SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

Dear poets, from (me!) Sandra, tvgp

It is VERY IMPORTANT to remember this: poetry came first. -before categories and labels and names for types of poetry... Poetry came first. -before the word "poem" was even conceived, or "poet". -poetry came first. Something happened to a human being... Maybe it was love, maybe it was death.. But something happened; something critical in that persons life journey.. And without a preconceived notion of any kind.. Without asking permission, without first seeking a muse.. Without any classes or instructions or books... Without anyone asking or assigning or recommending... It was the instinct, (and I would argue here, a God-given instinct) for that person to express with words, their experience... And it was on INSTINCT.. That the expression of that experience be communicated in an uncommon way... It would not come out in common conversation.. Traditional. But would demand to be set apart somehow.. Elevated, punctuated. The act of writing or speaking in this set-apart way resulted in an internal gratification exclusive to this expression; unachievable and unknowable any other way. There was no money involved, no market value, no popularity contest, no editors or publishers, no social media platforms, no teachers or critics involved or nearby when the first poem was written or spoken.. There was a human being who had a critical life experience or perhaps an epiphany about a common life experience, and the God given instinct to express the experience in an elevated, set apart way. It is how a certain (to date, unknown) percentage of the human population processes life experience. poetry then is another spiritual law in that it is applicable to a percentage of all of humanity.. Not exclusive to a specific culture or race or gender or age or religion, etc. In all walks of life... You know how I love to find the common denominators in humanity. Also.. Before I close, I remind you, that from my perspective free form poetry is NOT like playing tennis without a net.. -but much more like the tree with its roots busting out of the sidewalk cement; it refuses to be contained! Formulaic poetry is equivalent to crossword puzzles... You make things fit. My other argument regarding poetry is who can or can't call themselves a poet... There exists a certain group of insecure writers who -in order to feel worthy themselves, I suppose, like to create all kinds of "qualifications" around being a poet. God laughs. And I remind you here: poetry came first. Not the names, titles, qualifications, rules, requirements, editors, publishers, critics, etc. If you.. For any reason, at any time, under any circumstance, were inspired to write, what today we identify as a poem.. Rhyming or not, free or formula...long or short.. You, my friend are a poet. Only a certain unknown percentage of the human population are gifted with this instinct.. The number is larger than the publishing world will have you know... But smaller than .../failing here to come up with something. -but know this.. It is not 100% of the population and it is a gift you should appreciate and treasure and celebrate. I also argue here... Apparently that is my mood today.. That writing a poem, or poetry is only one thing that can serve to identify a poet.. One small thing. Poets do far more than write and read poetry.. Poets elevate everyday life with the same magical, God given instincts in which they elevate and set apart life experiences with words.. I will give one example and then must start my working day... A non-poet's attention goes to communicating with standard text which can be easily, and accurately read. Poets invented fonts. -we pretty things up. That leads me, by the way, and quite unintentionally, but perhaps divinely, to tell you about my next poetry workshop: UNPRETTY UP A POEM, scheduled for Wednesday October 23 at the firehouse art center. We are going to reverse engineer some poetry... Consider and discuss the experiences that led to the poem.. And marvel at how the poets took a human mess...and prettied it up. Then we will do the same... -would love to see you there

posted by SHE @ 10:07 AM