In Conversation With Marion Buchman: A Creative Writing Proposal

The Macksey Journal

Volume 2 Article 21

2021

In Conversation With Marion Buchman: A Creative

Writing Proposal

Joyce J. Ker

Johns Hopkins University

Recommended Citation

Ker, Joyce J. (2021) "In Conversation With Marion Buchman: A Creative Writing Proposal,"

The Macksey

Journal

: Vol. 2, Article 21.

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Johns Hopkins University Macksey Journal. It has

been accepted for inclusion in The Macksey Journal by an authorized editor of The Johns Hopkins University

Macksey Journal.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

In Conversation with Marion Buchman: A Creative Writing Proposal

Joyce Ker

Johns Hopkins University

Abstract

What are the emotional and cognitive processes behind the creation of poetry? While

studies have been conducted on the brain’s functions during poetry writing, little research has

been done to display the art of creation in action. The lack of visibility of the creative poetic

process presents a challenge to both educators and students of creative writing, as lessons on

craft tend to wax purely theoretical. The purpose of my project, entitled “In Conversation with

Marion Buchman: A Creative Writing Proposal,” is to develop a scrapbook to address the gap

between the theory and practice of craft by offering a tangible glimpse into the creative

process. I conducted research on the archival collection of the Marion Buchman papers, left by

the Baltimore poet Marion Buchman. Personal and societal influences behind Buchman’s work

were examined through a piecing together of her correspondence, drafts, and published works.

In response to the questions raised in Buchman’s poetry, I composed my own poems, including

my initial, edited, and final drafts. Using the scrapbook format as a display for my assembling

and disassembling of her work, I reveal how the artifacts Buchman left behind inspired my own

poetic works. My research serves as a proposal for creative writing pedagogy, suggesting that

the instruction of craft need not be purely theoretical but also experimental.

Keywords: Creative writing, Poetry, Craft, Writing Process, Creative Process, Creative Writing

Methodology

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Introduction

The poet Richard Hugo once described the writing of poems as a “silly, absurd,

maddening, futile, enormously rewarding activity” (Hugo 1979). As a student who has taken

various creative writing courses, I realized that one seemingly obvious question still remained

unanswered: How does one write a poem? By which I mean, what is the process of writing a

poem?

Here is the typical format of most, if not all, creative writing courses I had taken: First,

instructors would assign readings. Through the assigned readings, we discussed how the author

used techniques such as rhythm and tonality, metaphor and plot. In the first lesson of my

Introduction to Fiction and Poetry Workshop, we read James Joyce’s “Araby,” from which we

gleaned insight into Joyce’s use of detail and scene-setting. Virginia Woolf’s “Kew Gardens”

taught us about place, setting, and stream of consciousness. Through Thom Gunn’s “The

Missing,” we were introduced to iambic pentameter. After the week’s lesson, we completed a

writing assignment through which we would respond to a specific writing prompt, employing

the technique or element we had just learned.

I realized that learning came from reading the possibilities of what great literature could

accomplish. Implied was that through reading, deliberating, and discussing the works of great

writers, we would learn from their craft; we would discover the elements that made Seamus

Heaney’s “Digging” a masterpiece, and we would find ways to incorporate that magic into our

own compositions.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Afterwards, we workshopped our compositions through the Writing Workshop

which

originated at the Iowa Writers’ Studio. In the Writing Workshop, peers would offer a mix of

praise and critique about the composition. Generally, critique implied deviation from some

norm—a stylistic anomaly, an extended metaphor that fell apart halfway through the piece, a

metaphor that was too obvious, a clichéd phrase. Based on the critique, we would revise our

compositions until we reached a final draft.

Yet, from the assigned readings to the workshop, I felt we were never taught how to

write a poem. Not that writing a poem can be explicitly taught—but I had an itch for more

insight on the writing process. In other words, even if I understood the elements that made

“Digging” (Heaney 1966) great literature, how could I try to infuse my own poems with that

magic? Was I supposed to be free-writing, and then suddenly feel the insight to drop a simile

inspired by Heaney into my poem? Was I supposed to start with the simile, then discover

accompanying images through my writing process? Furthermore, even with a thorough grasp of

rhetorical devices, I still needed to conjure up ideas for the subject of my poem, to create

images and express unique ideas. How—and from where—was I supposed to obtain inspiration

for ideas? Was I supposed to write my first draft freely, simply following my heart and mind

without giving mind to technique? Rather, was each word to be deliberately crafted from the

start?

