After A Kind of Hush

It's been a terribly long time since I last wrote in this blog... I hope the return was worth the wait...

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Two things have changed my relationship with poetry in the past few months. One was reading Camille Paglia's book, "Break Blow Burn", in which she comments on 43 of her favorite poems. Reading her essays made me begin to see the poems I read (and write, to some extent) in a different way. It made me more aware of word choices, imagery and phrasing - the spacing of lines and breaks and pucntuation... all nuances used in getting messages across. The other thing that affected me was I started memorizing poems - once a week a new one, every Wednesday. This began to really put poetry into my mind, and made me examine certain poems in different ways. Each walk to work now plays the role of mental catechism as I review the poems I've learned over and over. So, if you'll bear with me, I'd like to share among some of the essays on this site, my own personal thoughts on certain poems I've read and taken to heart. The first will be...


Question by May Swenson

Body, my house,
my horse, my hound -
what will I do
when you are fallen?

Where will I sleep
How will I ride
What will I hunt

Where can I go
without my mount
all eager and quick
How will I know
in thicket ahead
is danger or treasure
when Body my good
bright dog is dead

How will it be to lie in the sky
without roof or door and wind
for an eye

With cloud for shift
how will I hide?


This is a very intriguing poem about death. For all the gentle nature and imagery used it deals with death and the poet's question of how death will feel - how will it be without this mortal shell she calls Body? And note that Body is capitalized as tho it were a common name, as one would almost name a beloved pet.

Her metaphors are simple but strong - she compares Body to three things: house, horse and hound. Three similar sounding words. Three common things everyone is familiar with. And with these she shapes a view of Body that is startlingly deep.

House - the Body is our house, our home during our time alive on the earth. We see the world through its windows (the eyes), we hear through its ears, we taste, smell and touch. It is the roof over our thoughts. It is the shelter from the vagaries of Nature and other people. Some also call the Body a temple, tho that description adds religious tones to the image. But here Ms. Swenson uses House, which is more personal and private, more comfortable in feeling. After all, where else are we more ourselves than in our own homes?

Horse - comparing the Body to a horse defines it also as our means of transportation. Even in a car or plane we are still travelling in our bodies - our House travels with us, one could say. A horse is also a beast of burden (workhorse), and this image can apply to our Body as well. We carry things, pull things, cook, clean , raise children and do everything with our Body. And our Body is best when it is under our control, when it bears the "bit, reins and bridle"; we summon its energy and power to do our bidding. She describes her horse as "eager and quick", ready to work and be put to a challenge - and that is the feel of a healthy, lively body.

Hound - the poet specifically compares the Body to a hound as a means of detection and tracking. The Hound/Body helps us hunt, alerts us to danger and also can lead us to pleasure. It leads us to food and water, and if danger is present, then the Horse takes over again, and the Body can flee. Without the Hound, how will the poet survive?

The poet mourns the Hound/Body when it dies, and there is affection when she says, "My good bright dog is dead" - you can feel the tears she sheds over the loss... a loss anyone can relate to who has lost a family pet.

The poet mourns the loss of the Horse/Body, wondering where she can go then without her eager mount - without the Body, how will the spirit/soul/essence move?

The poet mourns the loss of her House/Body, and fears the feeling of no longer having a roof over her head, or a door to close and shut the world away... she imagines the cold feeling of having only the wind and clouds for cover... naked, Body-less, where can she hide?

The overall sense of the poem is a fear of Death, and the openness and abandonment that comes from loss of the Body. When all that is safe and known is gone she wonders, "Now what?"... and the unknown state of what lies after death is left for all of us to wonder about on our own. She offers no answers, only... questions. Do we share her sense of loss and fear? Do we all cling to our own Body so strongly that we cannot imagine an existence without it? Or are we among the faithful that trust and believe in an afterlife that makes the Body appear as a shell any of us would readily give up if we knew what else there was after? An afterlife we'd gladly accept in exchange for giving up our own House, Horse and Hound.

Media Blitz

I can't tell you how many times I've felt or told myself that I would never write anything again. It's usually something that hits me early in the morning, when I just wake up, and that right there could be the reason for the sense of loss... but sometimes inspiration seems a distant thing, and a part of me seems to always worry if it will ever come again. So I walk to work feeling low, on these mornings, full of doubt... noticing the way the streetlights pool their flow on the blacktop, and hearing the wind whistle through my earrings, and watching the clouds begin to break under the force of a new front coming through... and usually by day's end I have some new ideas. It's all about having faith, I think that's the key. And as much as I preach on this site about writing, these are lessons I am still learning too. I guess I'm hoping you'll read these articles and learn along with me. Learn faith and confidence in the same step-halt-step pattern that I seem to be using.

