So that's where I am right now - what about the journey? When I first started, I was like a man possessed. I jumped straight in and wrote a poem about choosing a name for our child (he or she is due in June and has accidentally been given the unfortunate nickname Qwerty).
I began eating poetry. Consuming it
wherever I could. Every day, all I could think about was what my next poem would be about and how it should be written. I suffered a burn-out on day 18. The day of the Haiku*. I just couldn't get my brain to make any more poetry than the three short lines: "Christmas is coming // A wonderful time of year // For being grumpy." I felt like a beaten man, but I couldn't give up so carried on through the drought and got back my inspiration the next day with a poem about my woolly hat.
It's been up and down like that ever since. Some days I'm riding high, inspiration comes suddenly like a lightening bolt from the heavens. Other days I'll sit with the notebook for ages, writing lines, scribbling them out. I've had two more days as bad as day 18 (one was another Haiku day), bizarrely I'm very proud of what I wrote on the other day. Four lines. And then I couldn't find any more words that fitted. I was spent.
#33 of 100: The Night Watchman
Night watchman for the stars. Dancing through the glittered gloom. Shines his torch on distant lands. Guards the burning points of light.
It feels like it needs something more, that there are things unsaid but I just couldn't find the words. Perhaps I'll try again after all this is over and find the Gods of thought on my side. For now it sits as four lines with hints of things to come. Despite the tough days, the good days more than make up for it. The days where I have an idea and can't wait to sit down and write it out.
My biggest worry about performing poetry was how I'd be treated by poets, but I needn't have worried. Everyone I've met so far during this adventure has been lovely and extremely encouraging. And the thing that makes me the happiest is that I do feel like I'm getting better. Once I've finished the task, I'm going to go through all of the poems I've written. Edit and rewrite (resist the urge to throw a few away) and give them a dedicated section on my website.
For now they're all (
www.owenniblock.com/index.php/Journal if you're interested).
What have I learnt so far? I've learnt that if you're keen and polite, the poetry scene will welcome you with open arms. I've learnt that non-rhyming poetry is harder to write than rhyming poetry. At least it certainly seems to be for me. I've discovered a love of T.S. Elliot thanks mainly to my wife's insistence that I should read some. Writing poetry has made me reassess what I'm trying to achieve creatively. It's made me look at the world through fresh eyes and wonder - how can I best express this thought or this feeling? Poetry has become my friend, I just hope it doesn't send me another Haiku day.
*Owen would like to point out that he loves the Haiku form, he merely felt he should be writing something more verbose each day and the length of poem created made him feel like he was cheating.
7
going on my on-line journal
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