  Poetry
This week: Edited by: larryp
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Why does a poet write poetry? Where does he/she find inspiration? Why does he/she prefer writing poetry over other forms of writing? For many poets, these are very personal questions. I am the newest editor for the Poetry Newsletter. In this, my first edition, by way of introduction, I would like to share a few of my views and present the views of others in the highlighted poems. I am honored to be the newest member of the Poetry Newsleter editors. As fellow poets, your views are important to me. May a passion for learning more about the art of poetry burn deep within us.
larryp
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As the newest editor of the Poetry Newsletter, I thought I would discuss some of my thoughts on why I enjoy writing poetry. I write others things – short stories (fiction and nonfiction), essays, and newsletters – but primarily, I am a poet. There have been times when I began a short story that soon fizzled out, and I was left without direction to finish the story. A few weeks or months later, the words of that story take new life, but this time in the form of a poem. Very seldom, if ever, does it work the other way – where the inspiration for a poem becomes a short story.
As a poet, I enjoy researching. I love to research different forms and devices, for use in my own poetic writing. I have heard other poets say that they don’t like certain forms because of tight restrictions. While I agree that some forms are quite restrictive, I think it challenging to be able to say what I wish to say while remaining within the confines of those restrictions.
In researching for this newsletter, I found something interesting about the very word ‘poetry.’ The word comes from the ancient Greek word ποιεω, pronounced (poieo). The meaning of this word is ‘I create.” Poetry is creation. Currently, I am writing an epic poem based on the history of a Native American people and the biography of one of their leaders. There are many unknowns about this man. As a poet, I can create parts of this man’s life that are only hinted at in the annals of history. With the use of imagery, I can create scenes that will help the reader feel a part of the story-poem. (Researching the topic of the poem is important as well, for I must have a good grasp of the history of this people to make the poem believable.)
As poets, we can take things unseen in the physical, and reveal them through what has been called the ‘eyes of the heart.’ I think the ability to be creative is the primary reason that I write poetry. While writing my epic poem, I am transposing myself away from the present time and my home in the city, to another time and another place, where I can create beauty, through the ‘eyes of my heart.’
Poetry can be differentiated most of the time from prose, which is language meant to convey meaning in a more expansive and less condensed way, frequently using more complete logical or narrative structures than poetry does. This does not necessarily imply that poetry is illogical, but rather that poetry is often created from the need to escape the logical, as well as expressing feelings and other expressions in a tight, condensed manner.
http://www.poetry.org/whatis.htm
This is probably the second reason I write poetry – to escape the logical. We live in a world based on logic. Everything you do at work, in paying bills, and raising a family is logic-based. The creativity of poetry allows the heart and mind a certain amount of freedom unattainable in the everyday hustle and bustle. In poetry, through creativity and imagery, we can go where we could not otherwise, and we can take others along.
The third reason I enjoy poetry is the expressions in a tight, condensed manner. I am not only being creative, I am writing in verse. This requires even more thought and skill. This past week, I had a discussion with another Writing.com poet. We related how we both enjoyed diagramming and conjugating sentences in high school English classes. Personally, I think understanding sentence structure helps tremendously for writing poetry – in the “tight, condensed manner.” Poetry, over any other form of writing, has given me a great appreciation of the English language. For in writing a poem, it is often about finding just the right word or combination of words that will keep the poet within the tight, condensed framework required of poetry and still convey what the poet intends to express. Staying within this tight, condensed framework is one of the more challenging aspects of writing poetry.
Always encourage "just-right" words for tight writing and also encourage students to keep working on a poem--to revise until they feel they've found the right words to fit the meaning they are trying to convey.
http://www.msu.edu/user/greenem2/poetry.html
“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”
~~~Mark Twain
Another reason to write is for the challenge. Writing poetry is no easy task, for as Carl Sandburg (1878 ~ 1967) wrote, “Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the sky.”
http://www.personal-development.com/chuck/writing-poetry.htm
We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. ~~~ Dead Poet's Society
http://www.quotegarden.com/poetry.html
These are some of the reasons I write poetry, but I don’t think I really need a reason. I think I write it because poetry lives inside me, and write it I must or something within me remains incomplete.
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In the following highlighted poems, poets express their reason for writing and reading poetry, as well as sources for inspiration. Please read each poem and send the poet a review.
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As the new kid on the block, as far as full time editing newsletters is concerned, I have no feedback to offer from previous editions. (I turned 58 years old a few months ago, so new 'kid' on the block sounds good to me.)
Since I have no feedback, I will give each of you an opportunity to respond. What are the reasons you write poetry? What do you most enjoy about writing poetry?
I would love to hear your views. Any feedback to this newsletter would be greatly appreciated.
If you decide to create a poem on this topic, send the bitem link in an email to larryp, and I will feature it in the my next Poetry Newsletter in August.
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Poetry: July 04, 2007 Issue [#1811]
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