phases of poetry.

[billy]

. Rowen mentioned phases of poetry he went or goes through, does anyone else?

i realised that apart from doing some haiku and a few poetry exercises, i also go through phases. at present i'm just coming out of a rhyme phase. i'm in the middle of a non rhymed poem and have to admit to struggling with it a lot more than i normally do with a poem. any one else go through phrases?

[Leanne]

When I was younger, yes, what I wrote would be heavily influenced by what I was reading -- that's no bad thing, it's great to flex muscles that you haven't necessarily used before. It's also no bad thing to change your style from time to time, or to reinvent your writing. Everyone goes through different periods (a la Picasso). As I've gotten more comfortable with my own poetry, the phases tend to bleed into one another so that I can pick the style/form I want to use depending on what I want to write about and my mood at the time.

[billy]

i tend to get bored with the style i'm using, then gradually begin again
in a new style/phase. i do think it's good and also understand when someone
knows the mechanics as you do, it has to be easier to swap and chop etc.
of course you have to be able to write a decent poem as well
as of now i'm doing a poem that starts out funny and ends up serious
it doesn't feel like my stuff at all. in fact i'm in two minds whether or not
to try and get my old self back.

[Leanne]

You can never get your old self back. It feels artificial when you try.

Practising lots of different styles gives you a really solid base to draw from, so that you can more easily choose the right "you" for the job. Having said that, there are things I won't do (not those!)... I don't write haiku (though I like them a lot) and I don't write pantoums, but I wouldn't know I don't like writing them if I hadn't learned how to do them first

[billy]

haiku get me juices flowing but i don't count them as a phase.
i do enjoy the practice sessions we have here. simply because they put me in a productive frame of mind.
i used to have one those phases where i'd write two poems a day, mainly crap but i think that sort of writing made me bored. if i had to name it, it would be my non thinking phase

[Leanne]

I hardly write anything these days but it's because my brain is otherwise occupied... I kind of envy people who can churn out buttloads of crap every day and pretend it's proper poetry, but then again... when they force me to read it, I want to stab them with their own fingernails

So I'd say I'm in an observation phase at the moment

[billy]

i think i'm entering my serious poet phase. i'm not sure if i'll succeed mind.

[Leanne]

Not being sure is one of the signs of being a serious poet

[rowens]

I used to try to craft pretty little poems out of subjects you'd expect. Love, death, beauty, nature; all that. But now I think too much, and feel so many seemingly opposing things: As if every thought or feeling I have, and all I see or hear and so on, open into a spectrum of sensations and ideas. And I'm trying to carve out places in myself for all of that, while crafting subjects and conflicts themselves into forms, that can coexist with the standards of reality and "lived life". Making rhymes not sound forced is the achievement of rhyming poetry, because you are subject to the form. And it's that magical effect of having both been a slave and a master, and constructing a beautiful piece of art, that moves people so intensely. At this point, all my subjects, even simple objects, hurt me very much; like all my tools and materials are covered and full of thorns and mind altering fumes. A true craftsman is very humble and mature in his obedience to the work he does. I'm not in a humble phase: I'm about mind bombs and inner explosions. So when I can work out something tender, and delicate, it's like a rare diamond formed in the crushing heat of all the aftershocks. There's a cliche for you.

[billy]

it seems i haven't changed, i scuppered the dark part of the poem and made it nicey nicy i was still pretty pleased with it because i think it's better now, guess i'm one of those happy bastards, which in a way is so fuckin sad .

i think we've all took the nature, love, death beauty route or will do if we're new to poetry. it's part of the poetry learning curve. now i tend to try and see a happening, something that is just that, a something. most of the love, beauty, hate poetry is the opposite. it's about nothing. (well for me it is) i suppose i'm lucky that i'm immune to any pain or hurt poetry may hold. maybe i'm not a poet; i've had a poem make me cry or laugh but they've always been someone elses poem (though i have moronically laughed at my own now and again) i think i may be humble about poetry, i see many who are much better at it than i and think that i could learn something from them.
my tender and delicate is a penis spurting in someone's eye i'm so bad at delicate, mainly because i'm not delicate and i like humour. i often use drink as a stool, or should that be tool, in order to carry a poem. drink and farts. and unbeatable pair.

[Leanne]

i often drink my stool. drink and farts. and unbeatable pair.

/fixed

Hang on, what forum are we in again?

It's all very well to be humble about your accomplishments as a poet, but in my mind, your poem itself needs to be arrogant to succeed.

[billy]

I'm still pondering your insight.