Growth As A Poet Reflection
For me, deciding on a topic is one of the most challenging aspects of writing poetry. When, after struggling for a few weeks, I finally decided on a perspective for my poem, the words flowed onto the paper rather easily. Throughout the first few drafts of my poem, I communicated a very straightforward, direct message, that peace can not be achieved until all people are working to achieve it: “Dreaming everyday of a world filled with /Abundances and elegance and vacation. /A world filled with amiable and personable people. /But the outliers make this impossible. / Their minds filled with bloodied soldiers and firing weapons.” (Draft 2) Looking back at my inspiration, “There Is A War Going On For Your Mind” by the Flobots, I realized my poem lacked the mysterious aspect that makes a poem so much more challenging and interesting to read. In the next few drafts, I began to weave mystery into my poem by referring to violence as “that which hides behind the curtain.” I found that this made my poem more open-ended allowing the reader to interpret it based on their other evaluations of the poem: “We work to defy / That which hides behind the curtain. / We work to tear down the curtain…” (Final Draft) This mysterious aspect creates more suspense throughout the poem, which entices the reader to race through the poem in anticipation of the ending. Additionally, this simple change completely altered the perspective of my poem by allowing the reader’s morals and opinions shape their interpretation of the poem.
Also, I believe that the repetition of “that which hides behind the curtain” throughout my poem helps define the topic of the poem. In the early stages of writing, I couldn’t decide which topic to write about, so my poem covered all five topics: war, truth, power, peace, and violence: “A world filled with amiable and personable people. / But the outliers make this impossible. / Their minds filled with bloodied soldiers and firing weapons. / Filled with a yearning for the excitement of war. / They’re eager to demonstrate power over…” (Draft 2) The repetition of “that which hides behind the curtain” in later drafts highlighted my focus on this arcane topic: “And it remains invisible behind / The iron curtain of media. / Refusing to be damaged. / Disguising / The fate of a single bullet / And that which hides behind the curtain.”(Final Draft) Also, I found that the use of this phrase in my poem helped me decide which topic I wanted to write about, allowing me to remove sections of the poem that didn’t relate to my topic. This strengthened and clarified my perspective and triggered the rest of the revisions that focused my poem on violence.
One of these revisions triggered by the repetition of “that which hides behind the curtain” was the addition of a tredecim into my poem. The tredecim, a unique type of poetry, contains thirteen lines composed of similes and metaphors. The specific formatting of the poem says that the lines must alternate between containing one simile or one metaphor. Then, the last three lines of the poem must consist solely of similes. Before incorporating the tredecim into my poem, my attempts at imagery were weak: “But those people that disrupt the possibility of peace, / Those people behind the curtain, / Those people who are the ripples in the water of an otherwise calm lake, / … like the fresh, cold air rushing into your lungs.” (Draft 2) The tredecim, combined with other poetic devices, helped clarify the topic of my poem: “To that which hides behind the curtain. / It is like the sun, returning consistently everyday without fail. / Like all involuntary muscles, relentless. / It is death, we sit, awaiting it.” (Final Draft) Similes and metaphors are the most powerful and commonly used poetic devices, which allow poets to state their opinions in a masked way. Yet, the similes and metaphors within the tredecim in my poem spoke more clearly about violence than any other part of my poem. The tredecim described violence’s characteristics and abilities, which gave the reader more clues about the message of my poem.
Finally, the revision of the stanza that contained the “questions that are never asked” gave my poem the piercing aspect that every poet strives to achieve. Before revisions, this stanza asked very basic questions about war: “But what are we really fighting for? / These are the questions that are never asked. / Is it really worth a thousand / families’ mourning, pain, and tears?” (Draft 2) Then, based on critiques, I replaced the common questions with more piercing and challenging questions about violence: “How can we ignore our brains and souls and instincts / And pull the trigger anyways? / Releasing the bullet that dances through the air / and tears through memories, laughter, happiness, and love, / Leaving only rotting flesh and splintered bones?”(Final Draft) The revised questions challenge the readers to rethink war and their personal opinions and morals. These questions engaged the readers and may have left them with new ideas. I believe that the revisions made to this stanza were the key component that made my poem more effective and interactive for the readers. These four revisions clearly classified my poem as anti-war and developed my poem into a sophisticated piece of poetry written specifically about violence.
Also, I believe that the repetition of “that which hides behind the curtain” throughout my poem helps define the topic of the poem. In the early stages of writing, I couldn’t decide which topic to write about, so my poem covered all five topics: war, truth, power, peace, and violence: “A world filled with amiable and personable people. / But the outliers make this impossible. / Their minds filled with bloodied soldiers and firing weapons. / Filled with a yearning for the excitement of war. / They’re eager to demonstrate power over…” (Draft 2) The repetition of “that which hides behind the curtain” in later drafts highlighted my focus on this arcane topic: “And it remains invisible behind / The iron curtain of media. / Refusing to be damaged. / Disguising / The fate of a single bullet / And that which hides behind the curtain.”(Final Draft) Also, I found that the use of this phrase in my poem helped me decide which topic I wanted to write about, allowing me to remove sections of the poem that didn’t relate to my topic. This strengthened and clarified my perspective and triggered the rest of the revisions that focused my poem on violence.
One of these revisions triggered by the repetition of “that which hides behind the curtain” was the addition of a tredecim into my poem. The tredecim, a unique type of poetry, contains thirteen lines composed of similes and metaphors. The specific formatting of the poem says that the lines must alternate between containing one simile or one metaphor. Then, the last three lines of the poem must consist solely of similes. Before incorporating the tredecim into my poem, my attempts at imagery were weak: “But those people that disrupt the possibility of peace, / Those people behind the curtain, / Those people who are the ripples in the water of an otherwise calm lake, / … like the fresh, cold air rushing into your lungs.” (Draft 2) The tredecim, combined with other poetic devices, helped clarify the topic of my poem: “To that which hides behind the curtain. / It is like the sun, returning consistently everyday without fail. / Like all involuntary muscles, relentless. / It is death, we sit, awaiting it.” (Final Draft) Similes and metaphors are the most powerful and commonly used poetic devices, which allow poets to state their opinions in a masked way. Yet, the similes and metaphors within the tredecim in my poem spoke more clearly about violence than any other part of my poem. The tredecim described violence’s characteristics and abilities, which gave the reader more clues about the message of my poem.
Finally, the revision of the stanza that contained the “questions that are never asked” gave my poem the piercing aspect that every poet strives to achieve. Before revisions, this stanza asked very basic questions about war: “But what are we really fighting for? / These are the questions that are never asked. / Is it really worth a thousand / families’ mourning, pain, and tears?” (Draft 2) Then, based on critiques, I replaced the common questions with more piercing and challenging questions about violence: “How can we ignore our brains and souls and instincts / And pull the trigger anyways? / Releasing the bullet that dances through the air / and tears through memories, laughter, happiness, and love, / Leaving only rotting flesh and splintered bones?”(Final Draft) The revised questions challenge the readers to rethink war and their personal opinions and morals. These questions engaged the readers and may have left them with new ideas. I believe that the revisions made to this stanza were the key component that made my poem more effective and interactive for the readers. These four revisions clearly classified my poem as anti-war and developed my poem into a sophisticated piece of poetry written specifically about violence.