Jennifer

      This is faboo.

  111. Jennifer

      This is faboo.

  112. Trey

      In fact, much of the rest of that poem by Young references Magritte paintings, and I think maybe he opens the poem mentioning visiting a Magritte exhibit.

  113. Trey

      In fact, much of the rest of that poem by Young references Magritte paintings, and I think maybe he opens the poem mentioning visiting a Magritte exhibit.

  114. Slush Readers of the World: Forgive Me » Fringe Magazine

      […] soul-crushing but less snarky listing of the “moves” in contemporary poetry over at <HTMLGIANT>. This list comes complete with examples from contemporary poetry and points out the banality of […]

  115. David Grove

      Great fun. Countless other examples of these moves flooded my mind. “And the rat? The rat is radiant” (William Matthews). “attic of heaven” (Charles Wright). “The New Chinese Fiction” (James Tate). “Who gives a shit about pansies freak’d with jet” (Michael Ryan). So many others. Thanks.

  116. David Grove

      Great fun. Countless other examples of these moves flooded my mind. “And the rat? The rat is radiant” (William Matthews). “attic of heaven” (Charles Wright). “The New Chinese Fiction” (James Tate). “Who gives a shit about pansies freak’d with jet” (Michael Ryan). So many others. Thanks.

  117. Joel Lewis

      Well, at least t he “dead animal” move –so popular in 60s & 70s MFA-style poetry — this is the grandady of the genre , lampooned by Ra Armatrout directly & indirectly by the LP group in their writings:

      Traveling Through The Dark

      Traveling through the dark I found a deer
      dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
      It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
      that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.

      By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
      and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
      she had stiffened already, almost cold.
      I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.

      My fingers touching her side brought me the reason–
      her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
      alive, still, never to be born.
      Beside that mountain road I hesitated.

      The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
      under the hood purred the steady engine.
      I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
      around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.

      I thought hard for us all–my only swerving–,
      then pushed her over the edge into the river.

      William Stafford

  118. Joel Lewis

      Well, at least t he “dead animal” move –so popular in 60s & 70s MFA-style poetry — this is the grandady of the genre , lampooned by Ra Armatrout directly & indirectly by the LP group in their writings:

      Traveling Through The Dark

      Traveling through the dark I found a deer
      dead on the edge of the Wilson River road.
      It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
      that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.

      By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
      and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
      she had stiffened already, almost cold.
      I dragged her off; she was large in the belly.

      My fingers touching her side brought me the reason–
      her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting,
      alive, still, never to be born.
      Beside that mountain road I hesitated.

      The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
      under the hood purred the steady engine.
      I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
      around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.

      I thought hard for us all–my only swerving–,
      then pushed her over the edge into the river.

      William Stafford

  119. Michael Theune

      Terrific! Hilarious and revealing–

  120. Michael Theune

      Terrific! Hilarious and revealing–

  121. Katie

      There do need to be more Tardis poems in the world…

  122. Katie

      There do need to be more Tardis poems in the world…

  123. Angelo

      This was funny, interesting and revealing, but it was also mortifying and kind of gross. Poets really aren’t any more than a bag of tricks? :(

  124. Angelo

      This was funny, interesting and revealing, but it was also mortifying and kind of gross. Poets really aren’t any more than a bag of tricks? :(

  125. graywyvern

      Robot X., eat your heart out.

      I have, of course, hundreds more of these, available to any reader who sends me a crisp bill & a self-addressed envelope.

      Or you could just steal them from my log–like the REAL PROS!!!

      m.

  126. graywyvern

      Robot X., eat your heart out.

      I have, of course, hundreds more of these, available to any reader who sends me a crisp bill & a self-addressed envelope.

      Or you could just steal them from my log–like the REAL PROS!!!

      m.

