Three Questions for Poets

1. Perhaps terroir?

2. To comment, to remark. For the audience, to see what they say. Does not differ from my prose.

3. Not sure. I like writing poetry when I want to write it. Not writing it, if such can be imaginable, would mean that I do not want to write poetry.

1/ Freestyle

2/ Expression of self, observation of life and surroundings.

3/ Just plain enjoyment of writing when I have the time in this busy life.

I have never considered questions 1 and 2. My poetry expresses the emotion I'm feeling in a moment, it may define a scene or character in my other work as well.

3. It gets that poem out of my system. In truth, there is no compelling need for me to write; however, writing gives me the opportunity to use the poetry as reference (either to look back at who I was at a time or to explain that to someone else) and to share it if I wish. I can also earn an occasional five bucks or so that I wouldn't have if I didn't write and submit.

1) I am searching for my style; perhaps I already have a style and haven't found a label for it yet. I'm just trying different forms and techniques with hopes of improving enough for publication.

2) I like and aspire to write poetry that both expresses a truth (internal or external) and provokes thought without... being showy just to be showy.

3) When I write poetry, I feel more grounded. When I don't write poetry, my feelings, thoughts, and words build up until I can't think. It also gives me a break from my novel and sprinkles my long slog with moments of completion and success. I guess it's a bit like running 5k's and half marathons during an ultra marathon training program.

1. going through the reference list, I notice elements of several different existing schools in some of my poetry, though I make no attempt to be faithful to any. I actually have never thought about this question much, nor been any sort of student of the various movements. Except for the exposure to some of them here on AW, my understanding of any of them is a cursory one. As far as a new kind of movement... I would say no as well. Perhaps 'eclectic' from the poets here, along with whatever I personally add to the equation, is the best answer I could give.

2. For someone to say, "I know those words"... having never said them.

3. To scream with the crowd, or whisper into a closet... as I have the need.

William Haskins said:

1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)? reference

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That's an awesome resource. I'd have to say that it's mostly confessional poetry, though I do have some slam poetry (thematically, if not purely technically -- though I would love to find an opportunity to perform!)

2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

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My poetry serves mostly as a way to communicate with others. It's an act of openness, of entertain, of touching others, of provoking thought.

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?

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Poetry is my release. When my thoughts end up becoming too convoluted, too intense, too painful, they end up being written out.

My style is free spirited, a wild dog amongst a sea of houses lined with caged pets conditioned to please their masters
It gets tired and hungry and scared, chased by predators and rivals but thanks the gods it is free
It fights and brawls for everything it needs and becomes hardened, aware it could lose everything before it knows what hit it
It gives me solace because my spirit is a caged and neglected pet that can only look out at the wild dogs from its closed quarters
It helps me transition so one day i will be the wild dog, scared and hardened but above all free in every sense of the word

1. Trite.
2. However the audience wishes to take it.
3. An outlet, a way of expression.

1. Limited Free Form (it still rhymes, and has uneven meter.)
2. Performance, like a play rather than song.
3. Understanding of aspects of the universe beyond human understanding.

William Haskins said:

1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)? reference

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Postindian.

2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

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To talk to people across time and space. To survive. To resist.

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?

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A lighter and heavier heart, more whole, with more strings between it and others.

William Haskins said:

1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)? reference

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Not sure. Free spirited, maybe?

2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

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To entertain, and is primarily self expression.

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?

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I just love to write poetry, stories, songs; and it's more unnatural for me 'not' to write, when I see things in my everyday life that constantly inspire me to do so.

1. Out of that list, I'd say Ethnopoetics/Romanticism.

2 To express a thought, emotion, experience, or connection among people, places or things.

3. I usually have someone in mind when I write a poem, and derive pleasure from the act of giving them a poem as a present.

. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)? reference

It is still, and probably always will be, a work in progress. I don't know. It's lots of things, sometimes edgy, sometimes sentimental, often it is so thoroughly a metaphor that I can't even tell if I am writing about a bird or not. This feels a bit like infomercial to me... perhaps it is collapsible, portable, and easy-to-assemble.

2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

I want to stir emotion. It's a bit like telepathy, to make you see and feel what I see and feel, isn't it? I want to say it in a way that perhaps you hadn't thought, or tell a story, maybe you've never heard before, but it to ring true emotionally. If you like what I wrote, it touched you in some way; if you got it, then I am telepathic. Poetry is how I make the Venn Diagram in my head make sense. If you get it, then I just created a new Venn in your head. That's cool.