The Creative Writing Process

In the following section, I introduce existing sources on creativity and define the creative

writing process, presenting the basis upon which I developed my research methodology.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Creativity is defined as “bringing something new into birth” (May 1959). In the context

of creative writing, creativity involves the generation of an artistic object—a poem, memoir, or

work of prose. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi goes further to define the creative

individual as “the creative person and the talents, life experiences, and aspirations that person

possesses” (Csikszentmihalyi 2013). In his systems view of creativity, the creative individual is

understood to interact with the environment. The systems view of creativity is supported by

the poet Rainer Maria Rilke, who once said, “In order to express yourself, use things in your

surroundings, the scenes in your dreams, and the subjects of your memory” (Rilke 1903). In

essence, the poet synthesizes his or her life experiences and aspirations, influenced by the

world in which he or she lives and its sociocultural environment, to produce something new.

To bring the poem into existence, the individual poet engages in the creative process, “a

succession of thoughts and actions leading to original and appropriate productions” (Lubart

2001). To supplement the above definition, I will apply the phase model of creativity developed

by cognitive psychologist Mark Runco. Runco defines creativity in six stages: “orientation,” a

time of intense interest and curiosity in which the creative individual gathers information;

“incubation” which consists of defining the problem and seeking a solution; “illumination,”

divergent thinking, openness, and excitement; “verification,” in which the individual assesses

his own work and compares it with literature in the field; “communication,” in which the

individual submits his work to the field; “validation” in which the work is supported or rejected

by society (Runco 1997; Runco, Dow, 1999). I will then apply the phase model of creativity to

the creative writing process. Thus, I present a definition of the general creative writing process.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

“Orientation” can be mapped to the experiences from which a poet gathers

“information”; or in the words of novelist John Barth, human life, in its “happiness and its

misery,” is the “material” from which a writer draws to create his or her work (Barth 1985).

“Incubation” can be mapped to the identification of “triggering subjects,” defined by the

poet Richard Hugo as the “emotional obsessions” that “trigger” or motivate the poet’s need for

words (Hugo 1979). It can be said that the triggering subject represents an emotional

“problem” to which the poet “seeks a solution” by finding the words to express his or her

thoughts and emotions through the writing of a poem.

“Illumination” is the actual writing of the poem, a stage of discovery during which the

poet exhibits “divergent thinking, openness, and excitement” through the use of language,

technique, and artistic freedom to express the main subject. It is important to clarify the

difference between the triggering subject from the Incubation stage and the main subject. In

the words of Richard Hugo, the former “causes the poem to be written” and does not

necessarily appear in the poem; the latter is what the poem “comes to say or mean” and is

expressed through figurative language (Hugo 1979). In the Illumination Phase, the poet is said

to move from the triggering to the main subject through the writing process. Specifically, the

poet employs “divergent thinking” to avoid clichés and unoriginality, finding ways to generate

innovative uses of figurative language and fresh ideas for the main subject. That this phase is

characterized by “openness” and “excitement” emphasizes that the act of writing is a process

of discovery. Indeed, according to the creative writing teacher Alice LaPlante, in order to find

his or her originality, the poet must “venture out of familiar territory” and into the unknown

(LaPlante 2007). It is in the depths of the unknown that the poet is free to discover, thereby

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

harnessing his or her artistic freedom in the exploration of the main subject and the use of

technique to reinforce themes.

“Verification” can be traced to the “evaluation of work” through the workshopping of

the poem with peers and revision techniques; “communication” consists of submission of work

to journals; “validation” is the journal acceptance or rejection.

Evaluation of the Writing Workshop

In this section, I identify strengths and weaknesses in the current Writing Workshop

pedagogy. The current Writing Workshop model of creative writing pedagogy succeeds in its

facilitation of students’ creativity in the Orientation Phase. For example, assigned readings

serve to expose students to varied experiences that may extend beyond ones encountered in

everyday life, offering the student a reservoir of vicarious experiences from which to

synthesize. Many writing prompts also impel the student to interact directly with the

environment, thus noticing, experiencing, and using one’s surroundings—“Sit outside on the

corner of the street, eavesdrop on half a minute of a conversation, and use that exact dialogue

in a story of your own.”

Furthermore, the Writing Workshop offers students a writing community, through

which they interact with other writers. The collaborative interaction of writers impels them to

bounce and discuss ideas off each other, which results in “their working esthetic principles—as

well as particular images, characters, and story ideas” being “forged, tested, and sharpened”

(Barth 1985).

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

In addition to inspiring students’ creativity, one of the greatest advantages of the

Writing Workshop is the opportunity it allows for students to evaluate peers’ works in the

Verification Phase. By sensing the strengths and weaknesses of others’ works, the student

“reads as a writer,” studying technique (LaPlante 2007). By identifying clichéd similes, illogical

metaphors, and overly sentimental diction in peers’ works, the student gains awareness of

potential problems in his or her own drafts; by reveling in the emotional subtleties and fresh

metaphors in peers’ works, the student senses the possibilities of his or her own drafts.