It's like I've written here before... the ideas will come... they will... you will write when it is time to write. Sometimes you need spells of dryness to let your mind refill itself... refill itself with new images and feelings... or let itself be trigged by sights and sounds to remember things from your past, things that can be written about and shared with others. It just requires the faith to know these ideas will come when they come, and to have the confidence to keep living while waiting for them to come, knowing the sweet release you'll feel when that bolt from the blue finally does hit... and you head for your computer... or pen and pad.

Still, there are things you can do to encourage inspiration, and one help can be to develope a writing routine for yourself. What this means is that you try each day to set aside a certain time that you will devote to writing or to at least the "percolating" of ideas in your mind. Here's my case in point...

... I try every day to sit at my desk from about 5pm or so... I have my computer there, my pens and notebooks, my box with scrap lines from poems that never got worked through, my music, my incense and my window... all vital things to me. And I try every day to give myself this time even if I don't write anything at all. Sometimes I just sit there... sometimes I read poetry from books... sometimes I have music playing... other times, I might sit and bang out 4 or 5 poems, feeling them come right on each other's tail... and I just want to sit and keep going, on through the night... and just feel that beautiful feeling of creating... of writing. But whether I produce anything or not, I give myself this time away from everything else to let whatever is going to happen, happen. And I don't mentally punish myself if nothing does come... I don't see it as wasted time at all. Because I still gave my mind time to think, and remember, and wander... I filled it with music and the poetry of other writers... or sometimes I even surf the net and look at art. All are things that can feed the mind, the soul and the source of creativity. Again... the writing will happen when it is time.

Don't ever begrudge yourself the time you DON'T write. You can't write if you don't live. And sometimes the strongest and most beautiful ideas and inspirations come when you're not looking for them. Take that walk in the evening... play with your children... watch that movie sitting on the coffee table... break out the new CD... go shopping. Live... and let your mind wander, let your memories be stirred, and let the things you see and feel become words inside of you. You'll find the writing will come then... and it will come sweetly.

If you drive yourself too much, or mentally kick yourself for what you might consider wasting time away from writing, you're going to tense up that creative muscle, and then nothing truly good and original will come from you. You'll be grinding the axel, so to speak... wearing out the break pad as you pressure yourself more and more to create. But that's like thinking about breathing, instead of just letting it happen. You'll choke.

I have a name I use for my hooky away from the keyboard, when I'm letting the world and movies and music fill me, and I'm awaiting inspiration... I call it a Media Blitz. And I don't mean that in the bad way... I mean it as letting music, images, TV, art, poetry,people and the world fill you and flow around you... let it all stir you. Let it take you to places you might not have thought of before... and go where it leads. It can lead to such wonderful originality... and in the end, it will ultimately lead you back to yourself... and you will write.

This Media Blitz idea came to me years back, when I would have some spare cash (that I probably should have saved, but being a dreamer and a poet, I always believe eventually my money tree WILL sprout bills of all denominations and I'll be just fine ;) ) and I would go to the Tower Records here in Cherry Hill and have a bit of a shopping spree. Ladies and gentlemen, I easily confess... I am a man who loves to shop, and can do it quickly and efficiently, lol... but I would go there after work, and get some magazines I liked, maybe a CD or two, and then end up in the movie section looking for something good to take home... then grab some more incense on the way to the register. The I would come home, and for the afternoon and next few days, I would immerse myself in my new finds. I would take in the music, the articles and pictures, and the drama and imagery of the movies... and even the scent and curls of smoke wafting in the air from my incense. And I would do this, and find myself stirred to want to create, to want to do something grand of my very own. Memories would be awakened, or new images created... and it was then only a few short steps to my keyboard.

I just want all writers out there to understand the value of walking away from it for some time. You just can't force inspiration... you have to let it happen. You may only write one great thing in your life, but wouldn't that be enough? To write even just one thing that maybe thousands would relate to, adore and take to heart? It's never about quantity... there are no score cards in art and writing, no matter what anyone else tells you. It all comes down to personal satisfaction, and knowing you did the best you could, you told what you had to tell... and that is came from the heart. Go walk... go listen... go watch, and go read... then go write, when you're ready... when you're ready.

