I like to write. I will write about anything and everything. I do like, however, to get my teeth into a tough subject. I have written about religion. I have written about law and order. I have written about love and lust. Sometimes I will play the devil’s advocate just to get a feel for the other side. What I write is not necessarily what I believe. Sometimes being on the wrong side of the argument is more fun, especially when you know it’s pushing other people’s buttons. If I can make one person think about an issue and consider the pro’s and con’s of a subject then my work is done.
Poetry is like making a joke. If you get one word wrong at the end of a joke, you’ve lost the whole thing. (W.S. Merwin)
Quite often, I will write a poem and think it is ok. A few days later, I’ll read it and think there is something wrong with it. It can be a word, a line, a stanza; it can be the tone or flow. It doesn’t have to be a big thing either; the smallest mistake can ruin the whole poem. I suppose that’s why we need editors. Having said that, my poetry is written for no-one but myself. It doesn’t bother me if no-one else likes it or enjoys it. If I have enjoyed the creative process, it’s been a good day. If I enjoy the finished product that’s a great day. If other people like it then that’s a bonus.
Poetry isn’t a profession, it’s a way of life. It’s an empty basket; you put your life into it and make something out of that. (Mary Oliver)
It’s true that many poets write from personal experience, even when writing about something completely unfamiliar they will find something that they can relate to and run with that. For me, my poetry is very much from person experience and I’m quite sure that if the people I write about knew what I was writing about them they would be mortified, hence why I never publish names of people or poems containing the names of people along with my poetry if I can help it.
I am also someone who cannot turn off my brain when it comes to poetic thought. Not every thought makes it to paper, though, and I’m sure that some excellent lines have been lost to the wind because I haven’t had a piece of paper and pen handy. I see a flower and want to write an ode to it. My heart skips a beat for a handsome face and an epic begins to form in my mind.
Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things. (T.S. Eliot)
I like to think I have personality and I know I have emotions. Some of my best (and worst) work has been at the height of an emotionally charged episode. I hope that I have injected some of my personality into my work. It’s a hard thing to judge, really. How much of yourself do you want to lay bear? The poems which work best for me are those that start out as pure, unadulterated emotion that, after reworking, develop a smoother edge. The initial outpouring is important; it lays the foundations for the work. The reworking is important also, it is being able to step out of yourself, to leave your own personality behind, and be objective.
Writing poetry is the hard manual labour of the imagination. (Ishmael Reed)
Finding the perfect word, or turn of phrase, to fit a line is the most difficult thing and the easiest thing in the world. When everything is flowing it hardly feels like work but when the words don’t fit and you need to exercise those little grey cells, the chore can seem laborious at best. The effort can sometimes feel like it’s not worth the reward, when the work is average at best and is what I like to call filler but when that magic happens and the right word worms its way through your brain to spill out onto the page then that is as near a religious experience as I am ever likely to experience.
Breathe in experience, breathe out poetry. (Muriel Rukeyser)
The older I get, the more I understand. The more I understand, the more I question. The more I question, the more I write. Every experience gives you the opportunity to expand your writing, to make it more in-depth or robust. The experiences that have shaped me are many and they all lend a little light so that I may see the big picture and the minor detail. Many of my works have similar subject matter but their metamorphosis can be seen as I have matured and experienced the world. The knowledge I have gained from living is equal to that I have gained through books and both inform my writing.
You can’t write poetry on the computer. (Quentin Tarantino)
Never has a more true statement been uttered. The computer is not conducive to creative flow; it is too impersonal, in my opinion. I prefer, for poetry, the feel of the pen and paper; the crossed out word, the changing of the order of the lines, the complete rewriting all show through in the hand-written form. A computer does not allow for humanity. For prose, I have no issue with computerised texts but poetry needs, for me, to be a more personal matter, which I can scribble and scrawl in my own fashion. I like to see the brain’s processes before I commit it to the computer screen.
I've got mixed feelings about poetry 'cause done well poetry is fantastic. But not many people are capable of doing it well. I think you should have some kind of license to perform poetry. A poetic license perhaps. (Craig Ferguson)
I tend to think everyone’s voice should be heard but those more capable should speak louder. I am not saying I should be one of those special people. I am in no doubt that not everyone like my work, or that everyone even likes poetry, and I also feel that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
To read some of my poetry visit my other blog: Nona's Poetry Corner
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