“A journal is more than a memory goad. It's therapeutic. The simple act of opening a notebook to put words down stills the crosscurrents of worry, drawing to focus the essential thought patterns that best defines us, intersecting those thoughts with the condition of our life at that exact moment. A journal is one of the few anchors the human condition allows us."-"Outside," Randy Wayne White
"Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience behind them." –Charles Simic POETRY by NIKKI GIOVANNI
poetry is motion graceful
we poets tend to think our words are golden
sometimes after midnight or just before the dawn
a poem is pure energy
which is all we poets WAYS TO MOTIVATE THE SPIRIT: (from Slam) *Poetry is the window to one’s soul and can be seen through different lenses. Think of a range of emotions that you might go through in a day. Find concrete images that describe these invisible feelings. *"Everything around you is a potential poem. The ceiling, your breakfast cereal, boredom, your mom yelling at you to hurry up, love, your house when everyone is sleeping, the newspaper, summer, old sneakers, French kisses, half a glass of orange juice, and every molecule that breathes. No one owns this material, so use it. ART IS FREE." *"Sit down with a pen and a paper. Don’t think, just start writing. No cross outs. Write like you mean it. Don’t let your hand stop moving. Go and go and go. Let go. Go deep. Do not retreat." *Keep a journal beside your bed. When you awake, write about your dream...your DREAMS become poems. *"Separate your senses. First, describe a random object as it meets your senses of smell. Write until your brain is about to explode. Then see it, taste, it touch and hear it in succession. Make a poem from what you have written." *"Turn off the TV and go outside. Writer’s block? Go for a walk. Movement makes your mind work. Write about the streets of your city. Write about the weather—the weather outside and the weather INSIDE of you." *"Read poetry aloud every chance you get. Don’t worry about people thinking you’re insane. If you are worried about this, find somewhere private to do it. Learn to love your voice. Read poetry to your partner or friend and ask them to read poetry to you." **Catch the sunrise or sunset at least once a day... Enter My Inspiration:
Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.—T.S. Eliot
Language is the essence of humanity and poetry is the essence of lanauge.—Anonymous
as a fawn
gentle as a teardrop
strong like the eye
finding peace in a crowded room
though emotion speaks too loudly to be defined
by silence
we sit typewriter in hand
pulling loneliness around us
forgetting our lovers or children who are sleeping
ignoring the weary wariness of our own logic
to compose a poem
no one understand it
it never says “love me” for poets are beyond love
it never says “accept me” for poems seek
not acceptance
but controversy
it only says “I am” and therefore
I concede that you are too
horizontally contained
between the mind
of the poet and the ear of the reader
if it does not sing discard the ear
for poetry is song
if it does not delight discard
the heart for poetry is joy
if it does not inform then close
off the brain for it is dead
if it cannot heed the insistent message
that life is precious
wrapped in our loneliness
are trying to say.
“Lose control. Don’t think. Don’t get logical. Go for the jugular. YOU ARE FREE TO WRITE THE WORST JUNK IN THE UNIVERSE”-Natalie Goldberg.
