Since I've moved over to this blog, I've tried to slow down on how much poetry I post. This has given me a great break to really re-examine why I write it, and why I post it. I’ve been reading over my old poetry and I re-discovered some pillars of why I write it. I thought I would share those with y'all.
1. It is one of the purest outpouring of my heart. Poetry is essentially when my heart is just bursting with something, and it spills out of my heart onto the page. Poetry is my favorite kind of journaling, therapy, and prayer.
2. It helps me work through things. I am able to put aside something once I’ve written about it. It helps me remember that God’s got me, and I don’t need to worry.
3. It’s a place I feel completely free. There are no rules to poetry. I don’t have to worry about how I craft it, or making sure it’s the right length. To me, poetry practically writes itself.
4. Instant gratification. This is a small reason, but there is something satisfying about starting a poem, and ten minutes later it's done. Poems don’t take long term commitment or a lot of my time.
If you write poetry, why do you write it? And why do you read it?
Well,
ReplyDeleteTHAT'S WHY I LOVE IT when you do.
Writing a poem usually takes me longer than 10 minutes, because although I don't have to commit as much time to it as to a story, I have to commit my heart. I guess I feel like poems are to prose like chocolate chips to chocolate bread. Concentrated writing with all the fluff cut out, for better emotional/spiritual/artistic impact. I have to dig into my heart for it, whereas it just spills out of yours. :)
I write it when I want to communicate in that realm in which poetry works better than prose. And I read yours because you're important to me and it's a window into your heart, because it doesn't read like you're trying oh-so-hard to be deep - you just are, and because you're straightforward and honest in a rare way. Sometimes I read things that make me feel like the writer tried to make things more complicated than God did, just because. That's not you.
Sometimes good poems do take awhile to get out there, it doesn't make them any less heart-felt.
DeleteThank you, Scott. That means a lot to me.
I love writing poetry for all the reasons you wrote, except for number three ;p I feel my best poetry is the ones where I follow the rules, and that's part of why I'm able to love it so much. Because I can capture the mess of my life and mind into a few, distinct organized words. And yes it's so gratifying and releasing and healing.
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To each their own! That's the thing I love about poetry, it's different to every person. =)
DeleteThank you so much for stopping by!