  127. lnorton

      …also related to description by negative, Gizzi’s anti-simile: “Snow unlike glass, glass unlike a corpse/Moon unlike a torso boldly colored in” (“Caption,” from Artificial Heart)

      for an excellent apotheosis of #28, Aaron Kunin at Realpolitik: http://www.realpoetik.org/2009/12/aaron-kunin.html

  128. lnorton

      …also related to description by negative, Gizzi’s anti-simile: “Snow unlike glass, glass unlike a corpse/Moon unlike a torso boldly colored in” (“Caption,” from Artificial Heart)

      for an excellent apotheosis of #28, Aaron Kunin at Realpolitik: http://www.realpoetik.org/2009/12/aaron-kunin.html

  129. Robert Andrew
  130. Robert Andrew
  131. Kate

      “Our next reader has a novella and a chapbook coming out, both with titles longer than most theses.”

  132. Kate

      “Our next reader has a novella and a chapbook coming out, both with titles longer than most theses.”

  133. Mitch

      A lot of these aren’t contemporary at all. And aren’t most of them just cliches? Overall though, good observations. I would add: whole poems built around the construct of praise this or that; sestinas with sestina as one of the repeating words; and the melodramatic use of “this world” (as opposed to which other world?).

  134. Mitch

      A lot of these aren’t contemporary at all. And aren’t most of them just cliches? Overall though, good observations. I would add: whole poems built around the construct of praise this or that; sestinas with sestina as one of the repeating words; and the melodramatic use of “this world” (as opposed to which other world?).

  135. Cheryl

      This is great. Laughing at myself first thing this morning.

  136. Cheryl

      This is great. Laughing at myself first thing this morning.

  137. CB

      Now what am I supposed to do, you fucking jagoff.Thanks a lot.

  138. CB

      Now what am I supposed to do, you fucking jagoff.Thanks a lot.

  139. Justin Evans

      but those damn rednecks working in the courthouse they learn one fucking word longer than Deuteronomy and they keep on using it every chance they get

      —-Frank Stanford, The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I love You

  140. Justin Evans

      but those damn rednecks working in the courthouse they learn one fucking word longer than Deuteronomy and they keep on using it every chance they get

      —-Frank Stanford, The Battlefield Where the Moon Says I love You

  141. Susan

      Terrific, fun list.

  142. Susan

      Terrific, fun list.

  143. jon

      that’s one of my favorite poems. and the whole poem is magrittes, and the title “Ready-Made Bouquet” is a Magritte. Awesome poem.

  144. jon

      that’s one of my favorite poems. and the whole poem is magrittes, and the title “Ready-Made Bouquet” is a Magritte. Awesome poem.

  145. jon

      It’s important to call attention to current tools. that’s how we make new ones.

  146. jon

      It’s important to call attention to current tools. that’s how we make new ones.

  147. Gabrielle Bryden

      This is an excellent list – quite an effort I can imagine. By the way in reference to previous comments I have a tardis poem, well a tardis reference in my ‘Cartoon Life’ (on my blog) and more would be good – ha,ha.

  148. Gabrielle Bryden

      This is an excellent list – quite an effort I can imagine. By the way in reference to previous comments I have a tardis poem, well a tardis reference in my ‘Cartoon Life’ (on my blog) and more would be good – ha,ha.

  149. Ross Brighton

      all the poems in Catherine Meng’s TONIGHTS THE NIGHT are called TONIGHTS THE NIGHT

  150. Ross Brighton

      all the poems in Catherine Meng’s TONIGHTS THE NIGHT are called TONIGHTS THE NIGHT

  151. Hila Ratzabi

      Here is one trend that drives me CRAZY – the use of the word “specific,” “exact,” “particular,” before a noun. This is all over the place in contemporary poetry and it is a direct result of our well-intentioned MFA professors encouraging us to “be specific.” However, using the word “specific” (or any synonym thereof) doesn’t count as actually being specific. Some of our most beloved poets do it, and I find that it rarely does the work the poet intended it to…. There are countless examples of this…. I’ve been hoping to find a place to express that little rant, and finally, here is that place! Thanks, guys!

  152. Hila Ratzabi

      Here is one trend that drives me CRAZY – the use of the word “specific,” “exact,” “particular,” before a noun. This is all over the place in contemporary poetry and it is a direct result of our well-intentioned MFA professors encouraging us to “be specific.” However, using the word “specific” (or any synonym thereof) doesn’t count as actually being specific. Some of our most beloved poets do it, and I find that it rarely does the work the poet intended it to…. There are countless examples of this…. I’ve been hoping to find a place to express that little rant, and finally, here is that place! Thanks, guys!

