AS FOR THE THINGS I WRITE
This is Your Warning:
Studying the literature that is forced upon us in high school/college is
both wonderful and frustrating. Novels and poetry can be useful tools to
help determine the insight of a reader, but this does not mean that every
story in every book deserves your attention. Perhaps it was my own
disappointment with literature that led me to writing verse.
I don't write novels. In my opinion, long writings should be an exact
science. Telling a story in 200 pages is much easier than telling a story in
12 lines. See? Again, in my opinion, if a writer has 200 pages to tell a
story--then that story should be not only perfect, but also dazzling. I've
read a few novels, and I've never been dazzled. And I don't write novels; I
write verse.
The "verse" I refer to is rhyming lines with structure and order. "Free
verse" is something that allows anyone to call himself a poet. By common
standards, everything from the Holy Bible to the instruction manual for your
VCR is a free verse poem--and I don't agree with that. When I do write "free
verse", I call it a "short story". Here in my world; if it doesn't rhyme,
then it's not a poem.
Sometimes poets get really lucky and write "lyrics" that actually sing. Then
the "poem" is just a twice-added chorus away from being a "song". Any poem
that easily writes it's own song is a masterpiece.
My goal with writing has always been to write as if I were talking. I try to
avoid big words, and never assume to be smarter than the reader. A good poem
should inspire readers to write. You shouldn't have to wonder how you feel
after reading a poem; either you get it, or you don't. Thankfully, there are
no "brain puzzles" here.
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