Writing Poetry

 

I tried to be like other poets.

I tried to do it the mainstream way.

I tried to write the perfect poem.

I remembered all the poems they taught in school.

The sonnets.

The odes.

The epics.

And formatted my poems around them.

I read the classics, the ones loved by teachers.

Academics.

And just the public in general.

The greats:

1. Marvel.

2. Milton.

3. Motion.

4. Shakespeare.

5. Wordsworth.

I studied and admired them all.

But what is found in a good poem?

Exactly.

I took up rhyming.

                Rhyming.

I researched all the poetic techniques.

Similies. Metaphors. Personification.

I just d

            u

                m

                       p

                            e

                                d

                                        t

                                            h

                                                e

                                                     m

                                                            a

                                                                 l

                                                                       l

                                                                                i

                                                                                    n.

Not a single one

                                                                                    left out.

I wrote about:

Nighttime.

                    Flowers.

                                    Stormy weather.

                    Romance.

Inner turmoil.

                       Great battles.

                                                The sea.

Anything any great sensitive poet spouts lyrical about.

It was great poetry, right?

It was what I was taught to do, right?

But everytime I wrote a poem,

it just felt boring.

Stale.

Forced.

And just flat-out cliché.

And soon, I discovered that being a sensitive poet just wasn't for me.

I need to do something different.

Something unique.

Something that suited my own tastes.

I've given up now.

If I want to write poetry, I'll do it

MY                  OWN

            WAY.