I’m too literal for poetry. I have a cautious appreciation for those who enjoy it and can do it well, but I tend to like more story-like poems like Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” or my personal favorite, the book Zombie Haiku by Ryan Mecum.
I respect writers of poetry, even if I don’t understand half of what they’re saying. I appreciate a well-crafted sentence as much as the next writer, but when I’m writing, I focus less on the art of the words and focus more on the art of the storytelling.
That’s not to say I haven’t written an unfortunate poem from time to time. I have taken a couple of poetry classes and produced some clever stanzas in my day, but I’ve also written a fair amount of emotional drivel.
My best experience with poetry was probably when we were studying Shakespeare’s sonnets in my Shakespeare class in college. I found myself strangely moved by his iambic pentameter. Moved enough that I composed my own sonnet. I had thought at the time I’d write a whole series of them, and number them like he did, but I never got past that first one.
Still, I think it’s an impressive piece of work and I had fun doing it. Not to mention, it’s about the only time I haven’t minded poetry that rhymes. I feel that rhymed poetry sounds too much like a nursery rhyme or children’s song.
Most of my poetry is really just prose that most people would consider literature. Which is fun to do now and then, but I rarely share it when I write it. It leaves me feeling a bit exposed, for some reason.
For me, prose is a much better medium. When I tell a story, I don’t want my words to get in the way. I want my writing to be perfectly clear so that by the time readers finish reading my story, they haven’t thought about my words once.
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