While the Writing Workshop succeeds in the above phases, I will demonstrate that it

falls short of offering sufficient insight and instruction on the other phases of the creative

writing process. From the stage of “Incubation” I have noticed a lack of insight on the triggering

subject. While existing writing prompts often suggest to the student triggering subject—“Close

your eyes and imagine a place from your past that you know very well (childhood home;

classroom; public pool), then spend fifteen minutes writing down all the sensory details that

the place evokes”—the emotional aspects of the triggering subject remain out of focus (The

Writing Seminars 2018). I suspect that most students would have little difficulty writing sensory

details about a place they know intimately. Yet, what are the personal emotional obsessions

associated with the place that bring it to mind so vividly?

Furthermore, in the “Illumination” stage, the current pedagogy exhibits a lack of

guidance on the actual writing of a poem. How does the poet move from the triggering subject

to the main subject? Do you start with specific words you like, or do you start with a specific

idea you want to explore? Also, there is a lack of emphasis on the conflict between artistic

freedom and rhetorical precision, what Alice LaPlante terms “Method and Madness” (LaPlante

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

2007). As Hugo puts it, should “all music conform to truth”,” or should truth conform to music”

(Hugo 1979)?

In the “Verification” stage, the Writing Workshop fails to expose to students different

revision techniques. Do you break the poem down into sections, then identify specific

problems? Or, should you not move onto the next line until you are satisfied with the previous

line, resulting in no to little revision of the poem as a whole?

Argument for the Demystification of Process

While there exist no definite right or wrong answers to the above questions, in part

because each poet’s method and craft is unique, I find that they are all too often dismissed in

the current Workshop Model pedagogy which emphasizes the poems themselves, rather than

the poet’s writing of the poem.

Proponents of the Workshop Model’s de-emphasis of process argue that while a

mastery of language and technique can be taught, each poet’s process exhibits a depth,

uniqueness, and mystique that cannot be taught, or even adequately described, without being

reductive. In other words, the artistic individualism inherent in the making of a poem resists

being taught through a generalized process. Thus, instructors may deliberately choose not to

provide guidance on the process, for if they suggest to students that one way to write poems is

to begin with the words you like, doesn’t that reduce creativity—in the sense that the

instructor has reduced the student’s artistic individualism, in addition to defining the process of

writing poetry in overly simplified terms?

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

To provide evidence against the claim that creative writing pedagogy should not

attempt to examine process, I would like to emphasize that exploring the process makes

[writing] more accessible to students (Griffin 2008). Furthermore, the nature of being more

understandable does not necessarily render the process “less inspiring” (Warde, Finke, Smith

1995). Indeed, from a teaching standpoint, the accessibility of a subject or process is of

paramount importance; often, the entity or act being studied must inevitably be reduced or

simplified to render it more understandable for students.

Take the art of solving physics problems, for example. The process, which requires a

mastery of physics principles, an understanding of calculus, and a dash of ingenuity and

creativity that enables one to apply known laws to novel contexts, is incredibly complex. Yet,

students can follow a generally agreed upon process when solving problems: read the problem,

draw a diagram to help visualize the problem, identify knowns and unknowns, solve for

unknowns with physics equations and calculus, and check your answer. This is no doubt a

simplified process; one could say that the beauty, complexity, and mystique in the art of physics

has been reduced. Yet, the emphasis here should not be on the fact that the simplified process

is reductive of the art; the focus is on making the material more accessible for students. And

does knowing a generalized process necessarily reduce the student’s own ingenuity? I would

posit that it only increases the possibilities of the student’s craft, for it is with the knowledge of

a fundamental process that the student can find ways to apply this process in novel ways, which

is where much of the ingenuity lies.

I believe that, akin to how students are exposed to a general process for solving physics

problems, an exploration of the process of creating a poem would benefit students by

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

increasing the possibilities of their craft. In the current Writing Workshop, the student is not

made aware of his or her process or its possibilities. In short, the student’s understanding and

practice of creative writing tends to veer on the abstract. The student relies primarily on the

knowledge gained from reading and discussing the works of their peers and literary greats.

Though they study craft, they glean little insight on the making of a poem and the actual

implementation of style. In the following sections, I present my research to address the gap

between the theory and practice of craft by offering a tangible glimpse into the creative

process.

