Even More Poems In December

Still, it hasn't snowed yet. That's a good sign I suppose. Maybe we'll have a mild winter, and January and February won't be quite as depressing.

Here's a poem I wrote a couple years ago, in the middle of the night. I love those moments. Yes, writing can be difficult sometimes, but, fortunately, we get those moments of sudden, inexplicable inspiration, too.

One more thing. Keep your eye out in the coming months - I'm planning to hold a contest after the holidays connected with poetry and imitation. The prizes will consist of full-color illustrations of your protagonist. So keep checking - contests will be coming soon! 

~

Hope in Shadow

Shick, Shack, watch your back,

The twisted dreams are turning black,

The drum of all the swirling shadows,

Come to meet us in the shallows,

                            When the world is quiet.

Trin, Trun, time to run,

The shadows come when there's no sun,

The shouting of all the wicked sins,

Cannot be heard over their din,

                            I cannot hide from it.

Bim Boom, in my room,

Hiding from the impending doom,

My sadness compels me to ask how,

My tears my only comfort now,

                            Darkness uninvited.

Hoop, Hope, prayers like soap,

Washing, tying, my dreams like rope,

They lift me from the treacherous ground,

They urge me on, I'm lost, I'm found,

                             I will turn and face it,

                             My weapon vanquish it,

                     With HOPE I can win.

                                                                      3/09

More Poems in December

Ah, yes. It's getting colder. And any studying I have to do is getting more and more annoying. The holidays are creeping up. And poems keep coming. . .


Stay Out Here
 
Winter skies
Tired eyes
Pink and blue
Cold and true
Silhouettes
Old regrets
Wash away
For today
As the sky
Says good-bye
To the sun
Everyone
Winter chill
Christmas thrill
Glow inside
Old yuletide
Carols sing
New bells ring
Lets stay here
Finding cheer
In the skies
And good-byes
Winter tears
Freezing fears
New-found joys
Life enjoys
Carols sung
Stockings hung
Winter skies
Tired eyes
Go to sleep
Winter deep.

I can't sleep
Winter deep.

Poems in December

I've been writing a lot of poetry lately. I guess I find December to be a poetic month. Not in the way that you would think of spring or fall being poetic - more in it's own, unique sort of anticipation.

Here's one poem, which I'm sure many authors could identify with. I will be back with more shortly.

This Paper

 

New journeys, new ventures, new things to behold:

Stories upon stories that nobody’s told,

Hearts are laid barren upon wasted slate.

Words, they pour forth, but they all come too late.

Too many times, as I wander here

I have felt the cursed claws of fate.

They dig and scratch and hold me back,

The passions of ambition crack.

Yearning to live, to help create -

I am the one who I berate.

Life’s far away, once felt so near -

Myself that I’ve begun to hate.

What happened, when I used to write?

The words that fall like stars tonight

And burn until I separate

From the world I infuriate.

My breath too shallow now to hear -

My paper I incinerate.

This paper I incinerate.

Poetry According to Poe

I've said before that imitation is the first step to greatness.

Oh. 

I didn't?

Well it is. It's also the highest form of flattery. And I'm sure Edgar Allen Poe would be flattered to know how many poets have imitated his Raven. He did give us a guide, after all.

His essay, published in 1846, entitled The Philosophy of Composition.

In his own words: "I have [no] difficulty in recalling to mind the progressive steps of any of my compositions; and, since the interest of an analysis, or reconstruction, such as I have considered a desideratum, is quite independant of any real or fancied intrest in the thing analyzed, it will not be regarded as a breach of decorum on my part to show the modus operandi by which some one of my works was put together."

What a gift for us poets!

"I select The Raven as the most generally known. It is my design to render it manifest that no one point in its composition is referrible either to accident or intuition - that the work proceeded, step by step, to its completion with the precision and rigid consequence of a mathematical problem."

The 'step-by-step process' is as follows:

1.       Determine the length that you wish your poem to be. The length will be based on what you wish to convey with your poem, whether it is one, unified message, or several messages in one story. However, Poe says, "there is a distinct limit, as regards length, to all works of literary art - the limit of a single sitting." For "a poem is such only inasmuch as it intensely excites, by elevating the soul; and all intense excitements are, through a psychal necessity, brief.

2.       Choose the impression, or effect, you want your poem to have. Poe says that he always chooses the effect first, and then proceeds through the rest of the poem with this overall effect in mind.  What is your theme? Beauty? Love? Honor? And who is your audience? Is this a universal poem? Or is it a poem directed at lovers, searchers, thinkers? Those who are lonely, empty, hopeful?

3.       Consider the tone of the poem. Even if your theme has been touched upon before, there are various ways to touch upon it. Beauty, written about with a tone of sadness, becomes something different. The message itself changes, becomes unique.

4.       Decide upon meter, etc.

5.       Identify key words in the poem, such as Poe’s "Nevermore" in The Raven. Poe calls this a 'refrain'. Though not all poems need one, a certain amount of repetition is crucial for the overall effect and the "intense excitement" of the poem. Also identify key characters, such as the Raven Poe picked to intone his refrain.

6.       Now combine the tone and the theme. Think of your tone, and things related to it. If your tone is melancholy, the first things that come to mind are death, despair, and loss. Then think of your theme, and how your desired tone could be made to relate to this theme. Beauty even in death? Loss of beauty?

7.       Combine your key words with this combined theme-and-tone.

8.       Envision the climax of your poem and compose it. Thus you will also establish your poem's meter, etc.

9.       Brainstorm the poem’s location and order of events.

10.   At this point, it would seem that the poem is ready to be written. However, Poe digs even deeper. "In subjects so handled," he says, "however skilfully, or with however vivid an array of incident, there is always a certain hardness or nakedness which repels the artistical eye." The bare events of the poem, written in meter, is not enough to evoke the intensity needed to make the poem a work of art. Two things, Poe says, are required: Complexity of the plot and personalities, and some amount of suggestiveness, some "undercurrent" as Poe calls it, through ulterior motives/hidden messages. Thus layers upon layers are added to the poem, giving it depth and reality.

These guidelines always make me smile when I read them.
I guess they encourage me...but I think they excite me more then anything else. I can't wait to grab a pencil and start writing - delve in deep to the complexities; grab hold of an old theme and twist it a new way; find my own Raven, above my own chamber door, quothing my own 'Nevermore'. 

And how could I go wrong, with Poe himself to lead me through the dark tangles of Poe-try?