The Lesser Taken Road

"Concentrate, boy... shut out everything but the sound of my criticism." Homer Simpson to Bart

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I've written about criticism before, I'm writing about it today, and I'm sure I'll be writing about it again in the future - God willing. And I want to say at the start that I don't harp on criticism from any personal reasons. I haven't had my work slashed and burned by other writers or readers - I've had people not like my work and make their comments and opinions about it, but that's always fine with me. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. And to me, poetry and writing are just like the music industry - there is plenty of material out there to enjoy, some good and some bad, but there is always something out there for everyone.

My biggest concerns about criticism are about what it can do to new writers - how it can affect their writing, often for the bad, and how many times the fear of criticism can keep a new writer from even sharing his or her work at all. Over my years of writing and working in the Yahoo Groups, I can't tell you how many times I've been approached on the sly by someone saying they write poetry also, but are too afraid to share any in public. And it's always for the same reason - they worry about what others will say. Now this is really a sad thing, because this new writer could have some really amazing and emotional work sitting there that should be taken in and enjoyed by others - but instead, this nagging fear makes them keep it hidden. And unless something major comes along in their life and changes their opinion, that work will stay unknown - and that is a terribly sad thought.

Now I know there are writers out there who want criticism. I see them out there sharing their work and baring their necks, adding the little flags to the titles of their works, "Criticism welcome!". And that is fine - if that is what they want, so be it. But I often wonder what they do when they get the criticism they ask for... do they change their work to fit what the critic replies about? Do they change one poem, or does this criticism affect their whole writing scheme in general? These are the little questions that worry me, since in effect, if the answer is yet to either of them, that means that someone's critique of another's work winds up steering that writer off course... off their course.

See, one thing I notice about people who offer criticism about poems, is that they tend to shy away from things that are new - new images, new word usage, ect. A poet might write something very personal, totally derived from his or her life, using words and images that mean the most to them... and then along comes a reader who reads this poem, shakes his or her head, and offers the writer suggestions on the piece. Why are you using that word there? What does that image mean? Maybe this word here will offend others? They are opinions that are all well and good, but if the writer changes the work because of them, then originality is lost. Thoughts and images that are new and challenging are replaced with more easily digestible ones - and then a poem that was new and powerful becomes watered down and benign.

That is my one main problem with criticism - how it affects originality. I've often had people read my own poems, and cyber-ly shake their heads over certain words or images. And it is a shame if I write something that they don't get, but at the same time, it's not my problem. If I am happy with what I wrote, and it expresses my thoughts and feelings in a manner that I want them expressed... then I will not change even a single word. I fear all this bartering and dealing with criticism just winds up making all poetry the same, it wears away the edges and the new corners. People often fear the new... that is why pop music is so popular - it's designed to be accessible to a wide group of people. Nothing harsh, nothing new... it's done pretty and sweet and can be taken internally in large doses. And I get sad a lot because I see poetry going down the same path very often.

Sometimes a poem just needs to be read - not explained... not dissected. Poetry, like art, has a certain "Ah!" factor to it, where when you read a poem it either hits you or it doesn't. Now maybe it won't hit you that first day you read it... maybe it won't hit you ever... in that case, you just find a new poet to try. But if it does hit you, you will know it. Something will click, you will see and feel things, memories will flow and be ransacked... and you will understand. And the beauty also is, a poem can hit you this way many times in your life, in different ways. As you live and experience life and go thru new phases, a poem once read 2 years ago may wind up meaning a whole new thing to you when you come across it again. Music and art share this as well.

It's a scary thing to be a writer, and to put your work out there. You can be criticized if it's bad, and also if it's good... because some people just enjoy tearing others down to make themselves feel good. And that is another reason to keep a wary eye on criticism - sometimes it's motives will have nothing to do with making you a better writer... there could be all sorts of reasons for someone to play with a writer's mind and feelings. But as a writer you have to be strong. You have to stand up for your own work, you have to totally believe in its value - whether others like it or not, you can't give in to the masses. If you write from your heart and say the things you want to say, then you've already won. No matter what others think, you are a success. And be proud if your voice is different from other writers... new voices and new ideas are what are needed out in the world. Heck, personally I even get a perverse sense of pleasure when someone says they don't quite get my work, or a new poem I've shared. I like to think that, Good, maybe I've stretched things a bit then... and odds are good that if the voice is different enough, the image new and intriguing, then the more memorable the poem becomes.

