The poet, whether bad or good,
is tortured and misunderstood.
He writes - and not because he wants,
he writes because not writing haunts.
Sharon Flood Kasenberg, March 13th, 2014
A poet's life isn't easy. Not everyone appreciates my efforts - in fact it's safe to say that most people don't. If my only motivation for writing poetry was to win others' approval I would've stopped a long time ago - or perhaps never started in the first place. But as is the case with many creative people I don't write because I "feel like it", but because I need to write. Like the poet Robert Frost, I am of the belief that "Poetry is a condition, not a profession."
Bob Dylan (not much of a singer, but a pretty impressive poet) identifies himself as a poet first. He says (and I paraphrase) that if you think you're a poet, then you're a poet. By his definition I qualify, just like all the other people out there who scribble down bits and pieces on scrap paper and in designated notebooks. I've written hundreds of poems in the past ten years - a lot of them are quite bad - and only published a few. I write because it gratifies me to write. Poetry spills from the places I overflow and fills up the spaces where I'm empty.
Poetry is a hard sell. When I tell people I write a blog, the conversation often goes something like this:
Them: "What kind of blog do you write?"
Me: "It's a poetry blog called "The Rhyming Muse.""
Them: "Oh." *eyes glaze over* "I don't like poetry, but good luck."
I've lost them on two counts. First of all, poetry, in general, is viewed as a painfully boring art form that you had to study briefly in high school. Other than that forced exposure, few people have had much experience with reading poetry since childhood, when most appreciated the genius of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein. And yet many adults cringe at the mere thought of rhyming poetry. It's seen as childish and silly. Maybe that's because anyone who admits to liking it secretly fears they will be judged as harshly by the literati as those of us who write it.
Let me tell you, unequivocally, that I don't read a whole lot of poetry. That's because (I think) a lot of what passes for poetry in the world today is terrible. Those in the "free verse" camp have largely thrown out the baby with the bathwater. In attempting to write without the constraints of rhythm and rhyme, they've managed to lose the essence of what makes a poem a poem. Poetry should be lyrical, whether or not it rhymes; it should be thought provoking and able to create lush imagery with sparse but carefully chosen words.
I seldom read rhyming verse either - partly because I don't want to unwittingly plagiarize other poets' efforts, and partly because there is so much bad rhyme out there. Rhymers dig their own poetic graves when they don't know when to quit and rhyme just for the sake of rhyming. A good rhyming poem is like a jigsaw puzzle - all of the words fit together neatly and none are forced into place to "make a rhyme". If a poem doesn't flow smoothly, it won't "feel right" to the reader, and all art is about eliciting emotion.
John Keats said, "Poetry should strike the reader as a wording of his own thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance."
Amen Mr. Keats! When people can relate to poems, they like them - and if you've never read a poem you can relate to it seems likely that you haven't read enough poetry. Poetry is like music - different types appeal to different people. Our musical tastes vary, depending on our mood at the time. Some days we appreciate one style or artist over another, but most of us wouldn't ever say that we "just don't like music." Google "poetry" and you'll see that there are as many different forms of poetry as there are genres of music, and chances are you will like one of them.
A modern poet, Adrian Mitchell, spoke truth when he said, "Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people."
I wrote a lot of free verse in my youth, and at the time considered myself a passable poet. I could still write without rhyming, if I wanted to, but I've changed a lot over the years. In my twenties I worried about whether I was seen as intelligent and sophisticated. Now I don't care as much about others' perceptions. I know who I am, and I know what I enjoy writing, which for the past decade has been poetry within a strict format. I write "hard rhyme" (the ends of the words sound the same) and with lines that are carefully metered. I think a simple (and yes, some would say unsophisticated) style is melodious, easy to remember and, in my opinion, easy to understand and therefore relate to. As long as poetry is viewed as the literary domain of intellectuals, it will go largely unread and unappreciated. I consider myself woman of reasonable intellect, but I "don't get" a lot of the poetry I see published in journals. That's because so much published poetry is pseudo intellectual gibberish that most of humanity can't relate to. And what we can't understand or connect with, we can't enjoy.
I've written poems both ways now,
free verse and rhyme, but still somehow -
it's rhyme and rhythm I adore,
although most will my verse ignore.
Sharon Flood Kasenberg, March 11th, 2014
I actually wrote a whole poem to Joni's "tune" about why I like to write in rhyme, but I'm still working the bugs out of it. You see, that's one of the frustrations of being a poet - we write and rewrite constantly. Recently I read a quote that basically said that no poem is ever complete - just abandoned. Eventually we poets move on to some other topic that inspires. Months later I tend to return to earlier attempts, dust them off, clean them up - then once again forget them as some new idea catches my fancy. I can live with this state of constant revisiting and revision. What's really hard to deal with are those periods without jottings and endless editing - what I call a creative slump.
Creative Slump
Each soul at times will suffer discontent -
while questioning if efforts were misspent -
especially when labours were not blessed,
or doubts were planted deep within the breast.
All will, in moments, woefully lament
and curse ill fortune that does not relent.
But still we know all suffer such a time -
a poet goes a season without rhyme;
and mountaineers regardless of intent
may still be forced to pause in mid ascent.
Although they must be halted in their quest,
they'll quickly reach the summit after rest.
Artistic peoples' tortures don't relent
when their creative slurry won't cement.
A poet will feel punished, have no doubt
when words come scarce as raindrops in a drought.
Poetic souls will wasted days resent
when inspiration isn't imminent,
because when hearts are not in words expressed
there's neither taste to food nor peace in rest.
Thus all must work at fostering content,
and cherish inspiration when it's sent;
its absence we feel like a bitter curse -
and with it we can conquer universe.
Sharon Flood Kasenberg, March 11th-13th, 2011.
So, to summarize, being a poet is a thankless job. The pay is non-existent. To quote yet another poet, Robert Graves, "There is no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money either!" I'll never make my million selling books of poetry. I do what I do because I feed on the creative energy that getting a poem into a passable unfinished state gives me. I groove on the feeling of ink flowing through my pen when that too often elusive inspiration comes knocking on my brain's door. I write for me, but I can't help hoping that somebody, somewhere and sometime will read something I've written and say,
"I get that! I know exactly what she means!"
That's when the poetic payoff comes - because the only thing better than thinking yourself a poet is having somebody else acknowledge you as one.
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