Methodology and Approach

Marion Buchman

Several factors influenced my choice to study Marion Buchman’s archival collection. I

was shocked and fascinated by a specific aspect of Buchman’s life—as a lecturer at The Johns

Hopkins University, she had engaged in an affair with an undergraduate student. Buchman’s

rebellious nature intrigued me. I wondered, What is it about love that made Buchman behave

the way she did? I believed that a woman who feels passion enough to risk her career and

reputation must be an incredibly passionate poet. How would such a woman express her

thoughts on love through imagery and metaphor? Additionally, since Buchman was not a

renowned writer, researching her collection would enable me to help lift up an under-

represented writer. That few other scholars had previously written about Buchman would

ensure that my research would not be overly influenced by others’ expressed opinions.

The Scrapbook: The Creative Process Demystified

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

In my research, I de-mystified Buchman’s creative writing process. Through a piecing

together of Buchman’s interviews, correspondence, personal photograph collection, and

personal reading list, I sought to trace the life experiences from which she drew information,

gaining insight into the Orientation phase. I then studied the Incubation phase by examining the

emotional obsessions that initiated Buchman’s need for words, which were documented in her

handwritten notes. Buchman’s Illumination phase was displayed in her typed manuscripts,

through which I extrapolated the progression of her thoughts from the triggering subject to the

birth of a poem. Next, I examined the Verification phase through a comparison of the typed

manuscripts and published versions of her poems, which revealed her revision technique.

Through reading her submission receipts, I examined the Communication phase; her editor

feedback and acceptance or rejection letters revealed her Validation phase. Each of the above

phases of the creative process is displayed in my scrapbook in Appendix A, thus offering a

tangible glimpse into the creative process.

The scrapbook is organized chronologically in five sections, with the first four sections

corresponding to different stages in a woman’s life: childhood, girlhood, motherhood, and post-

divorce. Each section was titled using poem titles that Buchman had written: The First Day

;

Paths

; Firstborn

; From a Pile of Old Love Letters

. By incorporating Buchman’s original poem

titles into my scrapbook, I intended to engage in a conversation with Buchman. The titles

themselves—their sounds and rhythms when read out loud, their denotations and

Buchman, Marion. The First Day. Vital Signs.

Buchman, Marion. Paths. Vital Signs.

Buchman, Marion. “Firstborn.” A Voice in Ramah. Bookman; 1st edition (January 1, 1959)

Buchman, Marion. From a Pile of Old Love Letters. Unpublished.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

connotations, or the images they conveyed—prompted my personal experiences of

womanhood that were shared between myself and Buchman. For example, after reading the

letters that Buchman’s parents wrote to her discouraging her from becoming an actress, I was

reminded of my own abandoned interests in piano performance. I had almost forgotten my

conflicting emotions about quitting piano until I saw that Buchman, too, had had similar

dreams. That the remnants of her abandoned dreams were reflected in her poetry allowed me

to draw upon my own painful experiences, sparking poetic ideas for me.

My Writing Process in Action

In the following section, I present the process behind my own poetic works that are

included in my scrapbook. Emotional and cognitive processes behind the creation of my poems

such as personal experiences, triggering subjects, techniques I used to discover my main

subject, and revision methods are highlighted. The goal of describing my personal writing

process is to demystify craft, providing an example for students of what the writing process

may look like.

Tritina: “Hunger”

I composed a tritina entitled “Hunger.” Through images of a blade and tongue, as well as

the act of hiding as a metaphor for the danger and protection inherent in abusive relationships,

I explore the question, “Can two people who have loved and hurt each other in the past find

the means to reconnect, or would they only end up inflicting more hurt on each other?”

Phase 1: Orientation

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

The experiences from which I drew material to create my poem include the following:

an obsession with Elvis in my teenage years; boy(s) who never liked me back; Buchman’s

feelings of loneliness; abuse; the cycle of evil in Hamlet; the trauma and violence in Beloved; a

crouching soldier.

Phase 2: Incubation

Buchman’s poem, “From a Pile of Old Love Letters,” prompted in me the memory of a

photograph of Elvis sifting through a stack of letters he’d received, thus reminding me of the

lyrics to one of my favorite songs from middle school: “I memorize every line / I kiss the name

that you sign” (Presley 1968). Through Buchman’s poem, it was as if I could hear Elvis crooning

to his lover in a voice filled with longing yet restraint that had inspired a 16-year-old me to

express my own musings on love through emotionally overblown poems. Having been mentally

and emotionally transported back to a period of ill-fated crushes, I became obsessed with my

present lack of love interests. My emotional obsession with the absence of love—my triggering

subject—initiated my need to write the poem Hunger.

Phase 3: Illumination

I started with words I liked—I loved the sound of blade; I liked the word tongue because

it reminded me of kissing; I liked the word hidden because it conveyed to me both danger and

protection. Equipped with words I liked, but with no strict sense of how my poem would begin,

I attempted to write in the free-verse, which I naturally gravitate towards due to its freedom.

