During this past couple of months I’ve spent most of
my spare writing time working on my Wordpress blog, with daily postings related
to a central theme. This month’s theme was “Whether.” Nothing else, just “Whether.”
I decided, for those who haven’t dropped by one of my other homes yet, to write
about aspects of a writer’s life and work.
Each post title begins with the word “Whether” and
tries to reflect the heart of the post’s theme. I’m not sure if I succeeded
with my final desire. I know that I received more likes from April 1 to April
20 than I’ve ever received in one month before. That’s going some.
What I discovered is that I can suck the life out of
a subject and still find something more to write about it. I wonder what else I
can find to write about for the next few days before April arrives. Just call
me “Vampira.”
Next month is almost a predictable theme. POEM.
Since April is National Poetry Month, having this theme makes perfect sense.
Now, let’s look at that scenario before trying for
substance on it. Robert Brewer’s Poetic Asides site will have its annual
poem-a-day challenge going, with the end result being a chapbook manuscript to
be submitted for competition and possible publication.
My friend Marie Elena and her poetic partner in
cyberville, Walt, will probably have more goodies lined up on their poetry site,
Poetic Bloomings. Several of the other sites dealing in verse will undoubtedly
have goings-on that will rival the upcoming Maypole dance.
Which should I go for this coming month? It’s not
like I haven’t anything else to do but write poems.
I could do Robert’s challenge prompt each day and
also post it on my Claudsy’s Blog and on BlogHer. I think that would be
cheating, though, and have to reconsider that to find out if I’m allowed to do
that. Either way, I would be writing a lot of poetry throughout those halcyon
days of Ares’ month, if I take up either challenge—BlogHer, Poetic Aides,
and/or any of the others available.
As my friends know, I have no trouble writing poetry.
I enjoy it more than most things, when I allow myself to take the time to
produce it. I think what bothers me about it is that revision of it is such a
pain. When I write verse, it’s instinctual, immediate.
I don’t what to have to analyze the intimate
feelings that brought those particular words to the front of my consciousness
and placed them on paper. I want raw emotion, not devised and controlled
feeling that insinuates itself into the reader’s mind during the reading
process. I want the reader to see and feel it as I did when I wrote it. I want
the reader to envision that instant that’s been placed in physical form upon
the page.
That need of my own may be the most poetic thing
about what I do when I put words on paper for others to read. Visceral response
should be the only response, to my way of thinking. That’s what verse is for
me. Shakespeare wrote from the gut. Its form of verse tells a story that
resonates within the sinuses upon reading aloud. Whitman did the same when he
wrote about his take on the world and our place in it, about how we treated
each other and ourselves.
There is no thought in my mind of advancing to great
acclaim for verse I produce. My only need is to translate personal feelings and
perceptions into some concrete form that approximates the echoes of nebulous
and insubstantial stimuli.
April, a month of verse, arrives in five days. How
many others out there will accept the challenge, is unknown. Would that each
could take but a moment to place simple words on a page for the purpose of
holding on to that moment in time.
TTFN, all
Claudsy
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