  153. Lincoln

      That’s the exact problem I was gonna talk about! It is a specific trend coming from particular MFAs, I think.

  154. Lincoln

      That’s the exact problem I was gonna talk about! It is a specific trend coming from particular MFAs, I think.

  155. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Specifically, those exact MFAs concerned with the particular.

  156. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Specifically, those particular MFAs concerned with the exact.

  157. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Specifically, those exact MFAs concerned with the particular.

  158. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Specifically, those particular MFAs concerned with the exact.

  159. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Those MFAs specifically exacting the particular?

  160. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Those MFAs specifically exacting the particular?

  161. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Exactly! The specific particulars escape me.

  162. ZZIIPPPPPP

      Exactly! The specific particulars escape me.

  163. Lincoln

      That is a particularly exacting specific, zziippppp

  164. Lincoln

      That is a particularly exacting specific, zziippppp

  165. Poetry 101 « altering labyrinth

      […] 1) u gotta know tha moves, […]

  166. Stephen Lloyd Webber

      Great post. Super great.

  167. Stephen Lloyd Webber

      Great post. Super great.

  168. corky

      Parataxis is just the repetition of declarative sentences in a parallel series. So, not what’s defined here.

  169. corky

      Parataxis is just the repetition of declarative sentences in a parallel series. So, not what’s defined here.

  170. mike young

      That is one grammatical definition. It’s been co-opted to mean many things, including the definition above. Strictly, all the Greek means is “the act of placing side by side.” In talking about poetry, it’s often used to mean a disjunctive side-by-side pairing of images/phrases/utterances. Often for the purpose of making the reader’s brain do the gymnastics of connecting these things which suggest syntactical connection and “dissuggest” cognitive connection.

  171. mike young

      That is one grammatical definition. It’s been co-opted to mean many things, including the definition above. Strictly, all the Greek means is “the act of placing side by side.” In talking about poetry, it’s often used to mean a disjunctive side-by-side pairing of images/phrases/utterances. Often for the purpose of making the reader’s brain do the gymnastics of connecting these things which suggest syntactical connection and “dissuggest” cognitive connection.

  172. Real Fake Flowers | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature Review

      […] first poem in Karl Parker’s debut collection, Personationskin—three times on a list of 41 “moves” in contemporary poetry (commonly encountered techniques or maneuvers). It was the only poem of his I had read so far, or I […]

  173. Mike Young
  174. Mike Young
  175. jean luc picard

      don’t you think it’s all a bit like naming our gods. who cares. if you know how the contemporary fools who think themselves better than doctors or rousseau or jean luc picard get by publishing good, not great, work, then you’ll do well for yourself; you certainly don’t need this list. in fact, we all already know. let’s get back to it, shall we.

      on the other hand, i really do like this rather abbreviated little compendium, and i’m glad someone’s compiling it and, more importantly, working on it outside the mind. nice site, as well.

      bravo and may god damn every last one of you.

  176. jean luc picard

      don’t you think it’s all a bit like naming our gods. who cares. if you know how the contemporary fools who think themselves better than doctors or rousseau or jean luc picard get by publishing good, not great, work, then you’ll do well for yourself; you certainly don’t need this list. in fact, we all already know. let’s get back to it, shall we.

      on the other hand, i really do like this rather abbreviated little compendium, and i’m glad someone’s compiling it and, more importantly, working on it outside the mind. nice site, as well.

      bravo and may god damn every last one of you.

  177. asta mouf

      dear ms. ratzabi,

      there are more poets in this country than any other, with more mfa programs than any other. let the idiots who can’t figure out whether a word intended to connote specificity does or doesn’t actually connote specificity wallow in the tormented, uneducated, fecal-laden prison they’ve prepared for themselves–may they gallop into the gazelle herd of the mfa for fear of the lion like the useless mammalian pack animals they are.

  178. asta mouf

      dear ms. ratzabi,

      there are more poets in this country than any other, with more mfa programs than any other. let the idiots who can’t figure out whether a word intended to connote specificity does or doesn’t actually connote specificity wallow in the tormented, uneducated, fecal-laden prison they’ve prepared for themselves–may they gallop into the gazelle herd of the mfa for fear of the lion like the useless mammalian pack animals they are.

