As I’ve focussed on poetry this week, I feel like I’ve been getting back to my writing roots.
The one I am working on is a response to another poet’s work. A very long time ago (ok, 1991) I wrote the first ‘response’ poem I can remember. It was based on some words randomly spoken by a football commentator at the end of the 1991 European cup final, and the poem was a response to the words. On that occasion it was agreement, but it very rarely is nowadays!
I write a lot of these, now. They are normally the responses I wish I’d been quick or clever enough to make at the time, explaining why people are, in fact, wrong – although some are more friendly than that!
A few examples include a response to a comment on Facebook, a poem I studied, an argument. One was a response to an emotion I didn’t recognise and probably couldn’t describe.
These poems often become less of a response as time passes. Editing removes you from writing and makes you read as though you are a stranger to the text – and therefore a stranger to the unfolding scene. It makes you watch from the outside.
It’s actually a very healthy way to process emotions, but it can also make a poem strong and raw in the way an autobiography is more raw than a biography.
Poems are a way to clear your mind and get you ready for the next big inspiration. So use your desire to answer back, and make poetry from whatever source you can!
As it’s a really busy long weekend here I’ll leave it for today – ‘in other news’ will be back next week!
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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