I've been asked to write a lot of poems for people in my time, the first one wasn't really a request for original work but a borrowing of one I wrote to a girl, but it wasn't a poem. The Letter expressing my feelings to a sophomore girl didn't rhyme, keep time or contain stanza's; it wasn't metered nor stacked in lines or columns it was a simple letter to girl I had crushed on for over a year, I was afraid to give it to her and never did. My friend found it and begged to have it, he said "That poem you wrote is gold! The chicks go crazy over it!" I was to manly to admit that I wrote a love poem when I was 16. I was going to be comic artist, and all my time was spent increasing my skills as such. I still wrote small poems here and there over the year's, and I wrote regularly in my journals, crafting alternate tales to fill my pages because I never did anything; I spent most of my days in my room listening to the radio and drawing. After High school I was at my Art table and I drew an elvish figure with a sword, and for some reason the image felt important and I wrote next to it "Tale's Fairies Tell" I knew the story was going to be so epic that I needed to switch gears and become a writer, I pulled out a note pad and started scribbling, and I have never stopped.
What does this have to do with poetry you ask? Poets are writers and only fool themselves when they think they are not. Poets tell story's that speak for and to the emotional centers of the readers. Poets are the great puppet masters of the heart and move it to act and react to the passions of the writers own heart, a great poet can make you feel the very heart beat in which it was written.
I don't know if I'm a great poet, I like simple story's with beginnings and ends; I like a good punch line, I just like to write. Yet, there have been a lot of people asking me to teach them how to write poetry, And I have thought about it for a long time, mostly because I never think about it, I just do it.
So...
Poetry 101
I'm going to keep it easy and focus on free form poetry in this post. Its easy because it's just a bunch of blibbidy blab thrown down and some times arranged.
Step one:
Sit down in a comfortable place and pull out some blank paper or a Word or Google document, tissue paper, gum rapper...whatever... Stare into the unforgiving whiteness, go get a drink. Resume your staring after a snack, and maybe a quick Facebook app game. Once you have gotten all of that out of your system turn on some music to help the blankness of the page less scary and start to write words.
What words? Who cares just get rid of the white page. Do you have a topic in mind? write that...
My poem is going to be about race cars and how I like them.
Then you write how you feel about them...
I think race cars are cool, they go fast!
and...
oh um...they crash and that's cool too
...and...
Uhhhhhh...Simon Pagenaud?
This a great start! in these few line's we have enough information to write a poem!
Step two:
Just write! Here a quick one.
Race cars race
Race cars crash
explosions!
Fire!
Crash Crash Crashy Crash!
Watch out Simon Pagenaud! Your going to...
!!Crash!!
...too...
to
Cool
Here is the lesson from Step's One and Two: poetry is subjective.
No one can tell you whether or not its good. Its written subjectively and its read subjectively. What may be garbage to me might be gold to you. I remember a poem I found that was so ridicules that I would perform it to everyone I knew as a comedy act, using a stupid voice and everything. I probably read that poem 60 times! Then one day I was "preforming it" and a line hit me like I had never read it before and I started tearing up, my comedy act quickly became an inspirational recitation. My paradigm shifted and now I view that poem as sacred and I never preformed it again.
Poetry at its basics is pure emotion put to words. One day you might feel like...
life is a black hole that sucks the light out of the eye's of all who stare at the swirling abyss of pain mixed with two once's of absinthe.
My throat and belly burn with the wounds ripped wider by a raging heart.
take me to the darkness, let it swallow me until I am nothing.
Then another day...
The sun shines its rays of hope, splintering with-in the clouds into prisms of color and Brilliance!
The Bird's feel the dancing of the winds and swing and swirl in answer to the call of blissful life!
Drink deep the cup of celebration.
UNITY!
...then...
Cold Mistress.
Burns the skin
blackened leather
heart.
...to...
Whyyyyyyyyy does she tempt me so!!!
So good, she is gone, so free
Then shackled tightly...
To memory's of scent and sound!
Frame and form!
My dream wet with longing
My sheets frozen from neglect.
The price of freedom is pain and imprisoned hearts?
...and then...
Easy day!
Hip hooray!
Nothing of note...
...
...
...
Thank the Lord above!
See? And because its how I felt, one one can judge me, and that's my point.
Step Three:
Just write.
Step Four:
Share what you created!
It's ok! your a poet now, its inevitable, we all do it. If some ass hat gives you a poor review, use that anger and frustration to pen your next piece. You might be surprised what a bit of well placed rage can do for your poetical inspiration bank. Ask Steve...He hate's my reviews, yet his anger has always produced better works! One day he's going to kill me!
That's it for the basics of poetry writing. I feel like your well prepared to bravely traverse the rocky terrain that is beginner poetry writing, and that "rock" is merely card board cut outs the rest of us poets place there to scare you away from the writing Forums, because frankly we don't want to read it...but click here for mine.
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