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?

It feels like accomplishment (not that don't feel accomplished in other ways, but in different ways). I successfully closed a circle. Writing poetry is an intense process for me, and when I finish one, and I like the way it made me feel, it is accomplishment. When someone reads and enjoys, feels, gets the telepathy brainwave, I feel like I made a connection across distance/time with another person. That's really freaking awesome, ya know? Existence with others is necessary. If we can make a personal connection, a "yeah, me too!", if you can make someone far away get a little piece of what's in your brain, and acknowledge that they have that, or somehow already knew that, then doesn't that feel like a pretty special accomplishment.
I would miss it if it didn't happen.

[Hi Hazkinz,
QUOTE=William Haskins;8813870]1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)? reference

2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?[/QUOTE]




1. spare
2. to capture a moment that others recognize as relevant.
3. Poetry helps us recognize commonalities in life. I need to add my part.

great answers, CB!!
great to see you.

Good to see you too! I miss my peeps!

huh.

1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)? reference

dropout.

2. what purpose(s) intention do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

to make a doorway of surprise into a shifted state of awareness. Mine, if not the readers'. And, to be read with pleasure by at least one other person.

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?

it's very like the feeling of a long unresolved cadence in music, finally resolved. Ah! (The other activity that gives me creative satisfaction is gardening, but the feeling is very different.)

1. how would you describe your style (whether part of an existing school/movement or newly defined)?

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I don't know about style; the manifestoes seem so absolute. But the essential aspects to me are:
- the music of the words themselves
- clarity of meaning (whether concrete or abstract doesn't matter, as long as the picture is clear)
- framing and scoping: fitting the poem to the subject

I believe I'm showing nothing new to readers, but if I'm doing it right, reintroducing existing beauty in a different light or frame.

So, I think my sympathies have much in common with Imagism and Acmeism, based on the reference link.

2. what purpose(s) do you think your poetry serves (to entertain, to provoke thought, to incite revolution, to make the reader horny, etc)?

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No manifesto, except that art should make us feel good, in a way that only art can. That's what I'm after.

To me, poems need to do two things that prose doesn't aim for:

1. paint a rich picture: reach past the literal
2. make the words delicious: use the rhythms and sensation of words as they fill the mouth

I aim to bring to the reader a feeling of elevation - that intangible feeling I get when I've read something marvelous, or when I've toured an art gallery. Or when I've listened to beautiful music (Debussy does this for me immediately).

It's the experience of seeing beauty - physical beauty, a wondrous idea, or the ingenious way in which it's expressed - that makes me feel more aware, feel like part of a world that appears finer for the experience.

I want for people to feel more alive, more aware of the beauty we tend to overlook every day.

3. what, if anything, do you derive from the act of writing poetry that would otherwise be missing in your life?

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It's fun, it's work, and I feel like I've accomplished something worthwhile - that I've contributed to existence. But I only get that feeling if I've done my absolute best with the poem. Dashing them off doesn't fulfill me at all.

But more than that - writing poems connects me with people who appreciate poetry. That's what really elevates me. As a reader, I feel the same way: connected.

I'm not interested in writing confessional or expository poems; I don't like airing my feelings to the general public, and I don't want to bore them. Those poems usually (not always) are of intense interest to no one but the poet.

I don't need to talk about my feelings to feel connected. A poem is intrinsically an expression of love, a celebration of the beauty that exists and only needs to be named to be shared. So, confiding my feelings in a poem would be redundant.

This is why my output is so low: every little thing takes me forever.

1. I just throw the words down in the order they need to be in. Inspiration more than technique.

2. It depends on the poem and the reader. What I write is not necessarily what they read. But that is OK, art is many things to many people.

3. I don't know. I just do it because I believe I am talented and talent calls out to be used.

1. any "style" coming from me is unintentional. I'm not organized or sophisticated enough for that sort of thing.
2. I haven't thought about the reaction I want from any potential reader. I figure that's up to them, and whatever they truly think of me or my writing isn't really any of my business. If I write something, it means I just want to be heard.
3. outlets are essential, but I'm unsure about the "would otherwise be missing" part of the question. If poetry didn't exist (and therefore I never wrote any), I would still have plenty of creative outlets.


Hell, I still have too many creative pursuits. I just wish I had more time...