no poems

[Ibn al saleh]

:salams
Yes. uhh. Sorry to disappoint you to if you thought that the title of this poem is "no poem" :D. When ever I want to become good at a skill I ask the people who are already good. So, currently I'm very interested in poetry, so I was wondering if anyone can give me any tips, on structuring and producing a poem, or on starting it or any other tips. I'm sure others would enjoy this information too. I bought a rhyming dictionary because those poems are my favorites. So InshaAllah i will get some replies. walykum sallam.

[cosmicdancer]

:salams
Yes. uhh. Sorry to disappoint you to if you thought that the title of this poem is "no poem" :D. When ever I want to become good at a skill I ask the people who are already good. So, currently I'm very interested in poetry, so I was wondering if anyone can give me any tips, on structuring and producing a poem, or on starting it or any other tips. I'm sure others would enjoy this information too. I bought a rhyming dictionary because those poems are my favorites. So InshaAllah i will get some replies. walykum sallam.


So you want to write a poem and thereby gain the skills of a poet,

You think there may be a secret but you find you simply don’t know it,


Well I’ll tell you; there is no secret and no mysterious art,

Simply let your feelings gush forth and open your heart,


Put on your thinking cap or inspirational bonnet,

And before you know it you’ll have written a sonnet,

:D

[thurber]

:up:

Here is another poet's answer:

Write a thousand pages
then burn them all
without ceremony
or sentiment

Read every poem
and novel
and newspaper
you can get your hands on
before the age of 21
then stop completely
and spend the next
decade stealing from
and killing
your influences

Stay far away from the
writer’s retreats
writing groups
and MFA programs
they can only teach you
obedience and
false confidence
with the pen

Go out and allow yourself
to be beaten
with the 2 X 4
known as life
then crawl back in
and scratch out
one single line
before you pass out

Claw at the walls
of your room
until your fingernails
are gone and
the entire colony
of termites
in there stands still
in awe of your
perseverance

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Write

Beg the Lord
not for money
or fame
or publication
or women
beg Him
for wonder
a precarious life
decent ink

After you have
done this
start over

If you make it to eighty
you may write
one poem

One
eternal
poem

That will start
and stop
wars

That will make
killers
weep

That will make
cowards
stand

That will make
the dead
shudder

That will make
the living
wake

That will make

Well, you’ve got the idea

Now go
and type

-Robert Bruce | 28 May 2007

[cosmicdancer]

:up:

Here is another poet's answer:


I enjoyed that - thanks :up:

[nomoreillusions]

:salams
Yes. uhh. Sorry to disappoint you to if you thought that the title of this poem is "no poem" :D. When ever I want to become good at a skill I ask the people who are already good. So, currently I'm very interested in poetry, so I was wondering if anyone can give me any tips, on structuring and producing a poem, or on starting it or any other tips. I'm sure others would enjoy this information too. I bought a rhyming dictionary because those poems are my favorites. So InshaAllah i will get some replies. walykum sallam.

Writing does not make you a writer. Being a writer makes you write. There are formulas and schools of thought and this theory or that approach, but ultimately, if you are not a writer, it won't matter because following those structures will only leave you with the most superficial feeling in rhymed lines.

Being a writer means feeling it. It means experience and heart and soul poured out on the page that makes the reader laugh or cry or smile or fear or excite or want to share it with everyone.

Following a recipe for how to write a poem will make nice hallmark greeting cards, and that's about it.

That's not to say there isn't a time and place for both. But if what you want to do is stir in your reader the deepest of human emotions and drag from their memories a time when they felt the same and can so deeply connect to what you are expressing, or better, to tease them with promises of something they've never felt or experience before and make them long for it, or dread it ever touching them... That is being a poet.


I don't mean to be so blunt about it. I don't claim any great skill myself, but I've read enough 'hallmark poems' in my time to be utterly unimpressed with the mere superficial rhymed lines. Better to write in prose and not trick the reader into thinking they are reading a poem.

(That being said, all poets start somewhere! If you have the desire and the feeling, then practice writing. But don't try to make it all rhyme at first. First, just get the practice of writing out your feelings and play with imagery and new ways to look at what you want to say. Why say "the blue sky overhead" when perhaps "the azure canopy spread out above me". But then again, why say "the azure canopy spread out above me" when "the blue sky overhead" will work just as well? Tricky, no?)