  179. jean luc picard

      don’t you think it’s all a bit like naming our gods. who cares. if you know how the contemporary fools who think themselves better than doctors or rousseau or jean luc picard get by publishing good, not great, work, then you’ll do well for yourself; you certainly don’t need this list. in fact, we all already know. let’s get back to it, shall we.

      on the other hand, i really do like this rather abbreviated little compendium, and i’m glad someone’s compiling it and, more importantly, working on it outside the mind. nice site, as well.

      bravo and may god manhandle every last one of you.

  180. jean luc picard

      don’t you think it’s all a bit like naming our gods. who cares. if you know how the contemporary fools who think themselves better than doctors or rousseau or jean luc picard get by publishing good, not great, work, then you’ll do well for yourself; you certainly don’t need this list. in fact, we all already know. let’s get back to it, shall we.

      on the other hand, i really do like this rather abbreviated little compendium, and i’m glad someone’s compiling it and, more importantly, working on it outside the mind. nice site, as well.

      bravo and may god manhandle every last one of you.

  181. Thomas Brady
  182. Matt Cozart

      oh god. not you.

      once again you miss the point completely. please go away.

  183. Matt Cozart

      oh god. not you.

      once again you miss the point completely. please go away.

  184. Trey

      ZAM!

  185. Trey

      ZAM!

  186. Mike Young

      Can’t say I agree with you. I like poetry. I like contemporary poetry. Duh these “moves” are not new. Most moves aren’t. That’s why we chose the word moves. Have some good faith.

  187. Mike Young

      Can’t say I agree with you. I like poetry. I like contemporary poetry. Duh these “moves” are not new. Most moves aren’t. That’s why we chose the word moves. Have some good faith.

  188. ‘Is it possible / to completely cover someone’s body with semen.’ « A Normal Blog

      […] In the meantime, go complete all 41 moves of contemporary poetry. […]

  189. FREEDOM! « Mikigfreetheword's Blog

      […] Here is an interesting blog on techniques in contemporary poetry by some poets with a few more tricks up their sleeves. Leave a Comment […]

  190. HTMLGIANT / Your Own. Personal. Cliché.

      […] personal cliché is evidently closely related to the concept of moves but I emphatically do not think moves are equivalent to clichés. A move may be used only once or […]

  191. poem for day #17 (or i should just say “poem #17″) « may i have a word with you?

      […] NaPoWriMo — by evie9 @ 6:37 pm Tags: poem-a-day poem in which i use at least 13 of the 41 “moves in contemporary poetry” identified by elisa gabbert and mike young, in no particular […]

  192. ‘Is it possible / to completely cover someone’s body with semen.’ | One Other

      […] In the meantime, go complete all the 41 moves in contemporary poetry. […]

  193. Jonn

      The functional shift is not new. It’s been a part of the English language’s versatility since Christopher Marlow.

  194. Jonn

      The functional shift is not new. It’s been a part of the English language’s versatility since Christopher Marlow.

  195. James Ducat

      Hey, I know you!

  196. Andrew M Gorin

      OKOK.

      this is pretty interesting, tho bound to make a poet feel truly petty when making one of these “moves.” Then again, assuming that some of these techniques and the people who use them bear some kind of organic relation to the world in which they are produced, authenticity (in damaged the way it is possible now) may still be available to those of us not entirely full of shit. Maybe it would be even more interesting to think about these relationships?

  197. pams planet

      I love this! It is very interesting and bits and pieces of the most tantalizing poems. Good for me to learn so much more about the poetry!

  198. Anonymous

      You do not need to be embarrassed about using any of these techniques, if you use them to good effect. And you might even feel a bit of pride, if you concocted them on your own, without knowingly cribbing from a model. 

  199. Barrelhouse Online Workshops | HTMLGIANT

      […] one now. Don’t nobody know no poetry like Mike, neither — so if you want more than THIS AMAZING LIST of “moves in contemporary poetry”, you should consider giving his online class a look. The 8-week sessions starts on October […]

  200. postitbreakup

      saw this linked today in adam robinson’s post. this is phenomenal and i wish i’d had it when i was doing my poetry workshop. wow.

