how to get started writing poetry

[RyanCMU]

I hate to plug other forums on here, but poetrybang.com, is basically the 2plus2 of poetry...

[disjunction]

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be brutal.


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I'll just be a little bit brutal. I think you use too many cliches. Poetry, and writing in general, is about saying things in new ways. Every word has to be the perfect word for its position in its sentence. So you need to think about the dictionary meaning of each word.

Take the word "heartbreak" for instance. This word has been used so much that it no longer conjures up any imagery. The first guy who used it, 500 years ago, was probably onto something. Sadness is like breaking your heart, great! But the word has long since lost its meaning, and probably doesn't belong in a poem. Same thing with "destined", "glimmer of hope", "lost love", "barren wasteland". Work on saying new things, conjuring up images that nobody has thought of. Work on figuring out what you want to say that uniquely belongs to you.

I think the best phrase in your poem was "Politics, black skirts, green eyes blur together".

You can't teach sincerity though, and your poem has that. With experience, you're onto something. Keep plugging away, you'll get better with each poem.

[thatpfunk]

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I hate to plug other forums on here, but poetrybang.com, is basically the 2plus2 of poetry...

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are you a member there? im super paranoid about getting my [censored] ripped off. is there anyway to prevent that?

[tinin]

There once was a man named Dave,
Who found a dead whore in a cave,
He wiped off the ants, and pulled down his pants,
And said "think of the money I'll save!"

[RyanCMU]

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I hate to plug other forums on here, but poetrybang.com, is basically the 2plus2 of poetry...

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are you a member there? im super paranoid about getting my [censored] ripped off. is there anyway to prevent that?

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No im not a member there, just a lurker. My girlfriend, and some of her friends, as well as some people I have met in some of my english classes as well as one of my professors post there though.

I do not personally know of anyone who has had any works stolen from them after having posted them on an online forums. However, i think that being worried about having your work ripped off from you, goes against the ideals of a writing communnity online anyway.

Plus, if something were to happen, Im confident someone could prove that they are the originators of thier work.

[John Cole]

Advice from T.S. Eliot: Poetry is not an expression of personality but an escape from personality. Of course, one must have a personality to recognize this.

And, some advice from Wordsworth: I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood successful composition generally begins . . .

And some advice from me: Unless you began writing poetry by age twelve or thirteen, then forget it. Use the personal essay form to say what you want to say.

[pkr2k5]

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ok, so I want to write some poems.
I've been going through some wierd [censored] in my life, and I usually get myself through [censored] by writing about it. I write either streaming thoughts about how I feel or sometimes semi-fictional short stories to help me look at my problem from an outsiders perspective.

The thing is, I've always kept all my writing private, as it reveals a lot of details about what I think. I want to share work with friends, and I think poetry might be a form where I can sufficiently express my emotions without revealing details.

I've been reading a lot and trying to figure out what style I want to use. naratives tend to just flow for me, but I cannot get a poem down on paper that doesn't seem stupid after I read it. if anyone here has written poetry, I'd appreicate some pointers on how to get started.

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get an apple computer and find a starbucks

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nh