What is a Rabbit Hole Poem?

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I use the term ‘Rabbit Hole Poem’ to describe a common experience known to poets.

This is the phenomenon of sitting down to write on a certain topic, theme, style, or emotion and then realising that you have written, or are in the process of writing, something completely different. In this process the subconscious seemingly takes over, leading you away from your original work and towards something else. So away from the metaphoric riverbank and down the rabbit hole. Now, most of us know that, in Alice’s case, that rabbit hole leads to another world. And as poets, we have the free will to decide, when the rabbit shows up with his waistcoat and watch whether we will follow or ignore him and stick to the task at hand. 

I encourage poets to follow that rabbit.

You never know where your subconscious is taking you, where your line of enquiry will lead. It’s unexpected, unknown and magical. It’s ‘curiouser and curiouser!’. Remember that the rabbit hole leads to shrinking potions and expanding cakes, hookah-smoking caterpillars, grinning cheshire cats, mad hatters and angry Queens - a variety of things that reader never could have imagined.

But let me give you a more realistic example - we’re not all going to start dreaming up croquet with flamingo mallets and hedgehog balls. Perhaps you have settled down to write a poem about the legacy of your grandmother. You’d like to set the poem in her kitchen, you have a vivid recollection of her sturdy hands kneading dough for the bread that she made from scratch. You can smell the yeasty dough and the knowledge that in a few hours the scent of freshly baked bread will fill the room, you see the sunny patch of bench where the dough would rise in the tin, and the pattern of her apron. And you’re ready to write with a tone of nostalgia and longing, trying to capture the safety of the kitchen and your grandmother’s love.

Then, unexpectedly, other thoughts creep in - were her hands aching, her ankles? How many years had she done this for…and to what end? Did anyone appreciate it while she was alive? She’d dreamt of becoming a nurse, but married and had children. She was sharp-witted and energetic. Did she lament her situation? And now your mind has flicked to all the women in her small town, all the women of the era. Did they want more? The poem has shifted from the domestic to the political. Arguments for the essential role of unpaid female labour within society tug at your sleeve. Your jaw is set. 

This is not the poem you set out to write…you’re well and truly down the rabbit hole. So you might as well explore it. Keep going, flesh the poem out. Grandma will always be there, in her kitchen to return to (or the riverbank). You can always come back and write the poem you intended on a different day. For now, stick with the rabbit of your subconscious.

How to edit a rabbit hole poem

You started looking at grandma in the kitchen baking bread, and the rabbit hole has taken you to the politics of women’s unpaid labour. Which is great, however, the poetic devices for the beginning of the poem will need to be different to the end of the poem. So there are a few things that you can do.

Option one: Split the poem. Admit to yourself that you have two separate poems and divide them. This allows you to really focus on the political argument of your second poem and to treat the first poem with the love that you originally intended. This is a good option if you feel that your personal emotion towards your original poem is impacting your ability to be brave with your creative choices for the second part of your poem. For example, you want to write ‘f*c! the patriarchy’ but you know that grandma would not have approved and you’re holding back. 

Option Two: Keep the poem as one poem and bring the reader along on the journey. Show them how you went from nostalgia to anger, domestic to political. If you choose this option ensure that the poetic devices - imagery, tone, word choice etc work together in each part of the poem. Of course, these things can change, pace for example can speed up, but make sure you don’t lose the reader as you do this. You can contrast images to create a stern juxtaposition between the beginning and ending of the poem. You can create surprise. You just need to be aware of this in the editing phase and look closer at your poetic choices to ensure that they are working in each stage of the poem. 

Rabbit hole poems are wonderful and if you haven’t had the experience of heading down the rabbit hole through your poetry writing yet, I hope you get to experience it soon.