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A Subject, a Subject, My Kingdom for a Subject!
I often imagine people asking me where I get the ideas for the poetry I write, just what is the inspiration for the subject of the poem.
And yes, that's right, I imagine the conversation.
If you've ever been in a discussion with me and my side of it seems prepared and polished and premeditated, it most probably is as I have these imagined conversations in my mind all the time.
I'm certain there is a pill that can aid with this but as I find them so amusing, I will pass for now.
Subject is both the easiest and the most difficult thing in the world. After all, anyone can write a poem about love and it will sound like any poem written about love, quickly forgotten. But modify the subject a bit and make it all about the tilt of the nose in the setting sun and the thrill in remembering previous times and imagining future ones and you have a love poem that has a better chance of being remembered.
Whenever I am casting about for a subject I start with cold, harsh, reality. There's so much of it, after all, and it is always there, staring me in the face. So I take a sample of reality and then stretch and pull, twist and turn, and, at times, pull it inside out and then I write about this medium of reality as if everyone saw it and knew it for fact.
I wish I could say I invented the idea but it's an old literary and artistic technique, I've just latched onto it because I find it extremely enjoyable. And, truth to tell, I'll consider 50 ideas for every 1 I actually use and well over 100 ideas for every poem I actually finish. For while reality is everywhere, there are times when it just doesn't mesh well with our mood and desire and that's when it's best to note whatever idea you have, save it, and move on.
It'll be there later and you'll do a better job with it because just as there is nothing worse in Comedy than a joke you have to explain, there is nothing worse in poetry than a poem you have to force yourself to finish.
And yes, that's right, I imagine the conversation.
If you've ever been in a discussion with me and my side of it seems prepared and polished and premeditated, it most probably is as I have these imagined conversations in my mind all the time.
I'm certain there is a pill that can aid with this but as I find them so amusing, I will pass for now.
Subject is both the easiest and the most difficult thing in the world. After all, anyone can write a poem about love and it will sound like any poem written about love, quickly forgotten. But modify the subject a bit and make it all about the tilt of the nose in the setting sun and the thrill in remembering previous times and imagining future ones and you have a love poem that has a better chance of being remembered.
Whenever I am casting about for a subject I start with cold, harsh, reality. There's so much of it, after all, and it is always there, staring me in the face. So I take a sample of reality and then stretch and pull, twist and turn, and, at times, pull it inside out and then I write about this medium of reality as if everyone saw it and knew it for fact.
I wish I could say I invented the idea but it's an old literary and artistic technique, I've just latched onto it because I find it extremely enjoyable. And, truth to tell, I'll consider 50 ideas for every 1 I actually use and well over 100 ideas for every poem I actually finish. For while reality is everywhere, there are times when it just doesn't mesh well with our mood and desire and that's when it's best to note whatever idea you have, save it, and move on.
It'll be there later and you'll do a better job with it because just as there is nothing worse in Comedy than a joke you have to explain, there is nothing worse in poetry than a poem you have to force yourself to finish.