Have you ever watched the sequel to a movie you loved so much only to leave the screen asking yourself what happened?! I laughed, I cried, I kissed two and a half hours goodbye…? All except for the laughing and crying part?
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Sometimes I write a poem and it resembles this feeling. A dark feeling of regret, doubt, and despair. Like the well has all gone dry! No more gas in the tank! The babies have left the nest! They are never coming back again!!
No matter what form I plug my thoughts into, or clever disguise I place over that warted nose, I cannot hide the terrible nature of misguided content with no message. The veil always eventually opens to reveal the hideous bore within… and the work goes right over the head or in the trash! Often both in the old days of college rule notebooks!!!
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Why do we write? Where does it come from?
I asked these questions in the last few blogs I’ve posted here.
I started out talking about the differences we all have… not only in culture, class, education, and all the most obvious considerations…. but also the ones in individual perspective and expression as well.
Then I went on to write about my brothers and I singing goofy song lines to each other, making them up as we went as we were fishing or hanging out or camping or whatever. It was fun. But they are just working guys. They have no fancy poetic aspirations. They didn’t seem to have any “writers block”.
What does this have to do with poetry? EVERYTHING!
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We are the culmination of our experiences. We are the directors of our own movies, the actors playing ourselves. As poets we represent our fellow human in all of his or her splendors, whether they be comedic or tragic. We are the interpreters of reason, translators of truth, and lights on the hill to so many in the darkness. We are POETS!!!!
I have come to the impasse of asking myself “WHY BOTHER?” many times in the past. Things just didn’t work out. I give up. No sense of wasting my time. WHY BOTHER?!
Then I see a child cry. Or a senior citizen laugh. I feed a hungry stray dog. I watch the birds singing their morning songs with a cup of coffee or a bit of Earl Grey. And it all comes back to me. Just like that. How? Why?
Simple. BECAUSE I HAVE A POETS SOUL. All the above elicited a response deep down inside of me….
I remember the first conversation I had with my friend and colleague Steve Wheeler about something like this… he’s the best to bounce ideas around with. A brilliant guy. I just recall us talking about writing… mentioning writing poetry is like what BB King said about defining the blues, “If you gotta ask what it is… you’re never going to get it baby”.
What does this have to do with poetry? Yeah ok…
I believe you are with me!!
If you are a poet by heart, breather of words like air that fill the lungs so much you have to exhale poetry of some sort eventually just to go on…. Then you know it. You know what I am getting at! Yes,… YOU! POET!
“It’s in him and it’s gotta come out!” John Lee Hooker… Boogie Chillin!
I keep correlating this with the blues because the blues filters emotions, which is what we do as poets! It’s in us and it’s gotta come out!
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Is it in you reader? The takeaway from my series here is that by using what is your natural talent interpreting the world around you… you MUST NEVER GIVE UP!!!! If your sequel is not happening… take up another story and go from there. Stagnating in despair only leaves one drowning in quicksand of unnecessary doubt.
When I’m in a hole… I write myself out.
Have you ever been here dear reader? Do you also have a poets soul? Have I missed anything?! Please feel free to post your comments below and let I me know how you feel about this howl!!! I’d love to hear from you…
Matt Elmore
writing, poetry, Matthew Elmore
It's the very breath of our days. I recently discussed my health with my doctor and confessed to struggling with depression daily. Upon reflection, I came to understand what was missing in my routine. I had purposefully taken a vacation from writing. It literally made me sick. I need to write in order to feel alive. It's been that way since I hit midlife.
ReplyDeleteI really understand your comment my friend. Just this weekend I had to step away from writing and do something else. It seemed to be taking very spare moment to the point of obsession. There is a happy medium. If the muse is dull, let her rest. Like true love it always some back with the right provocation.
DeleteI seem to breathe a bit better when I write. It's that simple. Especially these days.
ReplyDeleteI do too Imelda… it’s a sort of therapy really. It certainly can’t be forced. It heightens and accentuates our journey!
DeleteMy appreciation for poetry started in college 1979/80. I found my niche there and have been writing off/on.
ReplyDeleteLife happens and I pour every bit of that pain in those forty years into writing and it's not till I discovered online poetry sites that I was able to share them out and over time it help eased the pain I carried deep within me.
I do suffer poetic block.. Didn't want to sound like a broken record or whiny. So I take a break and back better. (Janet)
Hi Janet!! I’m so glad you answered this and let me know what you think. We all get this as writers and it seems the only way to buck the bugger is to just get in there and write… ! And not worry about being perfect…
DeletePoet's soul? Definitely. Been writing since 1980. Then life happens. One heck of a roller coaster ride. No outlet to air my pain. Till l found poetry websites online. Then all was poured out. 40 years worth. (Janet)
ReplyDeleteThis resonates with me, and I suspect, a lot of other poets. There is never an occasion where I am not grabbing ideas, sound bites, aphorisms, quotes and images from around me and thinking... there's a poem in that. I always carry my smartphone with me and on there I have a notepad app where all my half baked ideas are captured. Later I may return and create a complete poem out of those scraps of ideas. It's a sandpit for my creativity. I suspect many others do similar. It's gotta come out!
ReplyDeleteThose little inverted device exercises we were speaking of the other day really flipped my switch to some new approaches. It’s definitely good to have a colleague or group of colleagues to bounce ideals off of… thus the vision of Invisible Poets and Wheelsong Poetry Groups becomes alive!
DeleteI've said why bother plenty of times. When you get a criticism or a knock back because others don't understand of get what you have written. As poets we don't write for others we write for ourselves. To convey how we feel about what we see, feel, experience and that's why I continue to write no matter the set backs. X
ReplyDeleteThat is one important fact within the scope of all of this writing buisness… I do believe ultimately we a a writers have to write for ourselves. We only have ourselves to prove anything to in order to say “hey… I like that!”… then it’s up to others to make up their minds. But as creators, we have already done that! I’m so glad you brought that up Donna… thank you!
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