Yet I simply could not begin writing. I then employed the strategy of writing in form as a

method to write myself out of writer’s block. Inspired by Buchman’s use of repetition in the last

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

word of every line of her poem “Strip Tease

,” I turned to the tritina, a simplified version of the

sestina.

Within the limitations of the tritina form, I began my wordplay. The repetitive nature of

the form impelled me to explore the ways in which the three words could evolve so as to avoid

monotony and excessive repetition in the poem. Through free association

, I first present the

word blade as a body part, the shoulder blade; I then present it as a weapon, a switchblade;

finally, it appears again as the weapon, but this time the blade is associated not only with

danger but also with love. The pervasive violence in my poem was influenced by a striking

metaphor in Buchman’s poem “Alone

” in which she compares a lonely night to an image of a

“sprung latch.” During my wordplay, I began to have a clearer sense of the direction in which

my poem would take me. I thought about the reasons behind the lack of romantic love in my

life, concluding that while I desired the emotional connection present in a relationship, to love

someone encompasses a surrender of oneself, an acknowledgement that one could be

irrevocably hurt.

This idea of hurt led me to consider how in literature, violence and hurt often present

themselves in vicious cycles, with Hamlet

and Beloved

coming to mind. Continuing with my

stream of consciousness

method, this cycle of hurt further prompted the remembrance of the

Buchman, Marion. Strip Tease. A Voice in Ramah. Bookman; 1st edition (January 1, 1959)

Schroeder, Theodore. The Psychologic Aspect of Free Association. The American Journal of Psychology , Jul.,

1919, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Jul., 1919), pp. 260-273. JSTOR: http://www.jstor.com/stable/1413876

Buchman, Marion. Alone.A Voice in Ramah. Bookman; 1st edition (January 1, 1959)

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. Folger, 1992.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Penguin Group, 1987.

Voinovich, Vlaemir. “Stream of Consciousness.” New Zealand Slavonic Journal , 2003, Slavonic Journeys Across

Two Hemispheres: Festschrift in honour of Arnold McMillin (2003), pp. 165-169. JSTOR:

www.jstor.org/stable/40922151

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

abusive childhood of my favorite singer. I imagined him running away from his father, crouching

in fear—an image that I implemented in the poem. Perhaps this image came to me in part

because I had previously written a poem in which a soldier crouches down, rocking on his feet

at the remembrance of wartime memories. Ultimately, by the end of the poem, I had

discovered my main subject: Can two people who have loved and hurt each other in the past

find the means to reconnect, or would they only end up inflicting more hurt on each other?

Phase 4: Verification

After finishing my initial draft, I began the revision of the poem. When I compose my

initial draft, I generally do not move on to the next line unless I am satisfied with the previous

line, employing the technique known as “polishing the parts before constructing the whole”

(Bogen 1984); thus I do not edit my poems extensively. After reading through my entire poem, I

determined that I liked the sounds and images. The line “You tongue, swallow, to fill what once

was empty, our warmth a blade” seemed odd. I had intended to use the tongue as a verb, as I

had already used the noun twice in my poem, yet the phrase “you tongue” sounded odd. I

revised the line to “Your tongue fills what once was empty, our warmth a blade.”

Black-Out Poem: “Dearest Marion”

I created a black-out poem entitled “Dearest Marion” from a love letter Buchman had

received. Through the condensation of language, I revel in what is left unsaid between the

lovers, using the absence of explanation behind one’s actions and feelings to further intensify

their emotions.

Phase 1: Orientation

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

The experiences from which I drew to create my poem include the following: reading

love letters received by Buchman; laughing at Buchman’s desperate lovers; crying with

Buchman’s sincere lovers; creating a black-out poem in my 12th grade English class; gasping for

air.

Phase 2: Incubation

I was obsessed with the complexity, richness, and musicality of the language in the love

letters that Buchman received. I thought, “If people had to write love letters using no more

than 10 words, how would the economy of language add or take away from the expression of a

sentiment as rich and complicated as love?” The question triggered in me the idea to create a

black-out poem from one of her actual love letters.

Phase 3: Illumination

First, I needed to find a poem suitable for blacking out. Since black-out poems tend to

be elliptical, I wanted to ensure that the words themselves—both in isolation, and in the

context of the poem—would carry the possibility of complexity in meaning. I came across a

poem that had the words “catatonia” and “dessicated”—words that I loved the sounds of, as

well as their images—and deemed the letter sufficient for my black-out poem. I read through

the letter a couple times, then began word-play.

