The problem with poetry...
12/27/2009 07:21 p.m.


Ok, here's the problem with writing poetry...at least for me.

Mostly I write because it helps me process what's happening at the moment. Sometimes I write to help me untangle a memory or troublesome event that happened in the past. Sometimes I write to "try on" a differen perspective just to see how it feels and if any of it is true. Sometimes I write fiction just because I can and because that's part of the creative process. Sometimes I write about my honest feelings. Sometimes I write from the perspective of my own voice, and sometimes I write from the other guys' perspective. Sometimes its social commentary. Sometimes it's just therapy.

Every once in a blue moon, I write something that seems as true when I read it four years later as it did the minute I wrote it. But that is rare.

But mostly, these are moments, and they always pass....always. Sure, there are recurring themes that pop up, but hopefully the overall trend is inward education.

It's not that I'm stuck. Really. I have to say that. My poetry ends up being microscopic at times, and I get that, and sometimes I hate that. But I promised myself when I started here six years ago that if I had anything of value to share, I had to be honest about where I'm at, and if, maybe, that honesty helped someone else know that they were not alone, that someone else in the world could feel this way and keep trekking and keep learning and keep loving, that there might be hope.

I try to share the bright along with the dark in my life, that's all. But mostly, it's always just moments, and moments pass. They always pass.

The problem with poetry is....the words lock the moment down on a slide for everyone to view now and later, turning that moment into a prisoner to the black and white of it. I've thought about this for awhile, and it's an unfortunate consequence of writing. Even if I delete it, once its said and read, it can't be unsaid or unread...the words have been sent out into the ethers and can never be reclaimed or erased.

In the meantime (oh no, not the "mean"time..hehe), relationships do happen while I learn to love me. I know it can be troublesome to witness, but it's just the way it is. I guess I could just stop writing about my process?..... No, that would never do.

So please, while you read my poetry, just keep in mind that each poem is generally just a tiny slice of a life that is full of other moments too...unfortunately the moments that beg a snapshot seem to cause the most concern *sigh*. Thanks for stopping by my library... but just so you know, I'll be alright.

I am currently: wondering if I should write anymore
Listening to: someone else struggle with my struggle