Poetry Kicks Ass 2

Note: If you haven't already, you may want to first read Poetry Kicks Ass, my first post on the ins and outs of writing poetry for the one you love.   

       Okay. How the hell do you write poetry for the one you love? Follow me.
       The first thing you need is some alone time. So create some. Just you and whatever you’re writing with. A computer is no less sensitive to your outpourings than a pen and paper. It’s not a sterile tool. Use whatever works best for you. I use both a computer as well as the pen and paper.
       If you go the pad and paper route, buy a journal dedicated strictly to poetry. Choose a journal that has some gravitas to it. Get one with a hard cover, or even a leather cover, maybe with a design on it that attracts you. It should have archival quality paper. Don’t go with a ninety-nine cent spiral wire job from Office Max. Those are for high school chemistry class. This is poetry, damn it. It’s far more important that learning the molecular formula for Chromium sulfate (which is CrSO4 by the way).
       If you’re into color, like I am, buy a set of colored pencils or pens. The point is, your tools should inspire and excite you. Whatever they are. Set yourself up like this and you’ll be more inclined to write, more inclined to create.
       Find a place where you can let yourself feel without being distracted. That could be some quite place in your house, outside in the woods, or anywhere you feel safe and at peace.    
       It’s important to be inspired when you write poetry. And inspiration can hit you at any time, anywhere, if you are open to it. In addition to your dedicated poetry journal, I recommend carrying a smaller journal and a pen with you everywhere, so you can write whenever anything hits you. That whatever could be a word, or a phrase, or an idea, a sentence, or an entire poem. Whatever it is, get it down immediately. And run with it as long as you can, given the circumstances. Use what’s in this little pad as the raw material for some of your poems.
       I’ve been at meetings with, of all people, lawyers, and had ideas for writing. I can’t flesh them out right then and there, because I need to pay attention to a person I’m paying $300 and hour for. So I just jot down the word or phrase and do the best I can.
       Getting to our feelings proves difficult for many. But again, feelings are essential in writing emotive poetry. That’s another reason why it’s crucial to be able to jot something down when it hits you. Because if something hits you, it’s moving something inside of you. And you have to grab those moments when you can.
       Here are some ideas on how you can drop into your heart.
       I recommend the following: music and pictures. Audio visual. Music is a fabulous trigger for our emotions. Put on some music that moves you. Then look at pictures of your lover that move you, or pictures of the two of you together, while you’re listening to music that touches you. And that music can be anything from AC/DC to Beethoven. We aren’t going for specific feelings. We’re just going for feelings.
       Another powerful suggestion is to use scent to evoke emotion. Smell, in fact, is the most evocative of all our senses. When we smell something we’ve smelled before, and that smell was associated with a powerful emotion, we are more likely to experience that emotion again. It doesn’t have to be associated with your lover, but it can be. Let’s say you like the smell of evergreen trees. Well if you like them, there is a happy feeling associated with that. So go out in the woods and smell the pines with your iPod and your pictures and see what happens. Or light a candle with a scent that speaks to you (Yankee Candles are, in my extensive olfactory experience, the strongest, best smelling candles out there).
       If you like the way your lover smells (and you better, or your relationship is probably not going to work), then use something......anything.....that smells like her or him and literally inhale their scent as you write. You can ask your lover to wear something all day, the day before you plan to write, and then have him or her let you use that. You can ask them to wear something that day, and have them give it to you, fresh off of their bodies, just before you write. Or you can just go through their laundry and sniff the clothes, finding something that smells like her. I’ve done all three. It’s fun. All of it.
       So you’re alone. You’ve got the music going. You’ve got the pictures in front of you. You’ve got the candle going. You’ve got the shirt she wore that smells like her. It’s all going on. Now what? That’s next.

©2012 Clint Piatelli & Red F Publishing.