First, I'm new to this blogging thing, so forgive me. Second, hello! Why did I start a blog? Not that I really believe any of you have the interest or the time to follow me and my blogging, I figured I'd at least give you the option (haha). Back in my freshman year of high school, I started writing. Mostly poetry, mostly about my teen-age angst-filled woe-is-me my-life-is-falling-apart stuff. Actually, I probably started in middle school, but that stuff is just too embarrassing to even mention. High school was when it got, if not good, at least meaningful to me. It helped me get through a lot and it helped keep me sane. When I started college, for the most part I quit writing. Blame it on what you want (too much studying, too much partying...) but there really wasn't a whole lot going on creativity-wise in my life. And then I ESPECIALLY didn't have time when I started my first real-adult job, probably the most stressed I've ever been in my life.
And then all of the sudden, a year and a half into the Real World, I had time to realize that I was missing something. I think this is it. I really, really, love to write. I learn a lot about myself, I learn a lot about the world around me. I can lose myself in writing and then come up out of the water, read it and think "wow, where did that come from?" It gives such awesome satisfaction to use words to create. I don't use rules in my writing (I guess they call that contemporary poetry?). In fact, I don't know much at all about the rules of poetry. I just write. I like to play with words, the format, the order. And it's cool to see what comes up.
I don't really know my reason for sharing this. I do think poetry is personal, but I also think it's an art. It's a way to paint my world and the world around me, so to speak. Poetry has a purpose. Poets can have a message to send, and they write to evoke a certain image, thought, emotion. And really, if i were just writing for myself, what would be the point of trying to make it look or sound "pretty"? Why labor over word selection and format if only I was going to see it, and really, I guess I would know what I was trying to say or what I meant. The challenge is to create something that makes an impression on others, that is memorable, different, speaks to them, makes them think. To inflict something so realistic the reader goes "wow. i can see it. i just felt that. weird. she's good."
I write for myself, but I also hope that my words have an impact. The only way for that to happen is to create a space for them to be seen. So here we go.
PS. Why the title? A couple of months ago when I realized that what I really needed in my life was to start writing again, I started going to coffee shops, where I always (without fail) get a mocha. So there I am, with a mocha, a book on creative writing, and a notebook. One of the first ideas in the poetry prompt book was to create a "wordpool." The author suggested listing tons of random words, phrases. First I created a wordpool (revel, reap, yellow death, cadillac, angora sweater, slither, concrete, swallow, fathom, clenched fence, elastic slap, etc etc etc). From my wordpool I created this:
i am a
crinkle crazy
mocha pool, slamming
dunks of basketball
dreams
creates an image? yes. makes no sense? yes. fun? yes. do i have more? yes
i am
reliving lovely
down ladders of flame
Let me tell you, wordpools really get those juices flowing.
No comments:
Post a Comment