I think criticism is good in some limited areas. It can be of value to the very young and new writer, especially when it comes to grammer and spelling. Those are two areas that a writer needs to be strong on, so that his or her writing can be clear. And as in my other articles on this site, I can again relate this all to music... as a guitarist, I started out learning the rules and the theory of music... it's how you first learn to talk and create. Once you learn and understand such things, then you can learn how to bend the rules, and do all kinds of new things. But if a writer's spelling and basic grammer are terrible, then a reader will be distracted by them and not even be able to take in what the writer is trying to say... it jars the reader too much for them to be able to concentrate. Good spelling and grammer are really not difficult to learn either, and often if you read enough you'll develope a sense of your own of what feels right. Learn the basics... learn the difference between "your" and "you're", things like that... they may seem insignificant, but you'd be surprised the difference they make in the end, in keeping a poem understandable and flowing.

You learn the rules... then you learn to bend them. Because poetry should be very much like language, like the spoken word. I know when I read poetry, in my mind it is as though the author were speaking to me, not just my reading dry words on paper. And I find when I write, I'm writing just as tho I were talking to someone. This is the reason why spoken word and poetry reading sessions are so popular - because if poems are done right, they flow just like a voice or a song.

But one of the hardest things for any writer is to have faith in his or her own work. Some writers will suffer more than others, their work coming under fire all the time. And more strength will be needed from them to stay their course. Others will write with ease, and find their work accepted and loved with ease. There are a world of paths out there that writers must walk. But if you stay true to your heart and your instinct and your art, believe me - you can't go wrong. No matter what anyone says... no matter how tough the criticism. In the end, it's really just down to the writer and their work... and the peace you find in creating it.

In Praise of The Dictionary

(Holidays are over, now git back ter writin'!)



Up until last summer I had the same dictionary for about 25 years... a paperback one about the size of a James Michner novel, edges worn and browned, with a missing cover. It was one my mother had gotten me from one of the cleaning jobs she did at a small shop that sold paperbacks... after a time they'd throw out any old books and tear the cover off so they would get credit - and my mom found the book in a box with their trash and brought it home to me. And I like to think I gave it a good life considering where it was heading.

But last summer I realized, "Hey, I feel like a real writer now!", and decided it was time to invest in a true dictionary. You know the kind, the big hardcover ones that should have a pedestal all their own - or at least come in handy for cracking nuts, as the case may be. So I went to the local bookstore and found a big momma of a dictionary... Webster's New World College Dictionary, supposedly the very same one used by the Associated Press (if I'm to believe the little logo on the cover). And talk about a find, it also came with a free Thesaurus - well, you can imagine I didn't need any more convincing. Home it came.

Since I love to read and to write, and you probably do as well, you know how wonderful and important a good dictionary can be... there's a little power to even just holding it in your hands. Personally, I love just paging through it randomly, coming across words that are new to me, or even freshening up on the meanings of words I use all the time. It's the same thrill as paging through a good set of encyclopedias - you never know what you'll come across of interest.

And since we are writers, words are our tools... which makes the dictionary our toolbox. I think it is something every writer needs to keep handy, a good heavy one, with deep definitions and maybe even little sketches. Page through it regularly. Study meanings... origins... see where the many words we use come from, and admire the beauty and versatility of the Enlish language. I guarantee you it will help your writing.

One thing I do often with mine is to page through it randomly and make a list of words that are new to me. I then keep this list on my desk for when I write, and sometimes I find that one of those chosen words will fit perfectly in a new poem. I don't force a word into a poem, since then when someone reads that poem they will feel that word like a nail that isn't sunk properly in a 2X4... it will "pop" out of the piece, and not in a good way.

But I suggest using caution when using new words this way... some people can tend to over do it. I've read poems out there that about make my head spin from all the fancy words crammed into one poem, and that really in the end doesn't add to the poem. It takes away from the flow and understanding of the piece. Heck, if I need to grab my own dictionary to find out what every other word in the poem means, then I'm going to give up on the poem. And a poem isn't about drilling new words into the reader, or showing off your own vocabulary skills... it's about sharing an image, feeling or experience... and those things should be able to come across easy to each other. We're all human, we all share pretty much the same feelings and trials in life - a poem should be able to reach a major percentage of the world.

