Hey! So this is the site where we will be sharing thoughts on writing poetry and what that means. The first posting should be up by class on Thursday by the students responsible for it. They will be chosen in class on Monday, January 9, 2012. We will be choosing pairs (and one triple) for this sort of work. Everyone must respond to the official posts by 12 noon the Sunday after they are posted. If you don't respond by then, you will receive a zero for that week's assignment. If you respond tepidly, you will receive a tepid grade -- fervently, a fervent grade!
The goal is to develop a conversation about the technical and emotional elements of writing poems and where those intersect, overlap, influence one another. A short, thoughtful response to the pointwill be more useful than a ramble that doesn't really get ius anywhere.
"Only the patient and diligent, as well as the inspired, get there" page 18 Oliver
ReplyDeleteWe found this to be the most helpful for kicking off ones poetry. It shows that if you are able to calm your mind and write, not think, you can be successful.
on page 16 in the Myers book we found question 3, "Where do you think your 'creativity' resides - in your head, your intellect, your ego, your unconscious, your heart, your soul or your body." to help with the inspiration to write. we all agree that it depends on the situation, however the most common would be from the heart. We would enjoy feedback from all of your on where you believe poetry comes from.
If one were to find inspiration but does not know where to start, as addressed in the Myers book on page VII in getting started, simply put a pen on it. Put your writing utensil to work, whether it not it makes sense does not matter. what strategies do you all use when having difficulty with your writing?
Michael
Dylan
Rashida
I completely agree with what you guys have said about the passage from Oliver. When Im trying to write a poem, Alot of my day or whats around me pops into my mind, but I think that the best poem ideas come out if you "calm your mind and... not think". If you try and "think" about what to write, the poems can turn into an idea that you've tried to hard to bring out in the poem, I definitely believe that a truly good poem is something that comes from deep down inside you.
DeleteI dont think that the core of creativity depends on the situation, I think that, as I've touched on before, it comes from deep in you (you could say your heart).
I think that some people use that strategy of "brain storming" to find a good idea, but I think that all writing should be about something that is important to you, and if you have all these random ideas that arent significant in your "brain storm", than why write about it?
I think the necessary mental state for me writing a poem is very circumstantial. There are days where I touch the keyboard and 5 minutes later a poem is staring me in the face, and others where my best work comes from careful consideration of each word. I agree with Riley in that i don't believe there is a specific location from which this creativity arises. There are days when your poetry is visceral and heartfelt, while others it is more cognitive.
DeleteThe concept of writer's block is a bit more intriguing to me. The spontaneity of creativity drives me crazy. There are nights when I snap to lucidity at three in the morning and have to sprint to my computer and record a verse, and other days when I flow for hours until suddenly hitting a wall and not being able to write the last line. I think this exemplifies the lack of a source of creativity in the human body. Maybe my brain is shutting down, maybe my heart closes, maybe my ego is humbled, maybe my unconcious comes to, maybe my soul flies, maybe my body is tired. I'm not quite sure.
Honestly I think that the creativity comes from all aspects of a persons life. There is no one central place it resides. I find my creativity comes best when I have completed my required tasks for the day and time has passed for me to dwell on the past present and future. So in a sense I too wait to become at a state of rest. To really quiet the mind is getting harder to do now as life gets busier, so I can see the dilemma when it comes to getting to this state. What I do when I have righters block is to have some fun, fiddle around with an object, work a little with my mind but not so much that the task takes all my attention. As my mind works it sparks interest in many things that it couldn't focus on before because it was too littered with daily stuff, that I when I put my "pen to paper".
DeleteFor me, creativity can flow free once my mind settles, and becomes idle. I some times help that process by taking a nap or at least trying. I find that I get to a certain point and I start to think less on my day or what I'm doing tomorrow and think more general or creative. I keep a note book close in had to be able to jot it down anything that may come. For me it works, but it does not produce a final product. Sometimes I can kill two birds with one stone, start a poem and get some well needed rest.
ReplyDeleteI know that the most widely accepted response is "it comes from your heart", but i don't think that is entirely true. I don't think we can put a single label to it. I also think that having inspiration two write is a gift that some people have and others don't. If the question was broadened to "where does inspiration come from?", I can't put it any better than what Ryan said.
ReplyDeletePeople that find writing to be easy have a gift that some other people don't. I think true creativity lies in things that come naturally to you, not things that are a struggle or difficult. I think this has to do with the connection between the conscious and unconscious mind, where naturally flowing ideas are easily "interpreted" into thoughts, while difficult ideas take more work of the conscious mind and mess with the creativity aspect of it.
I don't really have an answer to the last question, since i am not sure if i have ever been put in that situation with writing?
When Mary Oliver says, "Only the patient and diligent, as well as the inspired, get there" (18), I think, in addition to the interpretations from the other people's comments, that she is referring to her belief in imitation. I agree with Oliver that an important part of poetry is imitation. Though listening to others and observing their styles, one can subconsciously or consciously realize what they like and don't like about that poetry, and use it for their own inspiration. From there, one can take those ideas, and take them to new places when they mix them with their own thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI think That personally my poetry comes from the mind. Especially the events leading up to when I would write a poem dictate the tone, and feel for it. I think that for truly girfted and expierianced poets it comes more natural for them, from the heart. They don't have to think about it as much and the words just come to them, the flow of the work is very smooth and not forced. But really for me it still comes from the mind I have to think pretty hard about what I want to write about and how I am going to display what i'm thinking or feeling into words.
ReplyDeleteI think poetry not only comes from you (your heart, soul, mind, ect) but whats around you. My poetry changes, depending on who I'm around and where I am. I also think poetry comes from someplace subconscious; i guess you could say that was the mind, but its not the mind you recognize and wake up to every day. Does anyone feel they write better when a poem just comes to them, or when they stumble on it, rather than putting pen to paper and trying to force the poem out? I agree with the quote on page 18, save the patient part. I think patience is an asset, but not a necessity, in writing poetry.
ReplyDeleteI find that what Ryan has said about creativity definitely applies to me. When I was away at Chewonki last semester, they gave me a notebook, and I ended up filling most of it with poetry that came, sometimes from the things that had occurred over the course of my days that I had experienced, but mostly from things that were happening inside my head that I wasn't fully aware of. I found that when I relaxed my mind and didn't think, I could come up with things that, once I re-read them almost seemed as if they were written by someone else.
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed what Mary Oliver said on page 16, that even though at first a poem may seem like the spoken words of every day, underneath that lies the truth of the poem that is so much more than just words, but feelings and emotions as well. That there is so much to understand in a poem, so many levels, that sometimes, one can't make it all the way through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1GtBpIORJY
ReplyDeleteinteresting to listen to. i have never been a fan on kanye because of his attitude but the way he addresses it in this is respectable and i liked his freestyle and the beginning. good post
Deletehttp://vimeo.com/10167703
ReplyDeleteKatzandogs.com/onchildren.html
ReplyDeleteWww.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15231 - Ryan Carr
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