I’ve been an avid lurker of this site for a good amount of time already, but now, I think it’s time to jump in on the fun! I mean, I’ve been doing math ALL SUMMER long, so I’m JUST LITERALLY ITCHING to write poetry.

Hence, I’m leaving a link below of one of my most current poems that is the most typical of my writing (even though there are so many to choose from!):
http://alotus-poetry.livejournal.com/13084.html

Dear fellow poets, enjoy!

Oh, and of course, I also write about animals. Although it’s oftentimes difficult to place our shoes in theirs (and the human imagination can only hold so much for we will never turn into an animal), I think they are fascinating creatures that DO deserve some kind of attention. A writing prompt for animals would be wonderful! For some reason, there was a point in time when I incorporated insects and spiders in a series of poems, and then other times, I decided to become a fish and draw attention to myself by knocking on glass so humans can feed me!!

P.S. Choosing 3 from the poll was difficult as I had a tie:

1) myself/spirituality
2) nature
3) love

Carolee….I pontificate: This question, “What are your poems about”, seems to appear several times a year on various sites and articles. This also includes writers as in “What do you write about?” Poetry, unlike prose, has always been the point of a emotionally sharpened pencil. I have known writers who were ‘plodders’ much as an old mule pulling a plow. And when the row is plowed they stop until told to gee or haw to their next task. Not all writers, but a good bulk of them wear a harness. However, poets view their craft in a different context. Those who do become ‘real’ poets will plow the furrow but they will stop to look a clod, the worm wiggling on the ground, smell the soil, watch the sweat trickle off their flanks, or examine the dirt under the farmers finger nails. And then, they write a poem to tell what they have seen and/or felt.

I believe poets write about the nuances of life in a concise and penetrating form that does not waste a forest to express. I have always enjoyed anyone’s effort even when it is contrite and without good form, at least they tried! I do agree with you that if the ‘I’ is their couch of conscience then that is a subject that quickly bores and over time becomes rather shallow.

Personally, I find that much of my effort is spent pondering time, eternity, and plains of existence. Heavy I know, however I have always enjoyed watching Ouroborus swallow it’s tail. I wonder what it found when it was inside out or is that inside in or maybe outside out. I do write about bugs, birds, fish, dogs, snakes, and women. All interesting and delightful creatures. I dearly love my wife. There is poetry in our personal relations, marital and friendship. She once asked me if something happened to her would I remarry? I said, “I would get a dog.” Now there’s poetry for you. She is still trying to figure that out. Clue: Dog is God spelled in reverse.

Well then Carolee….a bit of cream cheese for your morning bagel. Thanks!
Avatar. This pretty well tells the tale on Donald Harbour.

One of these days I’ll get this right the first time
Avatar.

This is for A~lotus:

I love your poem and tried to leave a mesage on your blog but because I don’t have a livejournal account (and don’t want one) and because you disabled anonymous comments, I wasn’t able to, as far as I could tell. Is there any other way of leaving a comment?

>I think that answer disqualifies me as a “real” poet. I don’t think “I always write about myself” is the “right” answer. For me the “right” answer probably has more to do with human suffering.

I disagree that this disqualifies you. I think real poetry exists in the intersection of the personal and the universal. Just writing about the personal is uninteresting navelgazing, but just writing about the universal is bloodless and soulless.

If the poet isn’t somehow present in their poem, at least on an empathetic level, I don’t want to read that poem. But if the poem is overly obsessed with the poet, there’s no room for the reader.

For me poetry is about trying to relate personal experiences to universal human experience. To express the essence of something intensely personal in a way that makes other people think, “me too” - so that for a second the reader feels understood, that they weren’t alone even on their darkest inner journeys, because the poet has been there too.

It’s not easy, of course. It requires a very delicate balance - sufficient distance from personal experience to be interesting to others, without losing the vividness that comes from having experienced something personal.

And I also don’t think human suffering is crucial. I’m far more interested in human capacity to overcome suffering. My favourite poems don’t deny the darkness, but manage to provide at least glimpses of light, to inspire the reader with strength and optimism. Again, this is part of taking the personal up to the level of the universal - a way of reducing your own suffering, not by denying it, but by placing it in the context of what other humans have not only suffered but survived and triumphed over.

Of all my poems, I think the one that comes closest to combining the personal, the universal, and optimism over suffering, is this one: Nude

I should add, another way a poem can be great is by making the reader feel “me too” about something they’ve never experienced… by taking them to that place so vividly that they can relate to it.

I have a few poems about my cats, but they are few. An animal poetry challenge is a great idea.

I chose memories and nature and fantasies. Although, I think they are all about feelings now that I think about it.

Although, the memories are really people in my memory. Some of the best poems I have read along the blogs have been about a very specific memory–just showcasing one single moment. I love them, but I never write them. I wouldn’t know how.

