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When, where and why did you start writing poetry?
| Philosophy 101 |
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When, where and why did you start writing poetry? |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
I'm curious about other peoples poetic journeys. Guess I'll go first; I was on my way back east to my mothers funeral in 1995, I was 47 years and had never written a poem. I was alone on my journey. When the plane lifted off, got above the clouds and levelled off, I was sitting by the window. When I looked at couds below, my first poem offered itself to me. moon. |
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Stephanos
since 2000-07-31
Posts 3618Statesboro, GA, USA |
I wrote my first poem (other than the 'Roses are red' variety we all write to our mothers) to a girlfriend when I was about 17 years old. I never gave it to her. Some 10 years later I found it, rummaging around in some old belongings. I read it and thought "that's not half bad", and so started writing poetry on a more regular basis. Of course I had literature in college, which introduced me to the works of the great poets. Funny, I actually remember the lines of that poem ... Take my hand. Across the land We shall journey endless fields We will laugh and run in the golden sun Love waits to be revealed Black velvet nights and brilliant days The sky a wonderous blue All the gifts of nature, my dear For me to share with you  |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
Hey Stephanos, that's excellent, thanks for sharing the beginning of "your journey." |
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oceanvu2 Senior Member
since 2007-02-24
Posts 1066Santa Monica, California, USA |
Reading Robert Burns at age 13 got me hooked on poetry. It started out as a heritage thing -- if one was a Scot, one read Burns. Burns got to me. I then started reading everything I could get my hands on, and writing, generally in imitation of whomever I was reading at the time. Then, for my 17th birthday I received a present of "The Collected Works of Wallace Stevens." THAT shut me up for almost ten years by suggesting how little I had to say. I married, colleged, did VietNam, and then wrote again seriously for a few years before taking a 30 year hiatus. I think it was VietNam that got to me. I didn't even want to talk, let alone write, but I continued to read, and hang out with folks like Alan Ginsburg, Diane di Prima, Peter Orlofsky, Ram Dass, and the revolving salad plate of writers, artists, and nut cases at The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics in Boulder, Colorado, while growing flowers for a living. I returned to writing poetry after getting some fresh validation from the world as writer -- of Saturday Morning Cartoon television scripts! I started writing "for real" again after my confidence had been restored. This was about eight years ago. I was 57. You could fairly say I started writing poetry twice, once as a kid in New Jersey, and again as a proto-coot in California. I'm enjoying the trip. Jim |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
Hey Jim, facinating "trip"....sounds like the makings of a book/movie..thanks for sharing it with us. moon. |
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nakdthoughts Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200Between the Lines |
other than in school, Moon I had the same thing happen to me on a plane in the clouds after returning from helping my mother after my father's death~~ M |
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Edward Grim Senior Member
since 2005-12-18
Posts 1154Greenville, South Carolina |
I thought jumping off the mortal coil was a bit rash, so I started writing. I first began writing poorly; then continued to write poorly as the years progressed and am happy to report that I am still writing poorly.  "Well I wish that you would cheat with someone, 'cause you're like diggin' holes in water and we know that can't be done." |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
nakdthoughts, quite interesting that you had a similar experience. In my case it was like the death of my mother precipitated an explosion of creativity...like someone popping the cork on a bottle of champagne, though I loved her dearly. Strange sometimes the way things unfold. Edward Grim, dude your way to hard on yourself...funny though. moon. |
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rwood Member Elite
since 2000-02-29
Posts 3793Tennessee |
Hmmm...in the 1980's Pensacola, Florida to express myself...cuz Madonna said so. and there were so many expressive people making an impression at the time...you know the age of MTV...with Devo, Flock of Seaguls, Men Down Under, The Rolling Stones--in Lycra, (as Nacho Libre says "sometimes men like to wear stretchy pants) ACDC and Big Hair everything and...Flash Dance. I couldn't sing (as well as some songstresses in my family), so I wrote. but I didn't share a word with the general public until I found Piptalk, in 2000. Thanks Ron! |
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moondogz Member
since 2007-05-01
Posts 397Great White North |
Hey, that made me have a flashback to all those great bands and songs of the 80's; Devo, UB40, Talking Heads, Martha and the Muffins, Parachute Club etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyzsBqk8u1w Martha and the Muffins singing Echo Beach....Thanks rwood. moon. |
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William James Junior Member
since 2008-05-05
Posts 31Ohio |
