I’ve been writing daily and here’s my secret—I write a poem a day. Now, it’s a big admission for me to even share this, because even though poetry was my first love, I had learned somehow to marginalize poetry in my adult life—and I think that’s because as a culture we’ve marginalized poetry and poets.
Here is just some of the beauty of writing poems:
– It stretches your muscles—you can play with language, metaphor, rhythm and all the tools of writing. All this practice will improve your prose.
– It’s extremely satisfying—you can write an entire piece in ten minutes or twenty and feel the thrill of catharsis in that final line.
– It’s freeing and fun—no rules, no question of how you can make it commercial or marketable—your inner child gets to play.
So, just for fun, here is an unedited poem I wrote one morning:
blast off
nothing quite like
the freedom of a poem
no freakin’ rules
write anything
stick three verbs together
to make one
invent new words
CAPITALIZE
alliterate
alienate
regurgitate
be silly
witty
or bore us to death
because it’s
“only a poem”
oh, yes, we think we
castrated poetry
made a eunuch of the muse
Ha!
a poem is a neutron bomb
in words.
Please feel free to share your own poem as a comment below–or your thoughts on writing poetry.
I love writing poetry. For me it provides a way to explore how I can say what I truly mean with as few words as possible. Each word is such a magical little being, capable of saying so much. It’s fun to play and explore.
Hi Ingrid, feel free to share a poem here, or link to a poem on your website or blog.
A Tribute To My Father
Hot like summer
Like years ago
In Redding
Dad and I went swimming
The shape of his pacemaker
Visible
A silver dollar
A gamble
Just beneath the puckered skin
Just below the left collarbone
I remember his strong carpenter muscles
Tanned arms
I beat him in a foot race
Once when I was ten
And a half
I think
Before the surgery left a railroad track
Right up the middle
We stayed close in the pool
So he could hear me
Treading water
We planned a trip he’d like to take this August
We planted a garden
Ingrid Kincaid
How powerful, Ingrid. Thank you for sharing.
It’s funny because I think that most people who write started with poetry. Then, for some strange reason many of us stop writing poems and even reading them. In my personal case I find poetry deeply linked to our mother language and perhaps it is more intimidating than more traditional writing for a non-native speaker.
So I find your ‘write a poem a day’ interesting for someone like me. I should give it a try when I feel stuck and limited.
Thank you for sharing.
P.S. Your poem is pretty cool, too. I like the ending!
Thanks, Evelyne, I think you’ll enjoy the poetry writing–feel free to share something here. What is your mother tongue?
French. I was born in Normandy and then studied in Paris where I lived before following my husband to California where I learned to speak English.
Au revoir!
Neutron bomb, indeed! Great image!
Because, as you say, poetry and poets occupy such a marginal place in our culture, it is very difficult for poets to take themselves seriously as such. I spent four decades completely ignoring repeated hints from my deepest self that this was the thing I most wanted to do in all the world.
I’m glad you find it freeing, and even happier that you let yourself play in that way! That’s a very good habit to have. 🙂
Here’s the link to a poem I wrote about my own daily poetry writing discipline: http://dailycompost.wordpress.com/2013/10/17/composted-poetry-daily-grind/
Thanks, Jennifer, I enjoyed your poem and commented…