#29 Backstory of the Poem “Faces in a Crowd” from the poetry collection FACES IN A CROWD by Mary Harwell Sayler
Can you go through the step-by-step process of writing this poem from the moment the idea was first conceived in your brain until final form? As happens with almost every poem I write, an opening line suddenly came to me, and as soon as I wrote it down, other lines followed. It’s often a mysterious process for me since I typically write from a place of listening and heeding, rather than thinking. However, the poems that follow usually have a way of putting into the forefront what I’d been mulling over, subconsciously.
For example, I’d been noticing, in the media and elsewhere, how people frequently seem to be looking for ways to read the future without bothering to pay attention to the present! Then, when they do notice someone right in front of them, they might just focus on the person’s flaws and failures with no insight, empathy, or interest in the symptoms shown. In people-watching and observing men, for instance, I find that fear, worry, frustration, and sadness generally register on their faces as one emotion – anger, whereas women more readily express a greater range. Whether that’s true or not, my poem seemed to think so as all of the above converged into the poem, “Faces in a Crowd.”
Where were you when you started to actually write the poem? And please describe the place in detail. For this particular poem, I was at my desktop computer. Quite often, though, my poems begin in one of two places: in bed immediately on waking or on our deck, overlooking woods and a small lake active with wildlife. (LEFT)
What month and year did you start writing this poem? The poem began in February, 2014, and once its flow had ceased, I let the poem sit and went on to other writing projects. When I returned to it, I did a little tweaking then revised it a couple of years later.
How many drafts of this poem did you write before going to the final? That’s a hard question to answer, Christal, as I often spend hours playing with single words or phrases in the early instances of a poem. Sometimes I’m looking for a word that’s more precise. Other times I’m listening to the play of assonance or consonance then trying to find an apt synonym that adds sound echoes to the poem.
I seldom keep track of those revisions or ones when I play around with line breaks that might better emphasize certain words or sounds, but those are the concerns that set me in a revising mode. Also, if a poem is too long, I’ll almost always find ways to tighten and shorten the lines. Beyond those types of changes though, I rarely make major revisions that I like better than the original. Instead, I’ll give each poem my full attention when it first arrives, and if everything clicks, I’ll send it off to a journal or e-zine. If not, I’ll come back to it months – maybe years later – and “suddenly” know what to do. (BELOW: Mary Harwell Sayler’s office.)
Were there any lines in any of your rough drafts of this poem that were not in the finalversion? And can you share them with us? Sure. I usually write, tweak, and revise in my Word file now, rather than pencil and paper, but, for you, I printed out the original version of “Faces in a Crowd” and showed the changes made for the final draft. That said, the “original” might have had other words substituted, added, or omitted, but the basic poem is as shown.
What do you want readers of this poem to take from this poem? I’d love to see people slow down, pay attention to one another, and give each other the benefit of the doubt. Who knows what joys and miseries someone else has had to bear? We’re all in this life together, and I pray we begin to help and encourage one another instead of the present lamentable habit of tearing each other down.
Has this poem been published before? And if so where?
Yes. When I realized I had enough “people” poems for a book, “Faces in a Crowd” became the title poem for a book published in 2016.
What do you hope to accomplish with your poetry? Actually, I didn’t think much about this for many years. As a freelance and assignment writer for most of my adult life, I wrote a number of books in all genres with a specific theme and purpose for each. I wrote all sorts of articles, children’s stories, and devotionals, too, while my poems sat around in a file that kept expanding. Then, it occurred to me that most of my poems had developed some kind of theme or purpose on their own! So I went through my Word file and typed one or more labels for each poem, identifying them as “nature,” “faith,” “people,” “social comment,” “humor,” “children’s poem,” etc. Not long after that, I placed some poems with an e-zine and learned the publisher was also interested in books of nature-oriented poems. So I did a “nature” word search and found more than enough poems for a book entitled Living in the Nature Poem, which Hiraeth Press published in 2012 but recently went out of print. The idea for that book wasn’t just the nature theme but also the hope of having readers gain or increase their love for nature. Using a similar process of search-and-gather, I collected my Bible-based people poems into the book Outside Eden to show we all live in essentially the same place – outside paradise, trying to get back in. In 2014, Kelsay Books published that collection and also my little book of nature poems for children, Beach Songs & Wood Chimes. Then, for about a year, I felt urged to practice praising God for everything (yes, everything!), and in 2017, Cladach Publishing released my praise poems and contemporary psalms (including laments) in the book PRAISE!
In between, I self-published Faces in a Crowd with my remaining “people” poems, many of which had first appeared in poetry journals, to show the common and uncommon experiences uniting us. And, in 2017, I self-published Lost in Faith with poems that realistically address the struggles and doubts we all encounter, but with the strong purpose of letting readers know: God cares!
