By Madeleine Higgins These two poems, currently titled (rather uncreatively) “Airplane Window” and “Airplane Ride” were in response to an assignment given to me by the teacher who runs the writing workshop I participate in. The prompt was to write two poems about the same topic (I chose to write about riding in an airplane), …
Many who have asked ChatGPT to write poetry immediately seek out the flaws—the writing lacks substance, it’s all cliche, it’s uninspired, etc. I don’t disagree; in fact, I actually agree very much that ChatGPT writing by design lacks originality. However, as a result of this feeling, very few engage with ChatGPT poetry on the face …
By Madeleine Higgins The artiste, with a trembling hand,Drowns pencil-shapes with paint,Twitching at the loss of that rough-draft promise.Once finished, she isn’t quite—Is that cloud shaped to petty satisfaction?Couldn’t that red be more yellow?She trims and blots and razes untilA simmering sunset becomes an entirely different beast.Just as a chicken goes from corpseTo table-topper under …
By Madeleine Higgins Is sixteen years too late to say it’s not you, it’s me? Trite, I know. But oddly, for something that is (was) meant to be a symbol of fertility, You were so dead already— Literally So (scientifically), but also deadened By the spindly fingers of my mother, Straightening you for years until …
By Madeleine Higgins In this article, I will be exploring one of the most famously difficult poetic forms of all time – the abhorred triolet. This literary monstrosity follows an 8-line structure – the first line is repeated exactly thrice, and the second line is repeated twice. The other three lines have a very specific …
By Maddy Higgins Why don’t poems rhyme anymore? Chances are if you’ve glanced at a poem written anytime after 1900, it’s probably not going to follow rigid rhyme structures or have any kind of rhyme at all. Indeed, most modern poetry falls under the category of “free verse”, or “open form”, meaning that it does …
