How to Write a Mirror Poem
A palindrome poem in the form of a mirror-image
What’s a palindrome poem?
Palindrome poems are tricky: they’re poems that can read word-for-word (or even letter-by-letter) forwards and backwards. They impose some of the tightest restrictions on verse, forcing the writer to risk sacrificing meaning and sense in order to abide by the format’s ultra-rigged structure.
Take a look at this poem by comedian Demetri Martin to get a sense of how nonsensical a letter-by-letter palindrome poem can be. The poem’s saving grace is the title, “Dammit I’m Mad”, which explains away the bizarre verse by setting the stage with an insane narrator while also containing it’s own palindrome within the title:
As impressive as it is to work out a palindrome poem this long, it doesn’t quite deliver the emotional payout that one can readily find in free verse or a simple sonnet.
So then, what’s a mirror poem?
Naturally, not all palindrome poems follow the same exact rules. Take Rita Dove’s “Mirror” for instance, from whom I discovered the form in the first place:
Her version of the palindrome poem consists of two poems positioned side by side, each one a mirror-image (with the exception of the punctuation) of the other.
In this sense mirror poems are actually two poems that are inverses of one another on a line-by-line basis, almost like a contrapuntal poem that doesn’t require each of the two poems to be read together along the same line.
How to write a mirror poem
Writing a mirror poem can be pretty fun to work out. It’s less demanding than your typical letter-by-letter palindrome and it’s interesting to experiment with punctuation and examine how a sentence transforms in meaning with an aptly-placed semicolon.
Here is a mirror poem I wrote after being inspired by Rita Dove’s “Mirror”:
The first thing you may have noticed is that my poem isn’t quite as good as Dove’s. The next thing may have been how the left-side stanzas ask two questions (see stanzas 1 and 3) and the right-side stanzas answer them. It’s a bit gimmicky but it adds some depth. This is just one technique to consider when working on your own poem.
It’s difficult enough just to write a poem like this that actually makes sense, but to have each “reflection” compliment each other and add a deeper level of word-play to the poem — that’s the magic of a mirror poem.
Check out the video below to see my writing process for writing “Echo”.
Here are some writing tips based on my experience writing this mirror poem:
- If you’re having trouble coming up with a central theme, idea, or emotional payout from the outset, just start with a single sentence and see if you can “reflect” the words on the other side of the page with line breaks and punctuation. Keep messing around like this until a general theme begins to appear, then roll with that.
- Draft the poem in pencil using a large notepad: you’re going to be making a lot of mistakes and juggling words and punctuation as you make your way through each stanza.
- Don’t be afraid to use a single word as its own line: you may be tempted to show off your literary contortionist skills by writing long sentences that can be read as a palindrome, but you risk losing coherence for the sake of technique.
- Brush up on your punctuation: learn the difference between a colon and a semicolon and how to properly punctuate around parenthesis if you’re not sure.
- Proofread, proofread, proofread: writing a poem like this can play tricks on your eyes after a while. It wasn’t until after I uploaded my YouTube video that I noticed misspellings on the thumbnail image (which has since been corrected).
You can check out some of my poetry here: https://www.instagram.com/cameronbradley.writes/
And watch videos about literature and the writing process here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrEc0mxfvUSAH3ihDkr-XzQ
