How does the form of poetry offer unique opportunities for playful experimentation?
Poetry does not need to be a linear artform. Nor does it have to be straightjacketed by visual conventions on the page. It offers plenty of opportunity for playful experimentation. Line breaks and enjambment can add layers of nuance, emphasis, and shift the tempo and cadence of meaning through the carefully constructed isolation and placement of words. Rhyme and metre can also provide opportunities to lean into the musicality of language—whether in a traditional or contemporary sense.
Where poets can really play with stretching the parameters is when they begin mucking around with poetic form to produce the unexpected. Sometimes opening a poem with the establishment of a form or pattern only to later deviate from it can delight readers by providing a surprising twist. The visual layout of a poem may also be fertile ground for playful experimentation. Contemporary poetry is no longer limited to conventional stanzas. Words may take concrete shapes, or dance across the page in acrobatic feats that blur the lines between artistic mediums.
A popular cultural phenomenon in contemporary poetry is the performance of it. This expands the possibility for playful experimentation astronomically. Suddenly, what has formerly been constrained to the page is given licence to leap onto the stage where we can see, hear, feel the poetry in a multisensory way. That is an artform unto itself.
How can playing with poetry broaden a writer’s knowledge and improve their poetic voice?
Playing with poetry allows us to take risks in our writing. And that often leads to quirky, original writing that embraces our innermost truths. In doing so, we also tap into universal truths. By letting loose and having fun, we remove the polite gloves of societally imposed civility. What would you want to say if you could without consequences? Write that. You can always edit, refine, and/or censor yourself later (if you really must). But don’t scrub your writing too ‘clean’ at first instance. The gritty and unfiltered can give your poetry texture. Go beyond the surface level. That’s where the authenticity—and your poetic voice—resides.
The more you write, the more distilled your poetic voice will become. But keep trying on a range of different poetic ‘hats’ to expand your style and skill set. Knowing what you like is just as important as knowing what you don’t like. Challenge yourself. Step outside your comfort zone to test whether your parameters may have widened. When we give ourselves permission to play, we relax into creativity and begin to think more laterally. Be vulnerable. Dig deep. Write fearlessly. Your poetic voice is already within you, waiting for you to harness its potential.
When your writing practice is feeling stuck, how do you generate ideas or inspiration for new poems?
If I’m in a creative rut, I look for little circuit-breakers. This might involve temporarily stepping away from the very thing I’m trying to do, to take the pressure off trying to put words down on a blank piece of paper. Often, I return to what drew me to writing in the first place: reading. Almost every single time I carve out dedicated time to read, I am eventually compelled to pause my reading because I am inspired anew and want to get back to my notebook to scribble down some tangential thoughts that have popped into my mind whilst I wasn’t trying to think.
Other ways I generate ideas or inspiration for new poems is by drawing upon the richness of various writing communities around me. Some writing groups offer generative prompts. I also adore attending literary events and open mics. Engaging with other poets is creatively invigorating and immersing myself in the diversity and vulnerability of what fellow writers are producing is both humbling and inspiring.
How important is it to understand/learn the ‘rules’ of poetry before breaking them?
When my poetry first began getting noticed within the literary industry, what was commented upon most frequently was the ‘freshness’ of my writer’s voice. I’d been instinctively writing poetry by feel rather than form and inadvertently breaking a whole lot of ‘rules’ along the way. It’s definitely possible to break conventions without necessarily getting all technical about it. But I found the more I learned the rules, the more tools I had at my disposal to play with, which made the process of subversion even more satisfying. The ability to make conscious choices in terms of craft gave me more refined control over the way I was able to express myself. To use the analogy of ballet: a masterful show of skill (the result of technique, discipline and practise) is in executing the technically complex in ways that appear effortless.
Paris Rosemont is the author of poetry collections Banana Girl (2023) and Barefoot Poetess (2025). Her debut was long and shortlisted for several poetry book awards in Australia, Greece, UK and USA. Paris’s poetry has appeared in over 70 publications including Australian Poetry Journal, Rabbit and Splinter. She has been the recipient of numerous writing scholarships, grants and fellowships, and her prizes and shortlistings span the globe.
Paris’s niche is in performance poetry. She has graced stages at events and festivals in almost every state/territory within Australia. Judging panels she has been on include the WestWords Living Stories Prize, Sydney Fringe Festival 2024 season, and Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards 2025.
As a passionate advocate for the literary arts, Paris has been appointed to the Randwick Council Arts & Culture Advisory Committee in recognition of her impact, expertise and contribution to Australian literature. She enjoys sharing her love of poetry through teaching and has facilitated workshops and masterclasses in schools, libraries and writers’ festivals.
Join Paris Rosemont for her course, Playing with Poetry, Saturday 1 November 2025, 10am-4pm at Writing NSW.
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