Recently, while I was working on my Middle Grade WIP (work-in-progress), a situation presented itself in a chapter where I had the opportunity to insert some original poetry. Coming up with stanzas that would have sprung organically from the minds and perspectives of my middle grade-aged main characters was no easy feat. But I have to admit to loving every minute of the challenge it presented me. I had WAY too much fun writing it!!
You see, I am one of those people who are on Team Poetry. I love it! I love reading it, writing it and hearing it performed. But I have found in and around my circle of friends, more of them hate it than love it. SO I have to ask, why? Why do people have such a visceral reaction to poetry? How do you feel about it? Do you love it or hate it? Why?
*For those of you who are on Team Poetry with me- below is one of the poems I came up with for my WIP. Hope you like it :)
I wish I were a
Superhero,
wearing red, white
and blue
I'd soar through
the sky
up, up, and away I'd
fly
from all that
plagues me
I wish I were a
Superhero
I'd leave black and
blue bruises
as I battle and
fight
a ginger-haired
knight
I'd rage against
evil
all through the
night
I wish I were a
Superhero
with a shield of
gold
bullet proof,
invincible
I'd save myself
and the world
Oh, I wish I were a
Superhero
I don't hate it. I follow several people here who are amazing poets. However, I can't write it. It's awful enough that people should be thankful I don't write it.
ReplyDeleteI bet you are not giving yourself enough credit (as usual) Alex! For my WIP I had to write a "bad" poem too, and that, was much harder than I thought it would be. LOL
DeleteI love to read it but hate to write it. I had to write one for a novel and had a melt down over it. ;)
ReplyDeleteNo Way! You are already a very poetic writer, I can't believe a writer as wonderful and talented as you, would melt down over a poem!
DeleteI guess I have always loved it. The Raven was a poem I just never got enough of when I was in my teens. I read, and reread that stinking poem so many times! It was what inspired me to start writing poetry.
I enjoy reading it and writing it although I can't profess to be an expert at it! I do have a book of poetry by my bed and dip into it from time to time. Writing it I find is a sort of release, a way of getting emotion out. I think it is usually quite a personal thing.
ReplyDeleteYou make such a valid point Suzanne, poetry IS such a personal thing; almost like putting some of your diary out on display. And Lord have mercy I am no expert, I just love to read it and write it and memorize my personal favorites.
DeleteI enjoyed that poem! It was so cute!
ReplyDeleteI didn't like poetry much until college. I think I didn't read simple poetry. I read really complex stanzas and sometimes, I just could not figure out what was going on! lol. When I got to College, though, I understood the metaphors better.
Hi Ashley! Yeah, there are still lots of poems I read that make me sit there and go "huh?" But that doesn't seem to stop me from wanting to figure them out. And I also believe there are many interpretations that can spring forth from a piece of poetry, everyone can take it in a different way.
DeleteExcellent poem. Poets are very talented so pat yourself on the back!
ReplyDeleteThanks Deb. I don't consider myself particularly talented as a poet, but I do love creating it. It is like a purging of emotion for me.
DeleteI'm a poetry lover so reading or writing it is a treat for me. This is a nice poem and I pick up on the child-like wish of being indestructible and protecting those you care about.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Sheena! It was difficult to think like a middle grader and write poetry from their different perspectives, but like everything else in writing Middle Grade for me, I had FUN doing it. :)
DeleteI love your poetry! I love poetry in general, but I just cannot write it. I've tried, but I suck!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Jay- But I am surprised at you dude! You can do anything you put your mind to. I bet (like Alex) you are being too hard on yourself. I want to challenge you to come up with a poem about a ninja. The way they move is poetic in itself. I bet you come up with something BRILLIANT! :)
DeleteI love poetry, and I love your poem. But I don't love writing poetry. I can admit that I'm just not good at it.
ReplyDeleteThanks B! But I am going to echo to you what I said to Alex and Jay- you are so talented I am shocked that you would not be able to come up with awesome poems. Hmmm, I seem to recall some stanzas you guys wrote about Zombie Jack and Jill way back in the day. That was hilarious and very much like a poem!
