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How To Write A Beautiful Poem
By Kemal Faruquee, Mon Dec 26th
b>What Is Bad Poetry? By bad poetry, I, by no means am referring to work which isamateurish or unpolished. I see poems every day on the forumswhich have typos, poor phrasing, and insufficient imagery.That's fine. I love some of those poems! I love the ones whereyou can sense that the poet really means it! And, you know,there's just no faking that. When one is writing about a person,experience, or anything that significantly altered her, thepiece dazzles like a kaleidoscope in the sun. Sometimes I'll read one of those poems repeatedly, and it willjust keep knocking me on my ass. There is something sointrinsically wonderful about writing a poem which is heartfelt.Somehow, even the untalented, and, in extreme cases, borderlineilliterate will find a way to sing in verse. That seems to besome type of divine intervention: a balancing act whichintervenes to allow anyone to communicate felicitously--if onlythose sentiments matter enough to them. Yes, indeed, there issomething very wonderful in this, and each will find her own way.
Thelonious Monk Said It's interesting that a Thelonious Monk quotation should demandmy attention now. And, on second thought, what could possibly bemore fitting? Monk, of course, was a black American genius,which, as I've written elsewhere, may very well be the reasonwhy so few Americans know his name. In a more perfect world (andthat world is coming!) we would have a national holiday tocelebrate this musical mastermind, but, let me stay on point(though, it's often fun not to : ) )... Thelonious Monk said, "I compose my piece with a formula Icreated myself...I find inspiration in myself." And, that's whatI'm talking about! What is it about your life that is yoursource of inspiration? What really matters to you? Whatever itmay be, choose it as the material you write about. That, in myhumble opinion, should be the foundation of creative writing.Determine where your heart lies, and you will have an endlesssupply of material. Different Levels Of Literalness So, to illustrate the point, let's consider three poets whowrote very differently: Langston Hughes, Pablo Neruda, andWallace Stevens. These three poets so well represent theliteral-to-abstract spectrum, and, all three aremarvelous...some of my absolute favorites. I don't think it'spossible to say which is definitively the best, which is thewhole point of this: they wrote differently; each wrote likeonly he could write, and thus comparisons of quality loseabsolute meaning and become more a matter of personal taste. So,let's take a look at a poem from each poet to explore this issuein greater detail. Langston Kicks It On The Level I remember when I first read Langston Hughes: I was fifteen, andan artist I knew out in Manhattan had one of the paperbacks inhis studio. I read the book and it had that quality about it:that visceral sting that indicates the real thing. Here is oneof Langston's poems: Cross My old man's a white old man And my old mother's black. If everI cursed my white old man I take my curses back. If ever I cursed my black old mother And wished
she were inhell, I'm sorry for that evil wish And now I wish her well. My old man died in a fine big house. My ma died in a shack. Iwonder were I'm going to die, Being neither white nor black? Okay, thank you Langston. Moving right along now: Pablo Kicks It Down The Middle I wanted to try to maintain consistency and say, "I rememberwhen I first read Pablo Neruda..." But, I don't remember whenthat was. All I can tell you is that Pablo's awesome, so let'stake a look at one of his poems: In the night we shall go in In the night we shall go in, we shall go in to steal aflowering, flowering branch. We shall climb over the wall in the darkness of the aliengarden, two shadows in the shadow. Winter is not yet gone, and the apple tree appears suddenlychanged into a fragment of cascade stars. In the night we shall go in up to its trembling firmament, andyour hands, your little hands and mine will steal the stars. And silently to our house in the night and the shadow, perfume'ssilent step, and with starry feet, the clear body of spring. Wow, holy cow man! That's Pablo Neruda. Okay, I do remember whenI first read Wallace Stevens. I believe that was 1990, and I wasright here in Pennsylvania, and the book had a yellow cover, andI believe it was an anthology. Okay, let's take a look atWallace's approach: Wallace Kicks It In The Clouds Poem Written at Morning A sunny day's complete Poussiniana Divide it from itself. It isthis or that And it is not. By metaphor you paint A thing. Thus,the pineapple was a leather fruit, A fruit for pewter, thornedand palmed and blue, To be served by men of ice. The sensespaint By metaphor. The juice was fragranter Than wettestcinnamon. It was cribled pears Dripping a morning sap. The truthmust be That you do not see, you experience, you feel, That thebuxom eye brings merely its element To the total thing, ashapeless giant forced Upward. Green were the curls upon thathead. Right From The Heart: Write From The Heart Hopefully these examples have successfully portrayed the centralidea of this essay. You see, these three poets wrote quitedifferently from each other; and they are all great. And why?Because they're writing as only they can write: right from theheart about what matters to them. And, that approach is one thateveryone is capable of following. It should be noted that Idon't mean to stylistically pigeon-hole these three poets. Therewere periods when Langston wrote in a much more abstract,thoroughly modern way, with abrupt phrasing, simultaneousvoices, the whole deal. And, there are poems of Pablo that arequite straight-forward: similar to the Langston poem quotedabove. In conclusion, write your poem: the one that only you arecapable of writing. It will be beautiful. Believe me. About the author:Kemal Faruquee does the best he can with what he's got. Hestudied at various universities, but learned much more bytalking to people that his larger society refers to as bums.Kemal runs a Creative Writingfree-for-all, Love Poemsand Harrisburg Web Design.
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