On Writing Your Own Poetry

 

Why should you write your own poetry? For most of my life I didn’t think much of poetry, I much preferred prose. I found hard to read. There were only a few poems that I understood or liked written by poets such as Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Frost, or T S Eliot. But I’ve been home a lot lately so I’ve had the time look at poetry again. And I have found that writing my own poetry is fun and rewarding. I believe that if you try it, you will find this too.

My first poems were pretty bad. I wrote them down and then forgot them. Luckily I saved them. Year later I went back and re-wrote them and they have become some my favorites Here is a poem I wrote 20 years ago,

Lunch Hour in the City

I escape my office to walk a busy street,

Through a stream of people in the summer’s heat.

Silent faces in a human hive, 

Does anyone here know that I’m alive?

 

Cars go by in transparent smoke.

Their fumes are making me cough and choke.

Demolition workers laugh, they’re having fun,

Their helmets shining in the sun.

 

Electric signs flash on high,

On buildings crowding out the sky.

Before me at a table is a grizzled old man,

Selling his cheap watches, if he can.

 

In a news stand I see magazine covers

Offering sweet promises of imaginary lovers.

Near naked women grab at my eyes.

I look, then turn away with a sigh.

 

Then my eyes fall on an empty space.

A building once stood here, in this place!

A place where people lived out their days.

Now this scene has gone away.

Now it’s stone chunks on the ground.

Silence replaces the living sounds.

I must return to work, and get on with my day,

Before demolition workers come,

and take my world away.

 

 

Here are some tips for writing poetry. At first Just write for yourself, you don’t have to show your poems to anyone. If you want to learn a poetic style find a poet who you like and imitate their style. You will find your own style after a while.  Here’s a poem I wrote based on the Robert Frost Poem the Road Not Taken

The Path Not Taken

Two paths diverged in a piney wood,
and undecided long I stood.

I looked at one, as it could be seen,
until I lost it in the green.

Then I took the other, just as fair,
Because its grass had wanted wear.

But for more walking, none could claim,
they were just about the same.

I’ll keep the first for another day!

Yet as I walked, I had to sigh,

Knowing how way leads to way,

I knew my promise was a lie.

I will reflect in ages hence;

How did I get to here, and why?

What has made all the difference?
I chose the path less traveled by.

 

When you first write a poem you may think it is very good, nearly perfect. But I have found that this is almost never true. Put it away for a day and don’t look at it.  The next day you will see that it still needs a lot of work.  You want to keep revising your poem until it feels just right, even if this takes a long time. Here’s a poem about that;

BAKING A POEM

When I first write a poem, it feels so alive,

I want to serve it ‘as is’ with pride.

But then, if I think to put it away,

And read it again on the next day;

Yikes, its lopsided!

And then I have to punch it down,

use my hands and twist it around.

Now it looks good!

But if once again I put it away

and let it rise for another day;

Damn, its half-baked!

How did that bland old word get in here?

And isn’t that image a bit unclear?

Oh, when will this silly poem be done?

So, I can begin another one!

It is good idea to read your poems aloud. Don’t worry about meter, if it flows smoothly it is probably alright. And don’t get too hung up on fancy poetic techniques. Techniques should support what you want to say and not be an object in themselves.

The Word Juggler

I’m a word juggler, that’s my name.

Poetic language is my game.

Watch me make five measured lines,

Hang in the air at one time.

I make sounds do leaps and bounds,

And I do amazing things with rhyme.

And the people say WOW! What do we do now?

And then they walk on all the same.

Where do we get our poetic inspiration from and what do we write about? When I get a feeling that there something important I want to say. I quickly jot it down before I forget it. Then later I develop it into a poem. Poems can be about any aspect of life; joyful, sad, funny, mystifying, even be about poetry itself. And give yourself free reign to express any thought or feeling you have even if it isn’t acceptable to other people. No one has to see it if you don’t want. Here is a poem about poetic inspiration:

Poetic Inspiration

Where does a poet get her inspiration from?

Let us go and watch it come.

It is much like catching butterflies,

She wanders fields and scans the skies.

And when a pretty one flits by,

She waves her word-net very high,

And catches after many tries.

It stays with her till poem is done,

And it grows in her till they are one.

You can see its colors in her eyes.

Poets have a special relationship with their poems. They are like our children. Here is a poem about that.

My Poem Child

I love my pretty little poem, 

Like a mother loves her child.

It took so long to birth her,

to grow her, comb, and dress her. 

Is she not bright and lovely?

Hear how she sings so sweetly!

There are no poems that can compare.  

There are no better anywhere!

Am I the only one who knows?

And can you tell me why?

It must be, I can only see,

with a loving mother’s eyes!

There are many rewards from writing your own poetry; you feel the satisfaction of using your creative abilities, you feel you are bringing something of value to the world, most importantly something magical happens when you write your own poetry. Vague feelings and thoughts become vivid and substantial and you gain valuable insights.  And you will find that your poem it sticks with you and keeps influencing how you think and feel for the rest of your life.