A Writing Tip by Katerina Canyon
WRITE INTO CONTRADICTION
As a poet, I find excitement in writing into contradictions. Race is one example. Black and white may appear to be a simple binary, but if we examine those distinctions closely and write honestly into the discomfort, history, assumptions, and tensions they contain, we can arrive somewhere far more complicated and interesting.
Do not write around contradictions; dig into them.
If there is someone in your life who makes you feel love and anger at once, write about that. If you are someone who laughs through grief, examine that. If something can be both beautiful and terrible, resist the urge to choose one interpretation.
Contradiction creates tension, and tension creates energy on the page. The tension is where the real work begins.
Katerina Canyon is a poet living in Harlem, New York. Her multiple collections include Surviving Home (2021, Kelsay Books) and Changing the Lines (2017). Her work explores race, memory, survival, and the tensions shaping both personal and collective experience. She is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and serves as Executive Director of the Peace Economy Project.
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