I suggest using maybe one or two new words per poem, if that is something you're into doing... enough so that you as a write feel you have expanded yourself, and maybe said what you needed to say in a more precise way... but not enough that you've overpowered your reader - instead, you taught them also a new word or two, in addition to touching them with your poem. I feel moderation falls into the realm of writing as well as eating, lol.

But as you browse your dictionary and enjoy the pleasure of learning new words and meanings, don't let that take away your desire and in fact your poet's right to play with words. Because poetry is not just about rules and grammer and structure... it is also art. And art must be original and it must flow and it must also grow and fill new areas. It is an adage I learned from music, that also applies to writing - first you learn the rules, then you learn how to break them. And this is a key point where originality can step in. Yes, rules and structure are important - but you have to also learn to breath around and outside of them, and follow where your heart wants to take you at times.

One thing I sometimes do in my own writing, and I've seen it in some of the most famous poets' work, is to use a word in a different context than it was meant for - case in point: my poem, "Tenement Juliet"... in this poem I was writing about a Hispanic girl I knew at work, and about how different our lives are, and how impossible it might be for two people like us to ever form a deep relationship... I think sometimes people are just too different to make things work... so this poem is about feeling that gap, but also finding the bridges there too, for the things we all do have in common... but anywho, in this poem I used the word "butters" to describe how my "Juliet" walks... now it was something purely subconcious when that word came to me... it just was there, and it felt right, it felt like inspiration, so I used it. It was only in time after writing the poem that I realized just how it worked (to me, at least), tho in truth the word really stands out from the context of the poem. But I felt it described the smoothness of her movements, I felt it gave a warmth and sweetness to her image... and I find it also gave a color to it as well, since at that point of the poem she was walking in the light of the setting sun, and I saw it in my mind as being very warm and golden on her skin. So it was all a case of a word hitting me from nowhere, and not really fitting in with the poem, but yet I felt it worked so right. I don't think it's something you can force, but I'd like to suggest that when you're writing, and you feel something like this hit you - GO WITH IT! There is a 99% chance it is coming from some inspiration inside of you, and maybe after it's written you'll see what it all meant. At the least it will add a uniqueness to your poetry, if you sometimes twist words a bit and think in a new way.

Another little trick I enjoy sometimes is actually making up words that don't exist, yet you still get the feel of a meaning there - case in point, my poem "Poema", that is in my first book. I am writing about my first love when I was 19, and I am adding celestial imagery in it since astronomy was something that she and I shared. And I used the word "Gravitic", which as far as I have found does not exist in any dictionary. But again, it came to me, I liked the feel of it when I read it and spoke it aloud - so I used it. And to me it still conveyed a feeling and a meaning, of being light but also being heavy and grounded... basically, of how it felt to love this young girl. I've done this a few times in other poems of mine, and again it's something that just comes to me and then I run to the dictionary and try to see if I'm remembering a word or is it something strange and not catalogued. If it's something totally created, then I next have to look it over a bit and see if others will read it and possibly get the same meaning and feeling I'm trying to get across if I use it. Does it say what I want it to say? Does it flow to the point where the reader will understand it even tho' it really isn't a word? This is kind of the outer fringe of my artsy world, so it's something I explore with caution... but again, when it happens, when these words or ideas hit me, I don't toss them away... I feel they are coming from somewhere and have some value. And I think it is in these little tweaks and tears that originality can find root.

Words are beautiful things. If you write, then you have to love words. They must be like wine or candies or fruits to your mouth. They should conjur up images and feelings, memories and desires. Some will be negative, some will be good... but don't be afraid to use them all... or afraid to learn new ones.. or fear finding new ones that are all your own. There can still be expression even with a little jibberish thrown in, to keep yourself and the reader sharp. Life and writing are all about learning, and that is a process that never ends. So hold those beautiful creatures called words close to you, and share them frequently. And give in to inspiration when it comes to find you and bring you news.

Sometimes You Don't

More from Brenda Ueland's book, "If You Want To Write"...


"I learned from them (her class on writing that Ms. Ueland taught) that inspiration does not come like a bolt, nor is it kinetic, energetic striving, but it comes to us slowly and quietly all the time, though we must regularly and ever day give it a little chance to start flowing, prime it with a little solitude and idleness. I learned that you should feel when writing, not like Lord Byron on a mountain top, but like a child stringing beads in kindergarten - happy, absorbed and quietly putting one bead on after another."

