To Write or To Compose. To Compose is the Answer

Writing poetry and writing about poetry are so different to me, because when you’re writing about poetry, you’re free to say whatever you want, and go on, and on, for as long as you’d like. But when you’re actually writing poetry the beauty is in the short concise lines. They’re so telling, and aside from free verse poems (most of the time) and list poems, most poetry is full of short truncated, yet magnificently flourishing visuals. I can certainly say that I like writing poetry more than I like writing about it. I like talking about poetry in class, or in front of a group, but I’m not too big a fan of composing long essays about poetry. While I do see the important and I kind of enjoy it, I like composing my own poetry more, no matter how awful it is. I used to be mortified in high school when the idea of poetry was first introduced to me, as mortified as waking up and going to school in my boxers in middle school –when even thinking about poetry or writing about it. Now, it doesn’t scare me anymore because I’ve learned a lot poetry, and the subtle nuances that make it so amazing and so beautiful to see and read. I appreciate the greats like Shakespeare that can so candidly and artistically mimic everyday speech, yet evoke such divine images. For my future experiences in teaching I’m definitely going to be using the “putting all of our poems on the wall and having a spoken word jam session in class.” THAT was ridiculously fantastic, and I think it fosters creativity.