I didn’t get around to making a choice. Being precise by nature, I felt I’d have to go through all my poems and count up, and I didn’t have time “Other family members” would come high on the list,but it would be misleading - I have written quite a few poems based on my interest in genealogy, so it is dead family members who often inspire me.
Memories - everything is a memory, whether it is a memory of something you read or saw half a minute ago, or something from your childhood. I was once told by an editor that he preferred poems based on the “here and now”. My response, if I’d written it, would have said that everything I write about is in my head “here and now”. And on the other hand, nothing is here and now because there is always a gap between the event and writing about it.

For Linda: So sorry! I didn’t realize that! Let me go and fix that!! That way, you (and anyone else can comment)! Give me a few hours, since LJ has changed so many features, I’m still trying to get the hang of them. But thank you so much for your thoughts!

For everyone else, fascinating discussion, espeically yours, Lirone. You put it so nicely. I try to go towards the universal in my poems as well, but I leave them open enough for readers to have the either “me too” reaction or leave it up to the reader’s imagination (kind of like an open-ended interpretation or criticism).

When I write about spirituality, it borders a lot with philosophical and existential questions, too. Interestingly, come to think of it, when I’m feeling “spiritual” in that certain moment, I tend to turn myself or the subject into an animal or at least have animalistic qualities.

Yes, I’m ALL IN FAVOR for animal prompts!! I really, really can’t wait!

Carolee: This is so interesting. My answers were myself, memories, and spirituality. But I think I’m kind of with you: they’re all about me. I mean, they’re my memories and my spirituality. I have never written a poem about someone else’s spirituality!

Does this make us lesser poets? Maybe. I feel like I’m just writing what I know the most about, though. I’ve tried writing about things I’m unfamiliar with, and it doesn’t really work.

I in particular don’t think that it’ll make us less of a poet if one writes about him/herself. But of course, if one writes about him/herself, it encompasses a variety of things from memories to dreams to feelings to basically a lot of the items on the poll (and more).

And the part about writing something unfamiliar can go both ways. Some writers/poets write about something they had never experienced, yet when readers read the writer’s/poet’s work, they have experienced it, and vice versa. Interestingly, I’m kind of interested with the level of empathy in the level of each writer/poet, because sometimes they write the most brilliant works of literature and art and had never experienced what they had written!! And of course, there are still other writers/poets who based everything on their experiences, which I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. In most cases, most writers/poets write with what they are familiar with. And I’m one of those poets myself.

A~Lotus hit it right on the head — empathy is key. I think regardless of a poet’s autobiography the honest record of the feeling of something is the heart of all good poetry. And Lirone is right about the universal and the particular — you could say what the poet gets at is the universal particular through empathy.
A lot of what I write about starts with things that are close to me: the place I live, things observed, memories, ideas but these are often beginnings. It could go anywhere. The important thing is that it’s an honest rendering. That said, I notice some common themes, not planned but they show up: freedom, resistance to authority, repression, desire, connection with others. I could go on about how I believe empathy is revolutionary but I’ll save that for another time. Thanks for the forum.

wow, another interesting post and comments, both enlightening reads… picked nature, feelings and spirituality… love writing abt nature, human feelings and our spirituality… you’ve made some great points.. try not to make it abt myself but yes, myself is mixed in there inbetween words… it is a great challenge to write about topics i know nothing abt so head to the library and/or internet when a topic interests me and write abt that… learning poetry forms has been the greatest challenge. i have written a poem or two abt animals, pets at home… i believe rick mobbs recent prompt has a painting of a dog…

the most creative and interesting poems are ones that leave people thinking… an open door so to speak to take it to their own place where they feel something, are affected in some way… otherwise it is only for ourselves that we write… which is ok too… it appears as though it cannot be too complex as no one can understand..

it is amazing to find a poem/story/post that has affected me in some way and draws me into writing something as well.. maybe not specifically the same subject… thank you for a great post….

as i’m writing this there are more than 60 responses to the read write poll!

AND … AND …

and these comments are so amazing. you read write poemers are really putting yourselves into this site.

AND … AND …

Dana’s current interview of Brent Goodman is getting lots of attention out there in blogland.

it’s just a great time to be involved with this online poetry project!

congrats to all participants and contributors!

Here’s the data as of 8/3/08:

I most often write poems about (choose as many as three):

Feelings (38%, 26 Votes)
Myself (36%, 25 Votes)
Nature (32%, 22 Votes)
Memories (29%, 20 Votes)
Love (22%, 15 Votes)
Spirituality (19%, 13 Votes)
Ideas (17%, 12 Votes)
Strangers / people I don’t know (14%, 10 Votes)
Fantasies (12%, 8 Votes)
My father (9%, 6 Votes)
Objects (7%, 5 Votes)
Other family members (6%, 4 Votes)
Animals (6%, 4 Votes)
My mother (6%, 4 Votes)
My kids (3%, 2 Votes)
Politics (1%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 69