"And it is Tolstoi who showed me the importance of being idle - because thoughts come so slowly. For what we write today slipped into our souls some other day when we were alone and doing nothing."

"If you write, good ideas must come welling up into you so that you have something to write. If good ideas do not come at once, or for a long time, do not be troubled at all. Wait for them. Put down the little ideas however insignificant they are. But do not feel, any more, guilty about idleness and solitude."

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It may sound contrary to what I've written here before, all the times I've said that "A writer writes"... but there are also times a writer doesn't write - and that is still good. Consider it the fine print below "A writer writes".

There are time we all dry up for a bit, or feel we have no ideas left. I think every writer feels that at some time or other, and it's natural. And I don't believe it's through any fault of the writer, it's not something you aren't doing right, or something you are doing that's "ruining the flow" - I think every so often the mind just needs to shut down and recharge. Your cup has been emptied, and you need to sit still and let it refill... with ideas and inspirations.

I can make another music analogy here too... think of all the bands who have made great first albums... albums where every song is perfect, from the lyrics to the music, and you can listen to the whole thing over and over again and always find something new and brilliant in there. Now, think about that band's second album - the one that was ok, but kind of flat. Just didn't have what the first album did. And usually the reason that happens is that the band was rushed to put out that second album without much chance to recharge their inspirational batteries and find things to write about... they needed some time to let life fill them up again. They had all their lives up to that point where they wrote that first album to pour their lives into it... that is why that first album impacted so strongly. Then suddenly they're famous and making money, and the record company wants another album out by next year - and they give the band 2 months to write new material. Only in a rare situation can a band make another amazing album right away, and that is only if there is deep, genuine talent in there. Otherwise, the second album is going to feel weak and rushed, and just not as strong as the first one.

The same goes with writing, and with poetry. Sometimes in your writing career you need to just let it all rest. You need to let some time and some life pass to fill you up again, give you new inspirations and ideas to write about. And the kicker added to this is - you also can't let yourself feel guilty for taking this time to recharge.

I've known a few writers who go nuts if they don't write for a while. They get frustrated and even angry, mostly at themselves, and they proclaim they have writer's block and then search like mad for a way to cure it. What they need to do instead is relax and let this mental "vacation" have its way with them. Just because you don't write today, or this week, or even this month, doesn't mean you won't ever write again. Personally, I have gone years without writing, and tho' back in those days I wasn't as enlightened about the writing process as I am now, it was very frustrating. But now I realize those years actually did me good. They let me turn my focus on my life and the things I had to do and deal with at the time, and NOW I can turn back and draw up those experiences and find I have something to write about.

It's not an easy lesson to learn tho, for some people. Some writers I've known drive themselves so fiercely to write constantly, but they find that what they write isn't satisfying to them anymore. And this is because they are inspirationally drained. They write and write and write, and soon it just becomes words strung together like birds on a wire. There's no meaning, no depth and no real inspiration there. But they see writing as a race, so they push and push and push, and only grow more frustrated as they go on. If they would only take a step back and put the computer/typewriter/pen away for a while, and even forget they're writers for a spell, they would hear the call of inspiration in a fresh way again, and then they would discover new and fulfilling things to write about. It's never about having nothing to write about - THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT!!! There really is no such thing as writer's block... it's a draining of the inspiration inside of you. And when you're drained like this, the passion inside of you fades, and the words don't come and you cradle your head in your hands and wonder why it's all over. But it's not over... you just need fresh air.

Now all of this is a lesson that is very personal to me, because I fell into this routine when I first got back to writing poetry in 2001. I had my first computer, got into some of the online groups, began writing and felt good. And people were enjoying my poems, and that felt good too. So I kept writing. But soon I found days would come here and there and no new ideas would appear to me. When it would happen one day, I would muddle through it. When it would stretch to a few days, I would find myself getting tense, and right away thinking it was all gone. And I'd be there in the morning before work, looking at myself in the bathroom mirror and wondering to myself, "What if I never write anything again? What if it is all gone?". Scary thoughts for someone just rediscovering himself and his love of writing.

