Steve Kowit on Writing the Poem as Revelation: Esalen Writer's Retreat with the Sun Magazine

Steve Kowit, winner of two Pushcart Prizes, is a proponent of saying what you mean in a poem. “People often withhold the narrative or aren’t explicit enough for the reader to fully understand the story,” he told our intimate and eager group of writers at the Sun magazine’s Esalen retreat two weeks ago.

According to Kowit’s book, In the Palm of Your Hand: The Poet’s Portable Workshop, “poetry is to a large extent about the music of the language.” Poems use craft elements like figurative language and sound repetition to convey a particular experience and evoke emotion in the most economical way—one that is also pleasing to the ear. But the tendency for beginning poets is to employ clichés, awkward clauses, and garbled English in their attempts to use poetic language.

“Be careful not to prettify,” Kowit warned. “A poem is a balance between musicality and narrative, but paying too much attention to sound can take the reader from the story.”