  201. zeugma

      protip: that instance os polysemy (#38) is a zeugma (my favorite figure of speech)

  202. She's my everything went wrong | Bark: A Blog of Literature, Culture, and Art

      […] this wait, what? reframing of an utterance is a common move in contemporary poetry. From Mike Young’s research on poet moves: from “Running Away Jam” by Jason Bredle, “I […]

  203. Matthew Hittinger

      […] came across this fun article at HTMLGIANT cataloging the moves we contemporary poets like to make in our work.  “This Is […]

  204. Anonymous

      Calculust: The Limits of Love.

  205. The best HTMLGIANT posts as chosen by you the readers of HTMLGIANT or at least some of you | HTMLGIANT

      […] Mike Young: Moves in Contemporary Poetry […]

  206. Anonymous

      @jean luc picard: It’s good to see you with us, captain. I will go where you lead! This is a nice collection, so thanks to Mike Young the collector – but yea, these “moves” but do elicit from me a sigh. Let’s call it: How university-sponsored poets write without matter or inspiration! Sending urgent open message on all subspace frequencies – please respond, any Federation vessel…

  207. Anonymous

      @jean luc picard: I will go where you lead, captain! This is a rather nice collection, so thanks to Mike Young the collector. But yea, these “moves” do but elicit from me a sigh. Let’s call it “How University-Sponsored Poets Write Without Matter, Talent, or Inspiration.” Sending urgent open communication on all subspace frequencies. Please respond, any Federation vessel…

  208. Mike Young

      thanks should also go to Elisa Gabbert, my co-curator here!

      i like star trek TNG too, aintrent, but i think you’re completely bogus in your snide interpretation of the list

      this talk has been talked to death, so i’ll just point you back out to the googlewebs for discussion about this list, but i’d like to also specifically mention Elisa’s longer essay treatment in the wonderful book The Monkey & The Wrench

      and here’s what i wrote 2 years ago on some of what i took to be the most bewildering/petty/insecure takes on the list’s intentions/ideologies: http://mikeayoung.blogspot.com/2010/02/awesome-is-color-of-my-true-loves-eyes.html

      i mean i guess i could’ve responded to any of the snider comments in this comment stream of this post over the years, but here two years later your comment takes another crack at a pretty cliched critique, so why not update the “shield system” or whatever it is worf always worfed about, right?

  209. Three from HTMLGIANT « Editions Of You

      […] “Moves in Contemporary Poetry” by Mike Young (and Elisa Gabbert) […]

  210. Viktor Shklovsky wants to make you a better writer, part 1: device & defamiliarization | HTMLGIANT

      […] dogma. (“Show, don’t tell.”) They routinely get assembled in conventional ways—familiar patterns. How, then, can a thing as solidly formulaic as an artwork ever produce something other than […]

  211. Norman

      Mike & Elisa: Thanks for this list. It’s great.

      As others have noted, #38 is an example of zeugma, one of the many “moves” employed in rhetoric handed down from the ancient Greeks. Actually it’s syllepsis, a type of zeugma. (I know this because I am trying to teach myself rhetoric, for the purpose appreciating poetry, contemporary as well as old-school!) e.g. “I play guitar, you piano” is zeugma, while “I play guitar, you hard to get” is syllepsis.

      I think of this list as just a modern update to the classic rhetorical devices. It would be great if this thread could be left open and added to over time.

      I don’t understand why anyone (especially poets) would be defensive or self-conscious about a list like this. Is it something like a magician not wanting his/her tricks explained in case the magic wears off? I don’t see it like that at all.

      I like all kinds of poetry (I am only a reader not a writer) including metrical/rhyming received forms as well as language poetry, pomo, conceptual poetry etc. I have started to employ as part of my own close reading of poems excisions of some particular linguistic features e.g. all the concrete nouns, all the abstract nouns, all the verbs, oulipo N+7 and other deformations, all the “blank of blanks” (this before I came across #4 on this list!) etc.

      RE #6, verbing a noun etc. This could be just the tip of the iceberg, innovative transformations between different parts of speech. Just one small example, probably used in poetry for centuries: the use of an inchoative verb in a causative sense. e.g. “sunshine blooms the flowers” rather than “sunshine causes the flowers to bloom”. Why is the former more poetic? Dunno, but it just is.