Luckily, at the time, I had made a very wise friend, a woman who became a second Mother to me and who I in fact call Mom. She is an artist and writer as well, and from time to time we would talk about our work, and I finally told her my frustrations and what I was feeling. And she said something to me that got me thinking and saved my from my torture - she told me, "You will write when it is time to write". This really stopped me in my tracks, when she said this to me... it was something I had to sit and think about, turn over in my hands and look at it from all angles. But I found the more I thought about it, the more right it felt to hear, and the better I felt. Because if you think about those words you will see how they can free you as a writer. They take away the demand of writing - you don't HAVE to write... you will write when it is time to write. When the words are there... when the feelings are there... when it is time, you will sit down at your desk or wherever, and you will write.

I felt the peace from these words really melt into me.

It helped me realize that it is ok to have times where you don't write, where you feel empty even, of things to say. You just have to remember and believe that such times will not last - especially if you relax about it, and have faith that the words will come again. It's a case also of remembering that writing isn't about quantity, but about quality. You can push and push yourself and maybe write a hundred poems a week... but what does that matter if none of them are any good, if you don't feel better or relieve to have written them. The frustration will only grow deeper inside of you. But if you wait and show patience, and have that day of inspiration come to you, and you sit and you write... you could write that one poem for the whole month that anyone who reads it will sigh, or cry, or laugh or remember... and you will be satisfied.

Take the idle times when they come. Go back to your reading, or your music, or your movies... take walks, play with the kids... read the newspapers, watch the faces in the malls and stores around you... accept the times when there is nothing to write about it seems, but knowing that soon that inspiration will come to you and fill you up again. And you will sit with your pen, or typewriter or computer, and be absorbed, happy, and adding those beads from your own mind and heart... one after another.

The Pearl

A quote from Brenda Ueland, in her book, "If You Want To Write", abook I think every writer should have as a bible for their work...

"It is like this: there are wonderfully gifted people who write alittle piece and then write it over and over again to make itperfect - absolutely, flawlessly perfect, a gem. But these peopleonly emit about a pearl a year, or in 5 years. And that is becauseof the grind, the polishing, the fear that the little literary pearlwill not be perfect and unassailable. But this is all a loss of timeand a pity. For in them there is a fountain of exuberant life andpoetry and literature and imagination, but it cannot get out becausethey are so anxiously busy polishing the gem.

And this is the point: if they kept writing NEW things freely andgenerously and with careless truth, then they would know how to fixup the pearl and make it good, in two seconds, with no work at all."



Revision... this is a topic I've seen discussed a lot in the online poetry Groups I'm involved in. Who does it? How do they do it? Should it be done?... at what point is a poem considered "done"?

Personally, I don't revise my work... and you can decide later if that's a good thing or not, hehe. Let's call it three parts inspiration and one part laziness. But I have a hard time going back over something I've already done and trying to make it "right". And I can explain my feelings about this behaviour.

To me, writing is a lot like music (and this is something I'll talk about again I'm sure among these articles). I played guitar for years in bands here in New Jersey, and I wrote music all the time. The best thing of all tho, to me, was improvising. Whether it was just getting up to jam with some guys for fun, or creating music for a song right at the moment, there was a freedom and thrill from flying by the seat of my pants that way. Sometimes it really worked, and yes, sometimes it didn't. But that was all part of learning how to create, and also learning how I worked as an artist, what my strengths and weaknesses were.

So I find I approach my writing the same way. A line or piece of a poem comes to me, and I go with it, flesh it out and get it down. Then, I either keep it if it turned out good to me, or I toss it, maybe salvage a few lines here and there for something later on. I find it really difficult to sit down and go over the whole thing again and try to edit or revise it. To me, that is like painting a picture, and then washing it. The more you work on it, the more the intensity and flavor of the feelings fades. In fact, if you keep on revising a poem and even days later still are working on it, is it even the same poem anymore? Did you lose something forever then, simply because you kept hammering at it?

I think there needs to be a freedom to art, a flow of the conciousness and heart. Words and images are chosen and felt at the moment when the inspiration is there, and yes, maybe revision could make those things clearer, but too much could also ruin the whole poem. So I'm not saying revision is a bad thing, if it's something you feel strongly about, but I think there needs to be a balance between reworking something and finally reaching a point where you can just let it go. Let's face it, sometimes bad poems are written, and there's nothing that can be done about it. No amount of revision is going to fix it. So, you cut your losses, learn from your mistakes, and move on. And this harps back to my own personal mantra of everything you write being a step forward. This includes even the bad poems. Because you can learn from your mistakes as well as from your triumphs. To someone learning to create pearls, even making a flawed pearl is still a valuable lesson.

