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Dept. of Creation
Monday, 13 January 2025 09:14 amHow Does a Poem Happen?
Back in the 1990s, oh, so long ago, I wrote a fair amount of poetry for myself; not many pieces and most of them short, but they did come into being. Since that time, I haven't written much poetry, if any.
If I had to guess why, I'd say it's because I was putting my creative* efforts into my growing fic output - certainly that was the case after 2006 brought me the revised Doctor Who. But that's only one reason. I think I also lost the urge to write poetry. I can't really parse why and it probably doesn't matter, even if the analytical portion of my brain continues to gnaw at that like a dog does a bone.
The urge hasn't died completely, though, and recently it appears to have awakened from its slumber. In the most recent itration of winter weather here in Chicago, I found myself looking at the melting and freezing snow on the ground outside my windows. It's a common thought for me, one that invites meditation on the nature of micro topographies.
There's nothing in my head that tries to link that topography to the human condition, or to my condition, and perhaps that's why my thoughts haven't previously come together to create poetry. Then again, there's one thing I've learned - finally, and you'd think it would have dawned on me far earlier - is that poetry is about what one writes about and not necessarily about the human condition. (Really, I should have connected the dots far, far earlier, given my appreciation of poetry I've read and appreciated or loved.)
Now that it's dawned on me that this imagery is enough in and of itself to work with, I find myself wondering about how other folks handle their poetry creation process. What do you do, how do you think about what you write about, and how do you integrate imagery of any kind into your work?
* A brief detour into grouchy grammarian country. When the hell did the world start nouning the adjective "creative" when the perfectly good noun "creator" is standing there? Yes, yes, the OED says the adjective got nouned in the early 1900s. All that tells me is that there were language ignoramuses back then as well. And yes, this is a hill I will die on.
*walks away, grumbling about her missing carpet slippers.*
Back in the 1990s, oh, so long ago, I wrote a fair amount of poetry for myself; not many pieces and most of them short, but they did come into being. Since that time, I haven't written much poetry, if any.
If I had to guess why, I'd say it's because I was putting my creative* efforts into my growing fic output - certainly that was the case after 2006 brought me the revised Doctor Who. But that's only one reason. I think I also lost the urge to write poetry. I can't really parse why and it probably doesn't matter, even if the analytical portion of my brain continues to gnaw at that like a dog does a bone.
The urge hasn't died completely, though, and recently it appears to have awakened from its slumber. In the most recent itration of winter weather here in Chicago, I found myself looking at the melting and freezing snow on the ground outside my windows. It's a common thought for me, one that invites meditation on the nature of micro topographies.
There's nothing in my head that tries to link that topography to the human condition, or to my condition, and perhaps that's why my thoughts haven't previously come together to create poetry. Then again, there's one thing I've learned - finally, and you'd think it would have dawned on me far earlier - is that poetry is about what one writes about and not necessarily about the human condition. (Really, I should have connected the dots far, far earlier, given my appreciation of poetry I've read and appreciated or loved.)
Now that it's dawned on me that this imagery is enough in and of itself to work with, I find myself wondering about how other folks handle their poetry creation process. What do you do, how do you think about what you write about, and how do you integrate imagery of any kind into your work?
* A brief detour into grouchy grammarian country. When the hell did the world start nouning the adjective "creative" when the perfectly good noun "creator" is standing there? Yes, yes, the OED says the adjective got nouned in the early 1900s. All that tells me is that there were language ignoramuses back then as well. And yes, this is a hill I will die on.
*walks away, grumbling about her missing carpet slippers.*
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