      Regards,
      Norman

  212. The So-What Factor: 4 Questions to Ask for Stickier Content | Search Engine Journal

      […] example: I once collaborated with a friend to create a big list of “moves” in contemporary poetry, and people tell me all the time that it’s a list they return to for personal reference and to […]

  213. The So-What Factor: 4 Questions to Ask for Stickier Content | jhWebWorks | Columbus Ohio Web Design, Development, SEO, Social Media

      […] example: I once collaborated with a friend to create a big list of “moves” in contemporary poetry, and people tell me all the time that it’s a list they return to for personal reference and to […]

  214. The So-What Factor: 4 Questions to Ask for Stickier Content | Daily Serps

      […] collaborated with a friend to create a big list of “moves” in contemporary poetry, and people tell me all the time that […]

  215. The Fictionaut Blog

      […] at this website which dedicates one story or poem per year from 1400-2012. Also I find working with these moves  interesting. I tend to write more fiction than poetry and I don’t find prompts helpful for […]

  216. Cultural Narratives Should Come With Warning Labels « katijanesdaedaldiction

      […] meanings?” “Is the poem self-identifying as a text, with attention drawn to textual moves?” “Is the poem referencing popcultural memes?” “Is the poem resisting […]

  217. Monday morning | F R E Q U E N C Y

      […] exposed revision, the “blank of blank” construction–these are among the 41 “popular moves in contemporary poetry” cataloged by Elisa […]

  218. NaPoWriMo, Week 3: Five Secret Weapons in Writing Poetry | Predator Song, Show Some Surface

      […] I begin, I want to link to another resource: HTML Giant’s list of Moves in Contemporary Poetry. Study this list. Be able to recognize these moves. Resist them or employ them at your […]

  219. David Wright

      Have not yet made it through all the comments, so someone may have mentioned the “adjective noun of abstraction” that I find so common in poems from the last 40 years. In the latest Poetry, “The black coat of respectability” from Adam Kirsch or, in an earlier issue the “trembling columns / of apprehension” in Fiona Sampson. I make this move all the time.

  220. Dear Peasant Shoes Looked at by van Gogh and Thought About by Heidegger | fixities

      […] this poem uses all the contemporary poetry “moves” cataloged by HTMLGiant […]

  221. cataloging 41 popular moves in contemporary poetry | Tribrach

      […] our stab at cataloging 41 popular moves in ‘contemporary poetry….” -Mike Young, Moves in Contemporary Poetry, January 12, 2010, […]

  222. Coldfront » origin of

      […] surprising. Many of the poems in this collection make conventional or formulaic choices, what poet Elisa Gabbert and others have called “poetic moves” or “ponemes,” recognizable constructions that […]

  223. Corollary to Rule Number Three | New Strategies for Invisibility

      […] all, as Elisa Gabbert has demonstrated, even contemporary open-form poetry has its own set of stock jumps.)  Leonard’s art, by contrast, is subtractive, paring away received techniques and—as we saw […]

  224. HTMLGIANT | Whoever Brought Me Here Will Have To Take Me Home

      […] Butler. Shit I Don’t Like About Writers and Writing. Mike Young and Elissa Gabbert. Moves in Contemporary Poetry. Anything by Jimmy Chen. I can’t […]

  225. Poetry Week | Meg McKinlay

      […] Elisa Gabbert and Mike Young have a funny, and somewhat confronting, article about this entitled “41 Moves in Contemporary Poetics”. Thanks to Andrew Burke for the […]

  226. Half a Face, Collage | Real Pants

      […] as simple as it is to scoff at, this “move in contemporary collage” (hat tip Elissa Gabbert/Mike Young), at some point you have to wonder, what the heck? Why’s the move so […]

  227. 50 Moves You Can Use in Your Fiction - Electric Literature

      […] list of moves (which I cowrote with the poet Mike Young) has an enduring popularity. Almost every time I go to […]

  228. Link Loves: Volume XXIII – little miss maudlin

      […] Things, or moves, to add to your fiction, or your poetry. […]

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