Fairy godmother was playing hard to get just now.
Poems I'd sent out ... all rejected. *sigh*
One of them interested the editor, but she said that "a greater degree of
restraint might have made it a better poem".
She goes on:"With a strong submission list this time round, I regret to say we're not able to offer publication."
Rewriting needed then. No problem.
Pick myself up. Dust myself down. Send out poems for the next edition.
I feel on much safe ground with fiction. Both writing it and critiquing it.
But poetry is so much harder to shape.
It's easy, I mean, to arrange words on paper and call it a poem. And call yourself a poet.
But it's so much harder to create the good stuff. For which there is honestly only one true measure of quality:
Does it give you goosebumps?
Because you feel good poetry in your body.
And then your head won't let go of it. You have to internalise it, because it says something that your recognise right there in your soul, and you haven't heard it expressed in any other way.
There are poems I carry in my head, because I need them. Because they've changed the way I see the world.
That's the kind of poetry I want to write.
10 comments:
Yes rejection
Dejection
All writers
especially poet-aspirants Get rejected
Even ejected
Don't worry
Every attempt is still
A piece of art
To be treasured
cos it's your heart
at play with words
and song
Yes, I achieved some goosebumps
Those are indeed gems
But along come the humps
The writn' is still A-hem
PS: "Add oil! Add oil!", as the Hongkie Chino say!
This delighted me! I'm really going to treasure it. Many thanks.
Thanks Mistyeiz. I think I'll chuck Desiderata's second stanza back at you as a comment on your writing! Every attempt is still A piece of art .. it's your heart. It's great to see you writing. Keep on and read as much poetry as you can. (The best way to learn.) If you send stuff out, try to target publications which feature the kind of writing you enjoy reading and where you think your writing might find a home. I tried a literary magazine which sets the bar pretty high ...
Makes me realise that we all of us need some poetry workshops locally and more opportunities to share our ideas on poetry face to face.
i think poetry works on a subsconscious level
Oshun - I'm going to pin you down here ... what EXACTLY do you mean when you say 'subconscious'?
Say one thing, mean another.
Or playing games with the reader's head?
Oh sorry, I'm not oshun.
yikes, im cornered!
knowing yet not knowing
or pretending not to know
so that it can flow through
unwilling but allowing
or understanding without
trying too hard to understand
CONVICTIONS, the quiet nod of the heart or sometimes violent
like when it strikes you -
for both the poet and the reader
ummm
if one thinks too hard, symbols won't come
if one tries too much, words won't shape themselves
if one looks too attentively, things become just things
poetry does not come from the world we know
it creeps from somewhere we think we know but actually don't
just what i feel, nothing more
did i use the word wrongly? subconscious
mystyeiz - there's so much I want to answer, both here and in your e-mail ... because you raise so many important issues. Watch this space!
Oshun - am truly, truly gobsmacked. First by the poetry (what have I started!?) but also by the fact that you say exactly what needs to be said so eloquently ... you should be teaching the course *LOL*
your course has allowed words to flow!
Sharon, you said:
Makes me realise that we all of us need some poetry workshops locally and more opportunities to share our ideas on poetry face to face.
I have some experience with poetry workshops locally, what with having being one for a couple of months. It broke up when one by one, the members dropped out - except me, 2 others and the organiser.
But your blog's readers, espcially those into poetry, have to be warned not to expect immediate acceptance of their work. One has to keep on attending workshop sessions and keep learning the craft. Yes, poetry is a craft, not just inpiration and stringing up words into lines, putting in rhyming words at the end. There are a lot to learn - about rhythm, rising ang falling beats, meters.
I'm game if anyone wants to rough up a poetry workshop. Email me, bloggers.
Post a Comment