Writing Poetry

Before I got more comfortable with myself, I used to mask the gender of who I was writing about. I was not ashamed of being Gay, but more to the point struggled with the thought of making other people uncomfortable. Looking back, I realized that the only person that I really cared about should be myself; and that no matter what I wrote, there would always be somebody that would not like my work, and that if I worried about these “people” I would never write another word. I decided then and there that if I were to write a non gender-specific poem, It would be because I chose to, not because I felt I had to, in order to try and please the general public, in my desire not to offend.

It took me a long time to realize something else; that there are no rules governing the writing of poetry-oh, sure, there are rules pertaining to different forms of poetry; the sestina, the sonnet, the haiku, to name a few, but as to the actual content, well, that should be purely up to the creator.

Notice I say creator, and not writer; I say this because anyone can write, but to create, means to give the readership a little piece of yourself. This does not mean that one has to completely bare one’s soul with each and every line that one writes; that would be a bit pompous and a tad overbearing. Often, I find that it really depends on the person writing. There have been many times when I have an idea in mind, and set to putting it down on paper, only to have it transform and mutate into something else entirely; and it is this process that makes me wonder:

As a writer, is it I who write stealthily;

Or is it the words who write me?

All levity aside; one thing I’d like to stress is that THERE ARE NO RULES. Write about what you want to write about. Of course, there is nothing wrong with setting a goal and trying something new; I myself have on occasion attempted to write using new forms. One of the things I like to do is not necessarily choose my subject, but start with a general idea. This might be a phrase, or even a particular set of words. Then, I just write whatever comes to mind. By not worrying about the form of the poem, I am allowed to concentrate fully on the words. Sometimes the rhythm of the words help to determine the end result, or what form the poem will ultimately take.

For those of you who have no idea of where to start, I suggest a great little exercise that has proven quite successful. Take a book; any book that you are fond of; the kind of book does not matter; children’s story, fiction, etc; and do the following:

Open a book at random. Without looking, pick pages at random, and write down three words from each page. After you have repeated this step several times, look at the list of words you have written down, and start writing a paragraph using those words. Alter the words as you need to, using suffixes, prefixes, changing tense as desired. An example follows.

Slip, meticulous, slippery, failed, decision, wrong, funny, here, off, hesitation, light, think, personalities, factors, dizzy, gauze, conformation, slick, details, fortune, aged, of, ailing, mind, amidst, topography, world, map, my, fate, only, tell, details, steep, ultimate.

Now, after having read the words I have jotted down, I start to write down sentences using the bulk of these words. Feel free to add small joining words as needed, such as: and, the, so, to, etc. Now begin, and see what you come up with.

In the off light
Of twilight’s gauze
I wait in dizzy
Hesitation.
Funny, here amidst
Failed conformation
Slipping on the sleek,
Slippery topography
Of my mind’s map;
Factors in the meticulous
Details of this Aged
And ailing world.
With fortune’s wheel
In hand, I try to
Match personalities
But only fate will
Ultimately decide.

As you can see, there are the rough beginnings of a poem taking shape, and as I have already said, you don’t have to worry about what form the poem should take. By trying this exercise, the idea is not to come up with a finished poem, but to loosen up your thoughts by arranging words from a list you have composed at random. By concentrating on just the words themselves, one can get sometimes very interesting results.

Often it is surprising how “on” the final result can be. One of the biggest problems writers have is the need to follow certain rules. I like to think of these rules as more guidelines, and this is especially important to realize when writing freeform poetry. There have been many times when I have encountered teachers who attempt to tell me what I really meant to say in my work.

While it is interesting to hear what people think about my work, and to hear their take on it, it is nonetheless quite disturbing being corrected on what I am really saying. Remember; there is a difference between criticism and outright audacious pomposity. The difference is this: if you yourself find that the criticisms given help you to clarify some point in your work that you were previously concerned about; then it has served you; if you encounter someone who tries to tell you a different interpretation of your work, and then argues that they know they’re right (even if you know they’re really off the mark) and insist that you are not, then that may not serve you well. So don’t be afraid; write and experiment. It is the only way we learn, and one of the ways many of us use as our outlet.

Until most of us realize that it is not necessary to try and please everyone all the time, and that it is ridiculous to mask our thoughts simply because we don’t want to “offend” or “shock” anyone. As I have already said, it took me a long time to be able to not only say what I intended, but to write in the manner in which I intended it to be written.