A Writer's notebook, Day One-Hundred-Forty-Three
I am not certain why it is, but I am having difficulty getting myself into the right mental space to write poetry. Honestly, I write poetry a lot less often these days, and am out of practice, but it still seems rather strange. I think it is mostly an issue of just going for it, but I'm not really certain what to write about. It used to be that I could just sit down and bang out a poem, but I didn't maintain that ability, and now I need to get myself going.
Their is a part of me that is clearly blocked on the issue, though I don't know exactly why right now. I should just force myself to write, and tomorrow that is my intent. I am planning to spend a bunch of time tomorrow morning forcing myself to do the work. It is strange, as I know I can do it. Even now, some part of my mind is saying that all it would take is thinking in terms of line breaks, and I would shift into that mode. It may be that simple, really, and it is just a matter of getting the confidence to go for it again. I haven't, I am sure, lost the knack, it is merely that I have lost touch with it right at this moment, but I can feel it is there in my mind.
What I need is to remember how an idea for a poem starts. Unlike a story or a play, a poem is inspired by something much simpler, a single image or moment that needs to be shared with the reader. Even in my longer poems, I always found they were driven by a far more central concept, and were often aimed at a singular moment of experience or revelation. That way of seeing and thinking is different than those involved in other forms of writing, and I am attempting to see things through that lens again.
When I was younger and wrote poetry all the time, it was simple. I would read or observe something, and it would become an idea. Usually, it was a contrast or juxtaposition that struck me, I think, a strange detail that seemed out of place, perhaps, and suggested a deeper or different understanding. In thinking about prose based forms, particularly those with a narrative element, the process is quite different, as it often involves travelling farther from that central idea, but a poem must always remain centered. In a novel, you may return or not to the origin. The journey may spin so far from it that the original inspiration does not remain central through the whole of the piece, but a poem is always about returning to the origin, but with a new understanding.
In order to get back to writing poetry, then, I need to shift what I look towards for inspiration. It is a matter of tuning in to the right kinds of ideas, and recognizing them for what they are. In some sense, it is not the idea itself, but the orientation towards it. Certainly, similar thoughts that can lead to the creation of a poem could lead to a story or other written work. It is not that some things are better for poetry, but that the idea is interpreted through the lens of the form. In essence, as I have said, it is a matter of recalling a way of seeing the world.
Their is a part of me that is clearly blocked on the issue, though I don't know exactly why right now. I should just force myself to write, and tomorrow that is my intent. I am planning to spend a bunch of time tomorrow morning forcing myself to do the work. It is strange, as I know I can do it. Even now, some part of my mind is saying that all it would take is thinking in terms of line breaks, and I would shift into that mode. It may be that simple, really, and it is just a matter of getting the confidence to go for it again. I haven't, I am sure, lost the knack, it is merely that I have lost touch with it right at this moment, but I can feel it is there in my mind.
What I need is to remember how an idea for a poem starts. Unlike a story or a play, a poem is inspired by something much simpler, a single image or moment that needs to be shared with the reader. Even in my longer poems, I always found they were driven by a far more central concept, and were often aimed at a singular moment of experience or revelation. That way of seeing and thinking is different than those involved in other forms of writing, and I am attempting to see things through that lens again.
When I was younger and wrote poetry all the time, it was simple. I would read or observe something, and it would become an idea. Usually, it was a contrast or juxtaposition that struck me, I think, a strange detail that seemed out of place, perhaps, and suggested a deeper or different understanding. In thinking about prose based forms, particularly those with a narrative element, the process is quite different, as it often involves travelling farther from that central idea, but a poem must always remain centered. In a novel, you may return or not to the origin. The journey may spin so far from it that the original inspiration does not remain central through the whole of the piece, but a poem is always about returning to the origin, but with a new understanding.
In order to get back to writing poetry, then, I need to shift what I look towards for inspiration. It is a matter of tuning in to the right kinds of ideas, and recognizing them for what they are. In some sense, it is not the idea itself, but the orientation towards it. Certainly, similar thoughts that can lead to the creation of a poem could lead to a story or other written work. It is not that some things are better for poetry, but that the idea is interpreted through the lens of the form. In essence, as I have said, it is a matter of recalling a way of seeing the world.
Comments
Post a Comment