You know how you can read poetry and feel like the author is right in the room with you, helping you to see exactly the point they are trying to make? It’s not always a bad thing that, but something you might want to consider when you are writing poetry is to leave a bit of the mystery in there. Write for the concept not the lesson.
It’s not an easy thing to do though. It’s so natural to want to say it all, you know?
In fact I went to my poetry page searching for a poem so I could show you what the author of “How to Write a Poem” was talking about and found that I don’t leave a lot of mystery in my poems. It’s a good thing for me to think on.
How can I convey a thought, but do it using images, allowing people to draw their own conclusions or to float of waves of memory and wonder? So here’s my first attempt eh?
I remember
Rising majestic
Towering high
Everywhere I looked
They hollered their height
Starkness surrounding
Whistling wind joined them
Rejoicing in their freedom
Leaves swooping and soaring
As they rushed hither and yon
Mindless
Alone
I watched, waiting,
Insignificance settling
Wounded I turned
Surprised, reality sinking
It’s hard, harder than I thought it would be.
To give words voice, to not say all that can be said as memories found my mind. Memories that rise so stark in my mind. I remember well the surprise and aloneness I felt that day walking through the forests in B.C. It totally caught me off-guard how I felt walking that path. I almost bolted the feeling was so intense. But how does one write about that? How does one convey that thought without teaching it… letting people experience it without the actual words? I’m still learning (and that’s a good thing eh?)
I will keep trying, because I want my poems to have a life, even if I am not there. Join me?
Share a moment in verse, of a memory you hold dear. How would you describe and yet keep the mystery and wonder of that moment alive for your readers. I’d love to read it. 🙂
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