Elizabeth Eiler

Poets, how do you organize material for publication? Other than random single poems in print, I published on Kindle 1 collection based on a theme. I’m going to pull it and reissue (different publisher) as part of a book I’m calling 3 “collections” (themes) in 1 volume (still writing it).

Much of my work is on different subjects, emotions, thoughts. Do you publish collections without a unifying theme? I’m all about being organized but wonder what a collection of unrelated poems could be like. It will be a joy to write again without a thematic group in mind!

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11:26pmWeb
Show threadjake2h ago
@ElizabethEiler i'm having these thoughts too. and coming to, for at least now, two different plans. there are those poems whose connection is simply the time of my life when they were written, and i think of these and more of a generic collection. and then i have separate sets where they are collected by theme (or in one case, form)

my first collection was all over the place but where i tried to pay attention was the flow of the poems.
Show threadElizabeth Eiler21m ago
@jake Thanks - we’ve been thinking along similar lines. 😊
Show threadAni Keaten2h ago
@ElizabethEiler I haven't published a book but I've seen collections of unrelated poems that were more based on shared time period (like poems written during a year of travel or during school) or shared form (like concrete or blackout). I suppose those are sort of themes too!
Show threadElizabeth Eiler20m ago
@anikeaten Themes, topics, types - hard to shape material into concrete collections!
Show threadSean Patrick1h ago

@ElizabethEiler My book of sonnets was organized into a rough thematic arc. Poems went next to other poems with similar subject matter, but the general theme shifted over the course of a few poems at a time. So a set of poems about falling in love could turn into a set of poems about being obsessed, which could morph into poems about unrequited love, etc...

I def recommend that sort of cluster-of-clusters approach, it came out feeling much more thematically composed than I thought it would.

Show threadElizabeth Eiler23m ago
@seanpatrickphd Sounds wonderful and organic. Thanks!