PD30 Day 26: Events and Emotion
September 26, 2008 by John Hewitt
I write poetry when I’m sad. I write poetry when I’m angry. I write poetry when I’m happy. I do my best though, not to write poetry about being sad, angry or happy. I believe that the emotions in poetry must come from what happens in the poem. People want to smell, hear, taste, feel and see things when they read. If they understand from the imagery and the descriptions what is being felt, it will have a far more lasting impression than if they are told that you are sad, happy or angry.
I am not advocating a cold approach to poetry. Poetry should be emotional and it should evoke strong feelings. If I get to the end I should have a pretty good idea of how the poet felt. I just want to make up my mind for myself about that, not have the emotion simply identified for me. This goes back to my discussion about descriptive versus evaluative modifiers. Description informs and guides the reader. Evaluation leads the reader around by the nose. Readers want to go on the journey with you, but they don’t want to be lead.
There are no hard rules in poetry. You can write about what you want. If you want to say you are sad, happy or angry, it isn’t wrong to do so. The risk though, is that you will leave no room for the reader to think and interpret what you wrote. If the reader has nothing left to think about when your poem is over, your poem will soon be forgotten. Description and imagery are what stick with people.
Today’s Poetry Prompt
Write a poem that demonstrates strong emotion without ever stating what that emotion is.
Related links
- 30 Poems in 30 Days set for September (1.000)
- All About 30 Poems in 30 Days (1.000)
- PD30 Day 1: I Believe in Poetry (1.000)
- PD30 Day 2: Generally Be Specific (1.000)
- PD30 Day 3: A Review of Meter (1.000)
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Road Rash Revisited
Seven weeks ago I crashed,
Forearm skidded, roadly rashed.
Lymph and blood and new flesh mixed.
New hairs, but a zone betwixt.
Stripe remaining’s like sashimi
Textured pebble-riffled streamy.
Too soon now to know proclivity
(Ultraviolet sensitivity,
Shrinkage, shading, more hair growth),
Maybe fade, or blur, or both?
It’s not Death, not blind- nor lameness,
But it’s never-be-the-sameness.
The Fledging
My daughter left the nest only to crash and burn.
She can’t pay the rent and she can’t find a job.
She calls me and she just cries.
Sometimes she mentions killing herself.
She wants desperately to come home
But she doesn’t want to be a quitter.
She hates her new surroundings.
She feels separate and apart.
She sees all her past mistakes now
And there’s not much she can do.
Experience is a stern taskmaster
And rarely gives full reprieves.
Her wings weren’t strong enough to fly.
She can’t eat and she can’t sleep.
She calls me and she just cries.
She is still my little baby bird.
Let it end here
Before anything starts
Let it end here
If there is someone better
Suited to you
Why not?
Before anything goes further
Let it end here
If there is someone more
To your liking
Why not?
Before anything happens
Let it end here
If there is someone with
Closer wavelength
Why not?
Before anything
Let it end here
Because I say so
Let it end.
voices make me sad
i weep at there discretion
so much hatread and vulger
that rip my heart apart
i cry out loud in remoltion
of all deception said
only ignorance could say such things
that i make my own bed to lie on