Waxing Poetic

docvoc

United States5491 Posts

February 19 2013 03:53 GMT

Hey TL, I'm sorry for not writing my blog last week. I'm going to have two this week because of the long weekend I had. I decided that instead of writing something while sick, I'd rather just read the worst breakups thread and watch the moderation totals stack up

. Also, I didn't want to write a valentines day blog because I felt that I should save my next girl blog for this coming up weekend. I need to space them out, ya know.

Poetry

Recently I've been reading more poetry than I ever had in the past. Recently, especially due to school, I've read Frost, Dickinson, Donne, and soon Yates and Keats. I've done some work on my own and I've read Ross Gay's work, which to be quite honest is brilliant. I don't know any other way to say this, I've been blindsided by poetry. It just works, poetry just is. It is shiny and tangible and logical and emotional and contains every little bit of reading control on the part of the author that essay writing has except it gives the poet more freedom to be expressive; I feel like a little kid being given his first Coca-Cola - let me tell you, that shit is magical.

A while ago I asked a tutor of mine to help me write better. He gave me a bunch of books to read over the Summer and Spring Break, and now I feel like I need to not only become a stronger writer, I have to become a not shit poet. The first question I have is not why I love poetry, I'll pose that question later, but I already know the answer to that; my first question is how to write poetry better. I don't mean that I want to become the next Robert Frost. Yes, that would be great, but let's be honest here, I want to get off the ground first

. How does one go about writing poetry well? How do the greats become so great? Hell, after reading Frost, the guy seems so cynical that if I copied him I'd lose all of my friends. On that same note, Mowing and a Tuft of Flowers along with Ghost House are some of my favorite poems ever. How do I use logic to prove points, how do I contradict myself and yet sound like an anti-dumbass? I'm really confused here.

My poetry is very simple, hell it isn't even Sonnet form and that was outdone 400 years ago it seems like. I'm confused how I go about becoming an accomplished poet. This is something that really speaks to me, I find it fun making new bits of poetry, just like I find philosophy fun or Maya (3-D modeling program) or learning languages. It has that difficult side to it, and then it has the rush of success that courses through me when I find the "perfect" line. I'm not saying I try hard all the time, but those are academic-type activities that I enjoy, to name a few, and poetry has quickly risen to the point where I find myself thinking of poetry verse whenever I day dream. I'm at the point where I just think of poetry that I could give to my girlfriend.

+ Show Spoiler [yeah, I've read some Poe too] +

If only poetry was this easy

Now I'll admit that poetry isn't exactly the most manly of all activities. I won't deny that if I spent that extra time in the gym, I'd be a bit more fit, or if I spent that time on any other activity that would make me somehow more of a stereotypical strong man, I could compensate for being short as hell; however, I don't want to. I like poetry, I don't know if I'm going to love it yet, but as of right now, I'm falling for it. Kind of like philosophy in a lot of respects, it's your typical "softy" stereotyped study, and just like I am doing for philosophy, I've begun the climb to understand poetry. Really though, I'm a noob at poetry while I space out thinking about the next great line.

TL, how many of you guys have had this feeling about a topic? I'd like to know if there are any great poets on TL or if anyone here can point me in the right direction, especially about the essay writing I mentioned above

. On a more life lessons kind of note, I'm curious about you guys and your experiences like this. I'm a young guy, I have a lot of time to pursue all this stuff, but what about you all? Any cool experiences that have come out of pursuing something like poetry which is a more abstract topic? I'd love to hear them.

+ Show Spoiler [a poem for V-day] +

Sometimes the future appears dreary
Harsh, thrashing your dream share
Sometimes the future appears bleak
Cold, just a dewdrop – dropped – into frigid air

Sometimes the past seems golden
El Dorado, overflowing with honey
Sometimes the past seems greener
Arcadia, so lush – shiny – life so sunny

You live in the present
Turning past into future, dusk into dawn
You live in the now
My love for you continues, love infinitely on and on

Mothra

United States1448 Posts

February 19 2013 04:30 GMT

Maybe try to memorize some poems you like. I started doing that a few years ago and have about 20 or so in memory. It doesn't magically make you a good poet, but it's great to turn them over in your head when you're stuck in line, stuck in traffic, or in a boring class etc.

Another important thing I feel is to listen to people recite poetry. One good site I've found is called poetictouch... there's a good range of the classics and a lot of the readings are by poets and actors. Here is the link for the youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/poetictouch2012

Yeats is my favorite so far... hope you enjoy his stuff.

AiurZ

United States429 Posts

February 19 2013 08:12 GMT

if you want to be a poet you just write poems.

if you want to learn more about prosody and poetics etc. then you study other poems and also read books/essays on prosody and poetics.

the first book on poetics that i read was paul fussell's poetic meter and poetic form. it's out of print now i think and probably difficult to get a copy but really really good stuff. i heard timothy steel is good too (i have all the fun's in how you say a thing, but i liked fussell better). learning about prosody and technique is nice because it can help make you aware of things that you might not been previously aware of, but i feel like most of the study of prosody/poetics is more about being more appreciative/sensitive of a reader than it is an actual instruction book for writing poetry (although being a better reader will probably help you become a better writer).

reading a lot of poetry and engaging with it is also good. drawing from a wide range of periods and poets is really important too, as well as finding things that you like and that interest you.

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