Opening Lines (O to T)

For lack of a better way to do this, we're running down an A to Z list of 26 poets' opening lines.

A tried and true workshop method of teaching poetry writing is to pass a piece of paper around the room and ask each student to write a line. Someone starts, and each student's subsequent line builds the poem. It's always interesting to see where the poem goes.

I think that is why I like opening lines, because I loved that classroom exercise, and because the best poems mobilize immediately. When you read a poem with a dazzling opening you're at the poet's mercy. He/She carries you all the way or drops you with a painful thud.

Hemingway famously said, "Write one true sentence at a time." He was talking about writing stories, obviously, but the maxim applies to poetry as well.

Writing great poetry is not easy, of course. But here are a few more opening lines by poets who have solved the mystery.

S. Olds

To say that she came into me,
from another world, is not true.

Li Po

I take my wine jug out among the flowers
to drink alone, without friends.

Qabbani

Light is more important than the lantern,
The poem more important than the notebook,

K. Raine

Wanting to know all
I overlooked each particle

D. Schwartz

The riches of the poet are equal to his poetry
His power is his left hand

Tzara

Take a newspaper.
Take some scissors.


(to be continued)

TS