Deletenice poem
ReplyDeleteThanks Adam!! I appreciate the feedback. Especially when it's good. LOL
DeleteI kinda like poetry, and I've even written some myself - but I don't read it often. I think mainly because I just don't GET it. I always seem to be missing something, some symbolism or subtext that other people see in it. Maybe it's something I'll study one day, to find out what it is I always feel like I'm missing in poetry.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear I'm not alone in my love of poetry. And I am of the mind that poems can really represent different meanings to different people. Yes, there are usually the "right" interpretations, but poetry is art and that is so subjective. So you take your own meaning from what you read, and come away with that.
DeleteI don't really love or hate poetry. Like, it's not something I ever find myself seeking out, but I will come across poetry sometimes that I do end up adoring. Yours, for example, was great! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are too kind Heather- thank you. I really had a lot of fun tapping into the mind of my character who happens to be a ginger-haired, middle school boy and coming up with those stanzas. I loved the challenge of that.
DeleteI'm not really on Team Poetry, but you make it look easy...and fun :) Nice work!
ReplyDeleteWhaaaa? My brother from another mother is not into poetry? I am shocked and shagrined. LOL
DeleteI guess I have to come to accept poetry is just not for everyone. Like scrapbooking. Oh my gosh the same girlfriends of mine who hate poetry all want me to go scrapbooking with them for an entire weekend. Gah! I tell them every time, I'd rather stick a needle in my eye. They refer to me as the anti-scraper now. LOL
It's not that I hate poetry (and I appreciate good poetry when I see it), it's that I've never been that great at summing things up in a short and beautiful manner. Long-winded? Perhaps. Then again, every once in a while I get an idea and the inspiration pulls out something cool. In other words, I'm an at-random-when-inspiration-strikes poet, not a sit-down-and-come-up-with-one poet. :)
ReplyDeleteDavid-I can respect that! I am sure when that inspiration strikes you what you come up with is brilliant!!
DeleteLike David, I don't hate poetry, but I'm terrible at "getting it." There are a few poems that have sung to my soul, but most of the time, I just don't get it. Your poem was a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine! I'm so glad you liked it; considering it's middle grade and that's not up too many people's alleys.
DeletePoultry poetry = chicken script
ReplyDeleteI'm not poetic, just phonetic
And with that rhyme not quite sublime
I'll take my bow and disavow
The thought I wrought
And disappear to there from here.
Where mine might grate, your poetry's great.
For the best I've ever heard
Came from a superhero named JayBird!
Jeff Hargett you are made up of awesome!! And obviously full of poetic talent to come up with that off the fly!! Thanks for making my day with this comment :)
DeleteI love poetry. Well, well-written poetry. I love how the words read, and how they sound. (one of my favorites is Carrie from the Slow-Dripped Life :) As for writing it, though, not so much. I don't know why, but I just don't feel like I have the capacity to write it. I don't know if it's a block, or if I'm truly not gifted, but I can never come up with anything that sounds evenly halfway decent. But I don't really care, as I am happy to appreciate it when other write it :)
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I used to do a lot, (and miss now that I have kids and don't have time) is go to hear poetry performed. There are a lot of amazing poets around here and one group in particular that I loved to hear perform. It's one thing to create beautiful poetry but to perform it in front of an audience, that's a whole other art form within itself!
DeleteI don't dislike poetry; I just dislike the vast majority of modern poetry. Because it's not. I did a series of posts on this topic a while back, in fact. Most modern poetry is just prose (and not good prose at that) written in verse form, which does not make something poetry. Writing actual poetry is a disciple that most people today don't feel the need to master, so what we end up with is disjointed sentence fragments -called- a poem.
ReplyDeleteI think you perfectly captured MG poetry, though, with yours, which makes it pretty great.
Thank you so much Andrew! I appreciate that. And I respect your opinion about modern poetry. It's almost like modern art; some people will love it and others will never understand or appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteHmm... and, now, I see that one of my words disgorged some of its letters somewhere. Poetry is a discipline, not a disciple. heh
ReplyDeleteIt is like modern art, which I talk about in those posts. I blame it all on Picasso. The art, not the poetry.
Mostly, I also don't like modern art. I mean, I can sling paint onto a canvas just as well as anyone else, but I don't call it art.
Just sayin'.