Poetry: Expand Your Craft
by Robert G Parent
12:36 11/10/2005 EST

Why do I write?
Stringing noun and verb together,
To make a story of this time or another.

But, I do see in verse and rhyme
the true me.

In phrases and clauses,
my feelings set
and the plays come out.

I cross my t's and dot my i's
when I do write of the truth that's 'round,
or at least a view,
or a light from that whole.

Why do I write?


I record a segment on Michael and Evo's Dragon Page "Wingin' It" (http://www.dragonpage.com.) I see that as an assignment. They were looking for ideas from their listners. So, I emailed this idea, they liked it, and I started writing. Doing that segment has expanded my craft (the poetry I do.) I've grown and learnt from it. I see what I do for "Wingin' It" what other writers do when they submit articles to magazines. Writing is writing. No matter what genre you write for, we write about what we like, what interest us, what we want to learn about. So if you feel your craft is getting stale or you don't know what to write next, look into what you like, find out what is out there and see if they are looking for unique, creative content. If you're a podcaster or blogger, you know how important content is.

I see poetry and all writing, for that fact, as fitting and adapting to different forms. Just take what you'd normally write (the form) and add or mix it into it elements and ideas from other forms. An example from my interest, I love sci-fi, so I currently form my poetry around the sci-fi genre.

My poetry has changed many times. I started writing poetry for healing and to figure stuff out back in the 80's and 90's. I don't remember the exact date I started writing poetry, but the important thing for me is that I started writing. I went through a dark time, but expressing myself in poetry helped me. The next time my poetry changed was through nature (the Robert Frost influence). By observing nature and my place in nature added to my growth and development as a writer, thinker, and amature philosopher. Then I flowed to a more spiritual type of poetry. Where I question what is on the other side? What is in the unseen realms, within my universe (my mind and soul) to what is beyond the universe's boundry (what is beyond the blackness in the night sky). And as you can guess, this has lead me to my love of sci-fi and a new opportunty that presented itself on the "Wingin' It" show. As our life changes, our writing changes and new opportunities come up. You out there as poet's. Don't keep yourself in a box of how things were done, instead look for how things can and will be done. Look for the new opportunities in your own lives from the things that you love or that you would love to know more about. Writing is all about change. We see change and we help bring change to this world.

What do you like? Can you form your poetry around it? Merging genre, thought, or differing ideas. Does this have a unique market or a combination of markets? Some ideas of what can be combined are all the genres including business, history, and self help, new age, or religion.

This is natural for the creative process. Seeing things different or mixing different things (types of writing, ideas, philosophies, etc...) together. Let's take a lesson from Mother Nature where change is constant. As we grow as writers, we are shiffed from one creative idea to another. Our likes, dislikes, and interests keep changing and with it the opportunities, projects, and markets we can expand into.

I just wanted to end this article with the older types of poetry I do. I still do those types of poetry but change it with what new stuff I learn. In writing the old and the new stuff, I come up with new ideas and I again grow from that. I keep forming myself and my writing in a new direction. I am in a constant state of change, ever growing and becoming as nature does and as the universe does. I am one with the lifeforce. Ever moving, changing and becoming. I don't think Yoda could have said it any better. To know what that means check out Star Wars, "The Empire Strikes Back."

I end this with a poem from my "Poem's Poems" chapbook. Hope this article will be of help to all poets and writers looking for new directions in their writing. Let me know what you think of this article. Leave a comment on this post or an email at podcastbard@yahoo.com.
Thank you for reading and listening and stay Creative.

Next Door

Open up to the mystery
to that other land
where trees talk
and people fly.

In your daily chore,
when life seems a bore,
follow the clues and
journey to that undiscovered land.

Look at all you see.
Learn what it teaches.
Write what you see.
Live what you learn.

In your city of night,
on your empty streets,
go to that place where
you tell of the mystery.

Open up to the mystery
to that other land
where you talk with trees
and fly with the Raven.


Duration: 8 minutes, 31 seconds


MP3 File