Contact info? I maintain a website in my name (http://marysayler.com) which includes an email form, my mailing address, and hotlinks to my books, online writings, and social media profiles. In addition, my website lists numerous resources with hotlinks to help other poets and writers.
What suggestions do you have for other poets and writers? Read, read in your favorite writing genre! If you’re serious about writing well-written, publishable poems, study art forms and techniques that work well, for instance, as shown in my e-books, Christian Poet’s Guide to Writing Poetry: in free verse and traditional forms and also the A to Z guide, Poetry Dictionary For Children and For Fun.
Read aloud every poem and every revision.
Be honest with yourself as you consider each poem’s clarity, freshness, and readability.
Give your poems the time they desire to be the best they can be. They’re worth it!
001 Backstory of the Poem
“12 – 2014” from the poetry collection BEFORE THE DROUGHT by Margo Berdeshevsky published by Glass Lyre Press on September 15, 2017
#002 Backstory of the Poem
“82 Miles from the Beach, We Order The Lobster At Clear Lake Café”
by Alexis Rhone Fancher
#003 Backstory of the Poem
“Orange”
by Barbara Crooker
https://christalcooper.com/003-backstory-of-the-poem-orange-by-barbara-crooker/
#004 Backstory of the Poem
“Modern Matsushima”
by Sonia Saikaley
https://christalcooper.com/004-backstory-of-the-poem-modern-matsushima-by-sonia-saikaley/
#005 Backstory of the Poem
“Side Yard”
By Ellen Foos
http://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/01/5-backstory-of-poem-sidewalk-by-ellen.html
#006 Backstory of the Poem
“The Ringmaster”
By Susan Sundwall
https://christalcooper.com/006-backstory-of-the-poem-the-ringmaster/
#007 Backstory of the Poem
“That Night”
by Leslea Newman
https://christalcooper.com/007-backstory-of-the-poem-that-night-by-leslea-newman/
#008 Backstory of the Poem
“June Fairchild Isn’t Dead”
by Alexis Rhone Fancher
#009 Backstory of the Poem
“The Gift of the Year with Granny”
By Charles Clifford Brooks III
#010 Backstory of the Poem
“The Natural Reflection of Your Palms”
by Scott Thomas Outlar
https://chrisricecooper.blogspot.com/2018/03/chris-ricecooper-caccoopaol.html
#011 Backstory of the Poem
“After Diane Beatty’s Photograph “History Abandoned”
by Anya Francesca Jenkins
#012 Backstory of the Poem
“What I Learned This Week”
By Angela Narciso Torres
#013 Backstory of the Poem
“Holidays On ICE”
By Jan Steckel
https://christalcooper.com/013-backstory-of-the-poem-holiday-on-ice-by-jan-steckel/
#014 Backstory of the Poem
“Colors”
by Ibrahim Honjo
https://christalcooper.com/014-backstory-of-the-poem-colors-by-ibrahim-honjo/
#015 Backstory of the Poem
“Ode To Disappointment”
By Marilyn Kallett
https://christalcooper.com/015-backstory-of-the-poem-ode-to-disappointment-by-marilyn-kallet/
#016 Backstory of the Poem
“Reliquary”
by Beth Copeland
#017 Backstory of the Poem
‘The Swallows of Barcelona”
by Marlon L. Fick
https://christalcooper.com/17-backstory-of-the-poem-the-swallows-of-barcelona-by-marlon-fick/
#18th Backstory of the Poem
“Arterial Discombobulation”
by Juliet Cook
#19th Backstory of the Poem
“Stiletto Killer . . . A Surmise” from the poetry collection ENTER HERE
By Alexis Rhone Fancher
#20 Backstory of the Poem
“At Last I Can Start Suffering”
By Charles Rammelkamp
#21 Backstory of the Poem
“Wind Chimes”
by Marla Shaw O’Neil
#022 Backstory of the Poem
“Studying Ariel”
by Julia Gordon-Bramer
https://christalcooper.com/22-backstory-of-the-poem-studying-ariel-by-julia-gordon-bramer/
#023 Backstory of Poem
“Jesus Zombie”
by Bill Yarrow
https://christalcooper.com/23-backstory-of-the-poem-jesus-zombie-by-bill-yarrow/
#24 Backstory of the Poem
“Brag 2016:
by Telaina Eriksen
#025 Backstory of the Poem
“It is only Yourself that Bends – so Wake up!”
by Seth Berg
#26 Backstory of the Poem
“Devil In the Details”
by David Herrle
https://christalcooper.com/26-backstory-of-the-poem-devil-in-the-details-by-david-herrle/
#27 Backstory of the Poem
“Carmen Polo, Lady Necklaces, 2017”
by Gloria Mindock
#28 Backstory of the Poem
“Two Deaths”
by Connie Post
https://christalcooper.com/28-backstory-of-the-poem-two-deaths-by-connie-post/