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Young Writers Society


So You Want to be a Poet?



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Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:36 pm
Incandescence says...



Prospective Poets,


Let me give you an idea of where you are and what you're up against. A picture of what's ahead, if you will. You have an interest in poetry, a desire to learn more about it, to write it. You're at the stage where you're learning the basic elements of poetry: line breaks, imagery, voice, construction. The ABCs.

Some time, if you're patient long enough and work long enough and if you're lucky (and yes, luck comes into it) eventually the elements will all come together for you. You'll read a poem one day and suddenly everything will "click", the "light goes on", you'll see what poetry is about.

One day you'll read a poem you've read so often you could quote it by heart. You'll pick it up, read it again, and suddenly it will be brand new. As if you'd never read it before. The "light goes on." You will suddenly see what the poet had been trying to get across to you all along. When that happens, two things will happen almost immediately.

The first is, you'll realize that every poem you've written up to that point is fatally flawed. Dreadful, in fact. Not to me or anyone at the YWS, not to your friends and family, people who've liked and encouraged your work all this time, but to you. To "your" voice.

The second is, you'll realize how awfully far you still have to go. How incredibly long the journey ahead is. It never ends, in fact. A lot of people get discouraged at this point, give up poetry, take up something else.

If you're one of the few who decide to stick with it, here's a few more of the many many many discouraging things you're going to have to face.

You're going to discover what kind of poet you are. This is not necessarily a joyous discovery. I have talked about the time I discovered what kind of poet I was. I'd always wanted be to be a Larkin or an Auden. As it turned out, my voice is much softer, much more sentimental, than I'd ever intended. It was such a shock to me I almost stopped writing altogether.

You'll discover what your limitations are. This is definitely not a joyous discovery. You'll realize there are some poems you simply can't write. Not now, not ever. They're beyond your range, beyond your capabilities.

No matter how hard you work, how sincere you are, how desirous, how good a poet you become, you'll always be coming across people half your age who can dash off in a weekend what it will take you months to do. Someone with pure genius. A god-given gift. A freebie. Life ain't fair that way.

And so on and so on.

What's it all mean? It means at some point, the sooner the better, you're going to have to decide what it is you want from poetry.

Want to get a few poems published in some magazines? No problem.You don't even have to study for that one. There are a lot of editors out there who don't know much about poetry, either. You might even get a chap-book or two published.

Want to get a book or two published by a legitimate poetry press? BOA Editions? Houghton-Mifflin? Mmmm. Difficult but not impossible. The field's a bit crowded, though. For that one you're going to have to work, and work hard, recognize your limitations as you hit them and work with them until you overcome them.

Want to be the next Blake, Milton, Shakespeare, Auden, Hudgins? The chances are about as good as your winning the California lottery. Forget it. Now.

Having said all that, what do I get out of it, the big "eater of words" (as I am affectionately known as)? Well, I've had enough published, more than enough to satisfy any vanities I might have had about it.

Mainly, I stay with it because I don't have any choice. I can't not write. I can't not be around poets and poetry. I might as well try and not breathe. (And here's a major clue: If this isn't your reason too you may as well give up right now.)

I get to work at what I love, in "real-life", on the YWS, here in my classroom, the internet in general. I get to hang around with really great people like xanthan_gum and Crysi and Nate and Snoink and the rest of the gang here. I get to know people like Jack (Firestarter) and Caligula's Laundrette and backgroundbob. I get to see really good young poets blossom right before my eyes, before the rest of the world discovers them. We're all very fortunate, in that regard.

I get to teach, too. Something I love to do. I don't know if "teach" is the right word. In some real sense I don't think poetry can be "taught." When (and if - there's still luck involved) the "light goes on" for you it'll happen all by itself, to you, and for you, alone.

All I can do, all any of the members of YWS and teachers can do, is point you in the right direction, drop some hints, tell you the most obvious pitfalls to avoid. Whether or not you choose to believe or accept it is up to you. If you want easy applause and acceptance you can get that at a dozen other literary boards and newsgroups.

You want to learn something about the ABCs of poetry. You've come to the right place. And if not here, there are other good teachers around and that's a fact. But you're going to have to learn to accept rejection, criticism and some blunt talking. Think that's tough? There's years of it ahead of you. Years! Now. Did someone say they had a poem to post?


Take care,
Brad
"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants were standing on my shoulders." -Hal Abelson
  





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Mon Oct 23, 2006 9:49 pm
Revere says...



I like this, Brad. Very useful, and very truthful too! Thank you for sharing.
"[Maybe] If they don't light it, it can never go out."
^Mary, from Heat

>Previously known as green_river<
  





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Tue Oct 24, 2006 5:01 pm
Wiggy says...



Awesome! Thanks for sharing, Incan. :D
"I will have to tell you, you have bewitched me body and soul..." --Mr. Darcy, P & P, 2005 movie
"You pierce my soul." --Cpt. Frederick Wentworth

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