Poetry

Anybody who can write a coherent letter can write poetry. Most of us have just gotten intimidated along the way. So we don't try. Maybe it was back in an English class when the poets assigned for reading used flowery, old fashioned, obscure language. Or maybe we tried to write poetry, showed our work to a trusted friend, teacher or advisor and that person scoffed at our efforts. This happens with many art forms, poetry being only one. Creativity for its own sake is not valued that much in our society these days.

But many people believe that we all have a creative spark, and for those who want to express themselves in poetry, the desire to do so, and the commitment to try is the most important thing.

Some limit their efforts to the "roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and so are you" type of poetry, where there's a sing/song couplet rhythm, and words at the end of the line rhyme. This is fine, if it's what you like. You can start with one line that appeals to you and work from there. One of my high school English teachers once assigned everyone in the class to write a poem beginning with the line, "The snow is falling with quiet grace." Every person in the class wrote a different poem, expressing different emotions and thoughts. It was an example of how many paths can diverge from one point. Most of them had every other line rhyming with "grace," using a couplet form.

For some of us, the kind of poetry that rhymes at the end of every other line or so is boring. And that's okay too. There are many approaches to writing poems. They can be from two short lines to many pages long. In order to write more free-form poetry, it's a good idea to keep in mind certain devices such a metaphor, alliteration, and assonance.

The phrase, "She's a real live wire" is a metaphor. So is F. Scott Fitzgerald's comment, "All writing is swimming under water, holding your breath."  These examples show that a metaphor juxtaposes two dissimilar things, implying that they are equal in some way. It's a poetic use of language.

Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant of words. Lovely lilting language came through the window on the long, languid afternoon. Use of the words beginning with the letter "l" in the previous line is an example of alliteration. It is also a poetic device.

Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in words. Fans crammed like cranberries in the stand ran like bandits to the planned position. The sentence doesn't make much sense, but it employs assonance by using so many words with the same vowel sound.
There are more techniques you can use than these in writing poetry. But if you begin with just these three, you will soon have poetry emerging on your blank pages. Go ahead and try it. Some of the benefits of the practice.

Another suggestion is to tell yourself that whatever is going on is OK. Give yourself permission to be a very bad meditator. Sometimes this sort of direction is all a person needs to relax and start to enjoy the process of meditating.

Another strategy, which has brought success to many, is to meditate to special music and sounds designed specifically to help you get into a meditative state. Using earphones makes the experience quite powerful. The best thing to do is to get recommendations from friends who've used CDs to enhance their meditation. Absent that, you'll just have to take the plunge and buy a few. Some may be disappointing, but you're likely to find at least one CD that's effective for you if you buy three or four of them. Andrew Weil is a good place to begin if you're looking for a healing CD to listen to.

Times for these meditation sessions on CD can range from 10 minutes to an hour. You can work yourself up to the longer sessions gradually.

As for the ones that don't work for you? You can give them away at office holiday sales or sell them at garage sales or on Ebay. The guide whose voice irritates you just might be the one to lead your neighbor to Nirvana. You never know.