I realized I could delete parts of sentences to create a completely different meaning:

“Tell me, does Mr. Clark consider the corpus of love poems rubbish?” was blacked out to “Tell

me the corpus of love poems.” On the other hand, I could delete complete sentences, while

joining two originally separate sentences into a whole: “I do not live to kill your poetry...One, to

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

keep me away, and two, to strangle me. Surely our relationship can never be a forever

story...And I have too much respect for you to continue things only rippling the surface…” is

blacked out to “I do not live to kill your poetry / to strangle a forever story rippling the surface.”

Through the deletion of words, I have changed the use of strangle: Originally, their love

strangles Buchman’s lover; in my black-out poem, this relationship is reversed, as the lover

becomes the one who strangles their love. In the second line, I imagined someone—a

personified forever story—being strangled just as he or she is gasping for air on the surface of

water. The violent imagery reflects the physical and dangerous aspects of love that were

expressed in the original letter. Through parallelism, I emphasize the lover’s repeated want and

pleading.

Prose-Poem: “Story Made From Dust And Prairie Fires”

I created a prose-poem, entitled “Story Made from Dust and Prairie Fires,” through

which I construct the story of Buchman’s life, mixing in elements of my own life. The story is

told through a stream of consciousness, using imagery-driven diction to cover topics such as

Buchman’s abandoned childhood dreams, her marriage and motherhood, and her divorce.

Phase 1: Orientation

My experiences from which I drew to create my poem: Buchman’s life; period blood;

cramps; Richard Hugo’s words of wisdom; dancing.

Phase 2: Incubation

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

After examining Buchman’s archival collection, I was obsessed with Buchman’s

unapologetic, rebellious attitude towards life, triggering my need to construct the story of her

life as I understood it.

Phase 3: Illumination

I began with potential topics that I wanted to explore in my composition, including

“girlhood (lover)”, “love for children (first born),” “mad woman (she),” “I remember.” That I

jotted down “I remember” displays the progression of my ideas: I would subsequently explore

aspects of Buchman’s life for which I wanted her to be remembered.

I then jotted down images: period/blood/flesh/dancing; lost dreams; giving birth→ first

born. My first sequence of images reveals my free association of images: I associated blood

from menstruation to the blood that flows from cut flesh; the image of cut flesh reminded me

of ballerinas’ bandaged toes and thus dancing, which connected back to Buchman’s childhood

dreams of dance and theater. In my next sequence, from giving birth to first born, the thought

of giving birth led me to think of Buchman’s poem First Born, likely because in the published

version of the poem, there is an accompanying photograph of what looks like a woman who has

just given birth lying on the hospital bed. My free association stops after First Born, as I

deliberately jump from images of birth to unrelated images of “apples” and “Brownie.” In this

case, I made this conscious jump as an attempt to “write off-topic”: in other words, I felt I had

been going down a spiral of images directly related to Buchman’s womanhood, and to avoid

exhausting such images or generating repetitive images, I traveled to two completely distant

images. Intermittently on the page are sketches of geometric shapes. To maintain the

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

continuity of my thoughts, I try to keep my pencil continuously moving on the page when I

begin writing; the mindless drawing of shapes is a technique that facilitates my stream-of-

consciousness writing style.

In general, my writing process veers on random, nonsensical free association and

stream of consciousness. Most often, the only deliberate choices I made were the words

themselves; the resulting motifs, images, and meaning were discovered during the actual

writing of the poem, at which time I was simply following free association, without pausing to

consider if the next thing I wrote made logical sense.

Proposal for Creative Writing Pedagogy

In this section, I provide a writing prompt that serves as an example of how my

suggested approach to creative writing can be applied. Using my scrapbook as a model for a

process-oriented approach to the instruction of creative writing, I propose the use of process-

oriented prompts as a supplement to the current Writing Workshop pedagogy.

Existing prompts rarely offer guidance on process, simply stating a topic for the student

to write about and techniques to be displayed in the final poem: “Write a poem about a painful

experience using figurative language that sometimes exalts its subject and sometimes brings it

down to earth” (The Writing Seminars 2018).

On the other hand, the process-oriented prompt

presented will outline for students

the phases of the creative writing process while encouraging them to explore different methods

Bogen, Don.” Beyond the Workshop: Suggestions for a Process-Oriented Creative Writing Course.” Journal of

Advanced Composition, Vol.5, 1984, pp.149-161., 222.jstor.org/stable/20865568

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

that can be used in each phase. Through an exploration of process, the student gains insight

into the steps that constitute the making of a poem, such as the identification of triggering

subjects, generation of ideas for the main subject, the use of technique while embracing artistic

freedom, and the revision of a poem. In effect, they can begin to seek their unique answers to

my aforementioned questions on how to write a poem: How—and from where—do I obtain

inspiration for ideas? Do I write my first draft freely? Should all music conform to truth, or

should truth conform to music? How do I revise a poem?

