Why do you write? Why do you post here?

Question

What Bee...no star?

I picked on you yesterday because I thought your answer was contrite and accusatory.

Poetry is just a game to me. I love to play because the object is so difficult. Many of my best essays and reviews start out as a poem, like a soup base.

I appreciate what you have to say. Sometimes, you make it sound like poetry is lucrative business. We all know that it is ONLY if you have established credentials or have walked on the Moon (or some other amazing feat).

I write for many reasons. Right now, it’s my livelihood. I write historical and political commentary because I think many of my generation smoked too much dope and forgot everything. I write poetry because my wife likes my poems. I share them on Y!A because I want to help encourage young poets. And, I value what many of you have to say. Like Todd, I post the rough drafts. And, as Bee says, I am careless about protection. If someone makes a million bucks with a poem of mine, I will rely on you as my witnesses. Until then, I'm not going to lose sleep over $30 worth of phraseology.

Answer 1

I write, I write, I write
like Phool, yo!
I write, I write, I write
what I know.
Mostly I'm here as a ghost
not old king so n' so
asking a vengeance,
but follow a rule
in ridicule--hmm, or was
it ridiculous lessons
to lessen the weight
of all those goodly yes-
men, who cannot wait
long enough, to say
they love something
even before they taste.
They write, therefore
I am. I'm not the villian's
villian, or the dummy's
dummy. I'm not the poet's
poet, or the doggeral's
doggy! I write, I write,
therefore I be!

Answer 2

Hi TD,

As you know from a previous question, I don't post poems in forums any longer.

I write because I have something to express. I won't say "something to say" because I think that sends the wrong message, in that it relies too much on "telling." I prefer to use the palate of imagery, sound, and other tools to create a piece. I carry it around with me for days and sometimes weeks, working out how it sounds and looks and then I sit down and write it out. I approach writing poetry like a painting, just one where the canvas is in someone else's mind.

Additional:
No, I don't act like poetry is a lucrative business. Not everyone who plays baseball is Micky Mantle, but those who understand the game, love it and appreciate it, take the field with the talent they have and the hope they might run the bases once like Mantle. And for a few, they might play like Williams. Or Mays. Or the Babe. Or Henderson. You catch my drift?

After reading your question again from yesterday, my answer would simply be: don't spend money on contests, until you had a few acceptances from print mags.

Additional again:
I never said the reason I don't post my work in forums is because of protections. Far from it, I don't post my poems because I believe in my work enough to think there is a larger audience for them than the day or two they stay active here. Most publishers do not like to see your work posted online, and I try to give my poems every opportunity to make it into a larger venue. That's all.

Do well.

Answer 3

You want star? I give you star!

As you know, I don't post here. I mean, I posted only once, and it was just a joke... I don't write poetry in English, not even in French. I used to though, as a teenager. I used to experiment with words! And I wrote two plays in French, but that's over too. I only write literary criticism nowadays, mainly in French, and sometimes in English. I have always liked to write. In fact, I wanted to be a writer. Maybe one day, if I have the time and the courage, I will be able to write my real book. I think about it sometimes and even write down some ideas for it. But it's all hush hush. Don't tell anyone...

Answer 4

I write because I love writing. I love words, and I'm trying to learn to be good with them. I love that mastering poetry takes a lifetime of work, and that it's never boring.

I post here to get honest opinions on drafts and revisions. I hope people like my work, but if they don't I like to know why. I use YA to stay creative, and I tend to post more raw material--not what I would bring to a workshop (at least not initially). I also post here because I've been fortunate enough to draw the attention of some writers and critics whose advice I value.Who have taken an interest in helping my work develop. I feel very fortunate.

As far as my other posts, I just love reading poetry, and seeing writers develop at all levels. I like to give whatever help to them that I've received. People were free with their advice to me, and I believe in reciprocating.

Answer 5

I write because I enjoy it. I enjoy the measure of control that it gives over an essay or an article, which are set-ups for refutation. To me, prose and prosody are self-contained universes where you can examine an issue, have your characters work out the issues, or examine concepts through the conceit of poetry. I haven't posted much here partly because I'm a slow writer, but what I have put up is partly because I value the opinions of people like yourself, partly because I feel inspired and challenged to move forward with my work. I also enjoy the looser attitude of people instead of the caftan-wearing-self-serious, brooding, poetry-slam tribe.

Trite but true.

Answer 6

Hi, thanks for the question. I write because I feel I have way too much expression to keep inside. My writing is mostly confessional. I love being able to pick the perfect word or set of words to describe an exact moment or feeling. It is amazing and very satisfying! So for me, I write for simple reasons.. because I love doing it. I love words. I love communicating! I don't write for anyone else but me. I post things on here because I appreciate opinions of other writers when I am working on revisions, etc.

Answer 7

As you said, poetry is a game ... well, more like an irresistable puzzle to me, and since a lot of my background (one degree) is in mathemetics, I'm particularly drawn to poetry because it tends to be a more mathematical form of literature than prose. I kind of like the way science meets sentiment.

And I don't post here.

Answer 8

i have nothing to say but take this interesting page, great poets talking here, ha ha!