Wow, all interesting beginnings. I got divorced and while courting online I felt limited in how to express my feelings. For the next 5 years I wrote about 100 poems. The first ones were of the 'Roses are Red' type but I seemed to find a venue to express my hopes and desires in verse. I am happily married now and being happy does not lend itself well for me to write emotionally. Will |
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Falling rain
since 2008-01-31
Posts 2178Small town, Illinois |
Well... It all started in early 8th grade.. We had to ryhme in language for some project. And i said a few lines and there we go a poem! And after a few try's it just came naturally. And my first poem that i remember was called "Letting go". But yeah thats how it al started out for me. Letting go Tears running down my face Thinking of you Walking in a steady pace Trying to start a new Your death was a gaint blow I'll never forget your face But in my heart i'll always know Your love left its trace My hands are shaking but i don't know why Now your new life Belongs in the sky Your never ending love Shines down on me Like th ewings of a dove Is now set free My heart has moved on now So good-bye and farewell I loved you so much I bet you can tell ~Zach~ "Fate leads the willing, and drags along the reluctant." |
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
I started at a young age; kept the book through two marriages, and when I went to look for it one day, couldn't find it! Well, after some frantic searching, the lost was found... and thus ~*~ The Other Book Thank you, Lord for returning to me my precious book of early poetry. Between sheaves of decade-aged paper ramble thoughts and my capers of long, long ago. The book I thought lost has been found again, having given my anguish of its presumed loss over to you and then it was returned to me ~ all my joys, that which purged all my tears, in which all my thoughts merged over time over boys over wine over children over life... when I was a child, when I became a wife. To those decades of written words long ago I’ll take the lines, I’ll rewrite them so, that all the poets who read my verse will know I tried to shape some good from the worst. I know I’m not likely to objective be, over old words, probably more reflective of old stories and old lines, but thank you Lord, for the return of mine. ~*~ ©KRJ 3 September, 1999 |
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Ringo
since 2003-02-20
Posts 3684Saluting with misty eyes |
I've been writing as long as I can remember... I think I started writing poetry (such as it was) after seeing my mother's poetry when I was about 7 or 8. What would you attempt to do...if you knew you could not fail?. |
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yourfriendmacaroni New Member
since 2008-06-14
Posts 7United States |
It started on one very strange and restless night. 15 years old, as a freshman, after a stressing day of finals with a quadruple dose of ADD pills in my system. I couldn't fall asleep [wonder why, hehe], and with the inspiration of "The Catcher and the Rye" by J.D. Salinger and a few wierd borderline hallucinations caused by a mix of the meds and exhaustion, I cranked out a few of my first serious poems down in a notebook. |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
. The only reason anyone cares the minute after you’re dead and/or five feet from where you wrote the poem is because somehow it touches their lives Is that really so bad? Most poetry is simply personal shorthand in rhythm and/or rhyme Where it becomes offensive to taste and/or art is when it pretends to be anything else . |
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Penwing Member
since 2009-07-27
Posts 73Waverly, MN |
I was in the sixth grade and had always had an un-refined tallent with words. my english teacher had us do a poetry book project exploring all aspects of the art and after the project (on which i got an A lol) things just took off. now 2.5 years later i am writing very heavaly and it is my dream to be a published author. My first poem? it was a couplet highlighting my grandmother and her death. why i write poetry? because in my life paper (besides all of you ) is the only thing that listens to mewhere i write? anywhere where worldly distractions to not interfere. that is the start of my poetic life ,Penwing |
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Huan Yi Member Ascendant
since 2004-10-12
Posts 6688Waukegan |
. Poetry Is often nothing Made into something By those incapable Of changing the oil In their own cars . |
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N|D|N|C|Lost-Poet Member
since 2009-07-30
Posts 360New Orleans |
A broken heart brings so many changes. I've always been creative, and for years listening to my friends saying I have a gift with words. Started to write. Hope to be a novelist, screen-writer, playwright, and director one day. Of course after I'm a Marine. Ooh-Rah. First paragraph I ever wrote. "A broken heart is like a vase full of roses, beautiful pieces forever in poses, Soon to wither and welt, Truth to lie, feelings unfelt." (Yes I know unfelt isn't a word, yet I strongly believe that poetry in itself is freedom of all structure, even punctuation and proper grammar.) |
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crosscountry83 Member
since 2009-07-30
Posts 345 |
When? For me, about five days ago Where? Right here, at my computer haha Why? I saw what amazing things some people could do with words and I wanted to try my hand at it. I've done a few poems, getting a little better... (still not very good at all) These are a few of my favorite first ones: /pip/Forum110/HTML/001355.html /pip/Forum110/HTML/001353.html /pip/Forum110/HTML/001287.html /pip/Forum108/HTML/000591.html If anyone wants to read lol. I doubt it though. Rileigh |
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