While I suggest the following prompt as one method to write poems, it is meant to be

treated as an exercise for students to explore the writing process; I am in no way suggesting

that all poems must be written using the following approach.

Process-Oriented Prompt

Write a free-verse poem, using the following instructions to help guide your writing process.

Step 1: Identify Triggering Subjects

A. Write down a list of the things/topics you are most scared to write about.

Step 2: Write the poem

A. Pick a topic from the above list. I suggest choosing the one that is, unequivocally, the

one you are most scared about.

B. Make a list of ten words you like that you associate with each topic. These ten words

should evoke images, sounds, smells, and sensory details. The words should have a

rhythmic quality.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

C. Equipped with the topic you identified in Step 1, and the words you just wrote down,

write your poem. Let the words themselves guide you in your writing! Your poem must

include at least three rhetorical devices, such as alliteration, assonance, simile,

metaphor, imagery, and enjambment.

Step 3: Revision techniques

You will revise your poem using two techniques.

A. Method 1: Workshop Model

Your peers will offer critique on specific aspects of your work. Afterwards, you will revise those

specific aspects.

B. Method 2: Gluck’s “Re-Vision” Method (Bogen 1984)

You will retype the entire poem, without looking at your initial draft. You must retype the entire

poem at least once, but you can retype it for as many times you feel necessary.

In the above prompt, the student begins with the identification of triggering subjects in

the Incubation phase. Specifically, since triggering subjects are one’s emotional obsessions, I

believe they are best identified when the poet asks of himself or herself, “What am I most

scared to write about?” That the poet feels scared to write about something suggests that he or

she already feels a provocative emotional connection to the subject, so much so that they feel

afraid to express it in words.

In the Illumination phase, I suggest that one method to write a poem is to begin with

the words you like, a method based upon my personal experience. This prompt is designed such

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

that much of the student’s writing process consists of piecing together seemingly disparate

words that they like for their sounds and images. In the piecing together of words, the student

should focus almost solely on experimenting with rhythm and image. By focusing on the words

themselves, the poet should begin to venture into the known in the sense that the words lead

them to unexpected ideas; they discover their own novel ways to bring simple words to life

through figurative language, thus embracing their artistic freedom.

In the Verification stage, the student is exposed to different revision techniques, whose

purpose is to demonstrate that the revision method can significantly alter the final poem. By

equipping the student with various techniques, the student’s possibilities of craft are further

increased.

Conclusion

For students of poetry and creative writing, of equal importance to the finished works is

the process, for it is the underlying mechanisms of emotional obsessions, idea generation, craft,

and revision that result in the finished poem. Elizabeth Gilbert says, “Creativity itself doesn't

care at all about results—the only thing it craves is the process. Learn to love the process and

let whatever happens next happen, without fussing too much about it.” The ways in which each

poet deals with the conflict between freedom and precision, as well as their writing and

revision techniques, are unique. This quality of craft renders the making of a poem an act filled

with surprise, magic, and joy. An understanding of the creation of a poem does not subtract

from its beauty and joy; it only adds to the enjoyment. For it is only through an exploration of

the creative process that the student can better acknowledge the difficulties and possibilities of

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

their craft, understand how a poem comes into being from their obsessions, and revel in the

emotional subtleties that lie in their poems, waiting to be explored.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Appendix A

Scrapbook Pages from “In Conversation with Marion Buchman: A

Creative Writing Proposal”

In an interview with the Sunday Sun, Buchman describes the emotional obsessions that ignite

her need for poetry, including “a great love for everything in nature and all that lives” and a

“love to rise above the mundane,” offering insight into the Incubation phase. Buchman says of

her writing process, “I write at very great heat,” revealing the Illumination phase. Buchman also

lists Robert Louis Stevenson, Keats, and Longfellow as her literary influences in the Orientation

phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

A photograph of a young Marion in her garden captures childhood experiences of the

Orientation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

In Buchman’s poem “My Mother Peeling Apples,” she celebrates the joy of childhood and

reminisces about lost time. The headshot of Marion and the photo of her in a beauty pageant

offer insight into the Orientation phase behind the poem by illuminating experiences of

unachieved childhood dreams of an acting career reflected in the poem. The editor’s note

reveals the Validation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

A comparison of the typed manuscript and published versions of “The Worldly Parting” reveal

Buchman’s revisions in the Verification phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

A comparison of the typed manuscript and published versions of “Emergency” reveal

