Where Bad Writers Turn Good
“I dare you to jump off the top,” we would say To whoever had turned up to play on each day. Billy, or Rosie, or Joseph, or Mike, The boy with the flag on the back of his bike, The two older boys whose names I don’t know, Who chased off the bully who bloodied... Continue Reading →
Once Upon a Summer It hadn’t been as hot that day, not as all the days before We ran through the grass, our shoes forgotten at the door We turned on the hose and the let the yard flood With the sun on our backs, as we slay dragons in the mud We danced through... Continue Reading →
So, you want to write a poem, but don’t know where to begin. Should it rhyme? Does it even have to rhyme? What about the different rules and poetry forms? Shrouded in more mystery than a school cafeteria lunch, it’s no wonder that writers can be somewhat hesitant to explore poetry.
What is the purpose of poetry, the ultimate end game? The goal is to invoke a feeling, conjure an image. Anyone can spat out what a meadow looks like. Your goal as a poet is to draw your reader in with your visual descriptions. As poets we are given the gift of creating emotions for readers that perhaps even they don’t understand, we can be the ones that open the window to insightfulness. And with as dark as the world is at the moment, I find this an incredibly empowering coping mechanism.
Poetry is the ultimate baring of the poet's inner thoughts. Not to say all poetry will be deep and serious (just as our inner thoughts can be lighthearted and fun, so can poetry), but that regardless of the tone the poem, you can always be sure that it is a reflection of the poet's mental state when they wrote that particular poem. As such, the poet must carefully construct each poem with full consideration of tone, word choice, and structure.
If you expect everyone to see colors the way you envision them while you're writing, then you may be disappointed. I may refer to blood as crimson while you think of it more as a ruby red. You may think the sky a soft Carolina blue, while I would paint the sky with a tint of periwinkle. While this may not seem a huge issue, it can complicate how your reader perceives your work.
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