Are you really a Poet!
Have you ever asked yourself why do we write poetry?
Is it because of poetry’s different and demanding formats, metered regiments or line counts?
No, no, I don’t think so! These are simple tools of the trade, so to speak.
We write poetry because of our love for the use of a God given gift…imagination!
In a poem we are free, free as the wind! We can travel great distance with one simple thought!
We can create the ambience of love, hate, passion, fear, beauty, color, and desire, just to mention a few human emotions, and we can create all this with the stroke of a pen!
That my friend is what poetry is all about!
Expression of thought that sometimes suddenly appears in the middle of the night, when we feel excitedly motivated to grab a pencil and quickly begin to jot down those fleeting thought on a piece of scrap paper, before those thoughts forever melt away.
If, you were not fortunate enough to have studied the craft and learned to use all the tools available, are you still a poet?
I ask, do you write from your heart and soul? If, the answer is yes, then you are a poet, and don’t let anyone tell you that you are not!
I am almost eighty years old and have been writing poetry for over sixty years. I have over seven hundred published poems. Many of my poems are just lumps of coal, but every once in a while there’s a diamond among them….smile.
“Poetry is the window to the soul!” (jk)
"Cappe diem!"
Note: I have never mastered all the rules and tools for writing formal poetry, and care little.
Yours truly,
Jackie R. Kays