Buchman’s revisions in the Verification phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Buchman’s haiku is displayed along with an award of merit, revealing the Validation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Documents revealing Buchman’s membership in the Maryland Council of English Teachers and

the London Poetry Secretariat reveal her acceptance by other members of the poetic discipline,

while the display of her book “A Voice in Ramah” showcases the publication of her book,

offering insight into the Communication phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Poems “Strip Tease,” “Dancer,” and “This Gypsy Princess,” in which Buchman illuminates

feminine beauty and sings of dancing for her lover, are displayed along with a letter addressed

to the newlywed Mr. and Mrs. Buchman, revealing potential experiences in the Orientation

phase behind the three poems.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Letters addressed to Buchman by prominent writers such as Earle Birney, Archibald MacLeish,

and Carl Sandburg commenting on her poetry book reveal the Validation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

In “First-Born,” Buchman describes a young mother looking back on a life marked by

misunderstanding, painful memories, and old age that causes her to weep when her first-born

daughter is brought to her. The poem is displayed with a postcard received by Marion

congratulating her for the arrival of her newborn daughter, as well as a letter written by

Buchman in which she advocates for equal opportunity for all children. These documents reveal

potential experiences behind “First-Born,” revealing the Orientation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

The Table of Contents from Buchman’s book “A Voice of Ramah” reveals the distinct ordering of

the two poems “Alone” and “Woman”. When read together, the table reads “Alone / Woman,”

revealing Buchman’s use of the ordering of poems to express her emotions in the Illumination

phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

A card from Buchman’s daughter represents experiences of motherhood from which Buchman

drew material for her poems in the Orientation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

A Redbook Magazine cover from Buchman’s personal collection reveals potential experiences

that may have resonated with Buchman’s own experiences of motherhood in the Orientation

phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Buchman’s love letters reveal her life experiences in the Orientation phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

My black-out poem, “Dearest Marion,” is displayed, revealing my Illumination phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

A love letter written by Marion reveals Buchman’s illumination phase, as well as her revision

technique in the Verification phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Scraps of handwritten notes in which Buchman describes triggering factors: “Great poetry is

born only of great love” reveal her Incubation phase, while handwritten drafts reveal her

writing process in the Illumination phase.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

My writing process for my prose-poem, “Story Made from Dust and Prairie Fires,” is displayed

in the following three pages.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Works Cited

Barth, John. “Writing: Can It Be Taught?” The New York Times, June 16, 1985, Section 7,

Page 1

Bogen, Don. “Beyond the Workshop: Suggestions for a Process-Oriented Creative

Writing Course.” Journal of Advanced Composition, Vol.5, 1984, pp.149-161.,

222.jstor.org/stable/20865568

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and

Invention. Harper Perennial, 2013.

Griffin, W. Glen. “From Performance to Mastery: Development Models of the Creative

ProcessJournal of Advertising , Winter, 2008, Vol. 37, No. 4,” Special Issue on

Creativity Research in Advertising (Winter, 2008), pp. 95-108

Heaney, Seamus. “Digging.” Death of a Naturalist, Faber & Faber, 1966.

Hugo, Richard. The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing. W.W.

Norton, 2010.

LaPlante, Alice. The Making of a Story. W.W. Norton, 2007

Lubart, T. I. (2001). Models of the creative process: past, present and future. Creat. Res.

J. 13, 295–308.

May, Rollo. “The Nature of Creativity.” ETC: A Review of General Semantics , SPRING,

1959, Vol. 16, No. 3 (SPRING, 1959), pp. 261-276

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. Penguin Group, 1987.

Rilke, Rainer Maria and Kappus, Franz Xaver. “Letters to a Young Poet in an edition by

M.D. Herter Norton (translator). New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1993

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021

Runco M. A. (1997). The Creativity Research Handbook. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.

Runco M. A., Dow G. (1999). “Problem finding,” in Encyclopedia of Creativity, Vol. 2, eds

Runco M. A., Pritzker S. R. (New York, NY: Academic Press; ), 433–435.

Schroeder, Theodore. The Psychologic Aspect of Free Association. The American Journal

of Psychology , Jul., 1919, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Jul., 1919), pp. 260-273. JSTOR:

http://www.jstor.com/stable/1413876

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. Folger, 1992.

The Writing Seminars, Johns Hopkins University: Syllabus for Introduction to Fiction and

Poetry I, Fall 2018.

Voinovich, Vlaemir. “Stream of Consciousness.” New Zealand Slavonic Journal , 2003,

Slavonic Journeys Across Two Hemispheres: Festschrift in honour of Arnold

McMillin (2003), pp. 165-169. JSTOR: www.jstor.org/stable/40922151

Ward, Thomas B., Roland A. Finke, and Steven M. Smith (1995), Creativity and the Mind:

Discovering the Genius Within, New York: Plenum Press.

Published by JHU Macksey Journal, 2021