Poetry routines are something that’s been on my mind lately since I’d been concentrating so much on other kinds of writing for a while—creative nonfiction, I guess you could call it—that it was only every other week or so I found time for poetry. And it’s always a bit of a zero-sum game since I do my best work in coffee shops no matter what I’m writing, and I haven’t actually found a way to live in one yet.
I start by writing in my journal or reading poetry or some combination thereof and then move on to poetry. I might stay for two or three hours in all, and I make sure that I’m giving it my time and attention while I'm there even if nothing comes out of it. If I think I’m onto something good and it’s getting late, I might move on to a bar.
In general, though, I’d say that having a specific place to write with the sort of atmosphere that helps you focus is helpful. You get all the advantages of a routine without actually having to set one. I’m still searching for the perfect place in my current area, though. I had one in a city where I used to live that was perfect—I had a chance to visit it again last year, and I swear it was like the ideas for poems were already there waiting for me. Guess I've just got to keep on looking.
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