Rambling + Poetry?
Hello folks,
My work in progress, How to Write, continues on. Today I will write a section about apologizing. It’s my book and I can do what I want.
As I've been working on it, a lot of thoughts have been coming to mind. One thought came up a couple of weeks ago, when a tragedy happened to a friend: her dog died suddenly due to a horrible accident.
My friend was just heartbroken, and remains so. At the time, I was inspired to write a poem for her, as an attempt at comfort. Somehow I knew she would not think it was corny or unwelcome. I was right, thank goodness.
That situation got me to thinking about writing in general, and my education, and the fact that I wrote a LOT of poetry, and preferred it for a long, long time. I was also good at writing "papers" in undergrad, for some reason. Both types of writing fed me, in different ways. I've been asking myself a lot, how a poet came to write a reference book about writing. As I write it, I try to be entertaining and keep the writing accessible. It’s not poetry by a longshot.
Last year I also took on a few pen pals after discovering #penpalooza on the Twitters. Writing by hand used to be my preferred way of writing, and I was instantly aware of how difficult it now is for me, after 800 years of only typing. I mean, I scrawl notes to myself on pads of paper and attempt to decipher them days later, but that was about it. Now, I have unearthed my stationery collection from high school (!!!) and have added to it, and thoroughly enjoy waiting for a letter in the mail. I have received two in the past three days, so I now have the pleasure of responding.
All of this is to say that writing a book is cause for a lot of thinking, and much of the time, not a lot of answers for myself. My mind has been living in memories of my undergraduate times a lot, because I was an English major at the University of Iowa. My experiences there definitely helped to shape the kind of person I am today. But am I still a poet? Is someone a poet if they only sporadically write it?
Is someone a writer if they only sporadically write? If they never publish a thing?
Hm.