Poetry Granted

I've been involved in the online poetry groups for several years now. I've read a lot of poems. I've seen a lot of poets. I've read the work of some good ones... and I've read the work of some bad ones. Which often makes me think - what is the difference? What makes a poem good? What makes a poet good? (And I remind all you readers here and now, again, that everything I write here is purely my opinion - take it or leave it, and I mean no disrespect).

I think the main difference between a good poet and a bad poet is simple - why are they writing poetry? Some write for the wrong reasons, and I've met more than a few of those. I've especially come across more than a few men who only write poems just to try and get women. One guy even told me that the only reason he writes poety is, "to melt the panties off of women"... I had to ponder that remark for a bit. Of course, more women read poetry than men, so I can see some of the logic involved. But having that as a motivation for writing just seemed very off to me. (Tho' it's about the same as when rock musicians say they only got into music to meet women - and often their music shows how weak their motivation is then). So I'm not going to say it's a right or wrong thing to do... but from a purely poetical standpoint, I think the mark is being missed.

And that brings me to another sign of what makes a poet good or bad - a good poet will show growth over time. It's like I said in another article on here - writing is like walking, and everything you write is a step. Sometimes it might seem like you're taking a step back, it can be so frustrating, but in truth everything you write is a step forward. Remember, you can even learn from mistakes, so that makes mistakes valuable too! But a poet who writes from a motivation like the one of just trying to meet women, they won't grow. They won't explore. The will write the same kind of stuff, using the same romantic "buzzwords" over and over, for maybe years. And again, that is fine.... whatever floats your boat. But if you write poetry from within yourself, to express yourself, then more has to happen. Steps need to be taken. Growth needs to come.

I believe the only thing a poet truly has to offer the world is - his or herself. It may sound Barney-ish, but put another way, there is only one you in the world. No one else will think, feel, react and imagine exactly the way you do. And this is where originality comes from. When you are ready to stand there and write from your heart, your very soul, and be honest about the things inside of you... the things you see, and desire and feel... then you will find a spring of originality. You will write about things others can relate to, yes... but they will have your flavor, your vision, there as well.

This is where I begin to ache for other poets, when I read their work. I ache for them to tell me more. I know what love is, you don't need to write that down for me... I know the joy, bliss, passion... all the words used... but what I don't know is how does that love look, smell, dress, walk, eat and live for you. What do you see when you think about love? And heck, love doesn't even have to be the subject, but I'm using that as an example... it could be about any subject. What is important tho is that you show from your own personality and life what the subject means to you. Put in a simplistic way, I wish to read more description... but I'm saying "description" in a broader sense than just adjectives. There should be an image that you see, that means something to you, that you can share.

Here's a rough example, from a guy's point of view - writing about watching the woman you love walk across a room... it's easy to say she's smooth, or sways sweetly... but if her walk makes you think about the way smoke curled and twirled effortlessly from your father's pipe til it filled the room with its presence, then you've hit on an image that is unique and personal. And it is also telling me more about you, the writer, than just using adjectives. I have not only learned how deeply this woman's walk affects you, but I have also learned that you had a father who smoked a pipe, and you were young and observant enough to watch how that smoke moved through the air of your childhood home... and now you see it's free motion again in the movement of her legs and hips. This adds depth to a poem, this adds character... it also makes the whole thing more memorable to a reader - you can imagine that the next time the reader sees pipe smoke they'll imagine your lover's walk, or when they see their own lover walk toward them, they'll think, "Yes, I can see what you saw, it's in my life as well."

Writing in this way adds depth, it creates more expression in your work. More interest. I think everyone has a deep library of images and "mental art" from their lives and the things they see around them. If you can connect this with your writing, then your writing will grow and take a big step forward. You'll find more pleasure in what you write, get more of that feeling of "Yes-ness" in your poems. And a reader will be touched deeper by what you share. A reader will get to know you more, share your feelings and passions. They will see through your eyes.

Have the motivation to grow... to explore things in writing. Turn your writing on its head sometimes. Write about things you don't like sometimes... write about grit and dirt and rainwater, bills, taxes and stolen things. There is so much to write about, and you have feelings and images and impressions about them all, if you think about them. The words are there then, waiting to be used. Ready for you to... write.