leigh ann

i still don’t like poetry that much, in terms of creating. other people’s poems are fine, great. creating poetry is daunting. so many rules, so many concepts, so much openness to make mistakes.

my attempts at poetry have always felt fake, hollow, like i’m just pretending to write poetry. to be fair though, i also almost always feel like a pretend writer. but poetry never flowed the way fiction does. i never get up and say, “oh let’s get some poetry done today”.

do I hate poetry because I find it hard? hate is actually a strong word now that I’ve written it but that’s just how I feel. i don’t think I actually hate poetry though. it’s just uncomfortable. the rules do intimidate me. which is why I think this chapter open up on an important note, a significant quote that kind of took me by surprise for how obvious it should have been:

            “Poetry is memorable speech.” – W H Auden

that eased something inside of me because, of course! duh! at its heart poetry is an art form meant to be spoken. i can speak. i read my stories out loud all the time. i can read my poetry out loud. rhythm can come naturally.

that’s what I’ll take from this, if I like the way my poetry sounds out loud then it’s a poem and I will fight anyone that tells me otherwise. also confidence. i’m normally not confident about my work on the whole because self-doubt is my greatest enemy but i especially lack confidence in my poetry.

i’m going to give this submission my best shot. prose poem doesn’t sound as intimidating.

jul 29, 2024

im pretty sure i told this story before but my first semester back in college, finally taking the leap to pursue my dreams, in my first ever creative writing class because it wasn’t even an option where I did my first degree and my teacher, the poet, skips us straight to chapter 10 and assigns us poetry for our first submission.

GREAT

also we had to keep a journal and write about the various topics we were addressing. one thing about me is that i will always say what’s on my mind and i will always be too familiar with absolute strangers so my journal was super candid

having the option to submit a prose poem rewired my subconscious, i hadn’t even known that they were a thing

so i said, damn i could write, damn i know words, i think i have a good idea of rhythm, to hell with the rest of the rules

shoutout to Kerry Gilbert you really helped a brother out

i hope to one day share the prose poem i wrote for class here, whether fully on the website or via a link to a journal because, surprise, i liked it enough to send it off to journals for submission. isn’t that wild?

i won’t say my attitude towards poetry did a complete 180. i just took a few degree swivel and decided to do it my way. forge my own path. sounds dangerous but taking risks is a part of life