How to write poetry

Everything has a beginning, even writing poetry. But before you begin writing, you should have taken care to have set aside the time and all the necessary tools to create. You should have collected your reference materials, taken the necessary precautions to avoid interruption, and entered your work-state and place with good light and comfortable conditions. The goal is to approach writing in a relaxed state, one without disturbance from without or within. Worries, annoying sounds from TVs, radio, an other source should be left at the door. Listen to the world around you for a bit and decide what should be tuned out and then go about tuning it out.

Once you have removed all the obstacles to writing poetry, the next step is to find your creative zone, that elusive place where words will form lines and lines will magically meld into stanzas or verse. As a writer, you may already know where your creative zone lies and how to get there. To the novice writer, however, the idea of finding a creative zone might sound a bit like a mystery. In fact it's not a new idea or novel concept at all. We all have a creative zone within us and we visit it every time we become excited, or passionate about a moment, and event or someone or someting new entering our lives.

Upon entering the creative zone, we can feel our hearts beat a little stronger, but more rhythematically, or breathing becomes deeper, then relaxes into smooth cycles of taking in and letting out just enough air to maintaint the state we're in. The mind focuses sharply on the subject, and the eyes quickly and sharply scan the same for the proof of identity or recognition of self. An overall feeling of relaxation, security, and well-being flows into the mind, body and spirit. We are ready to create something beautiful, and in this instance, the product of the artist is a poem of unique form, style and structure. The final product, the poem, reflects the inner spirit and the author's connection to the ever-lasting creation force that guides some, and pushes others into the creative art form referred to as writing.

At this point, one migh ask where and how does the creative process begin and where does it end? There isn't an answer to this question because the creative process begins and ends differently for every writer. The creative process has been studied and discussed endlessly and there are entire volumes written on the topic. If there is any truly valuable insight to be gained from this, it's that reading the works of the masters and carefully observing the world we live in are two keys that can help unlock the mystery.

The writer that doesn't study, diagnose, analyze, criticize and eventually come to understand how the poetry of the masters is formed from the eternal nothingness is bound to face failure and frustration. By reading the works of others one may soon discover that at the heart of every poem, the spark of creativity lies with the author's passion.

It is the passion known only to the author, therefore, that drives the poet to pick up pen and paper to write. In the creative process of writing poetry, passion is the fire that ushers forth the stream of consciousness from which words, images and ideas flow from the subconscious to paper. Occasionally, the stream of consciousness is a torrent of thought, ideas, images, and words for some authors. Fortunately, we have all been blessed with the counterbalancing and shaping power of the intellect to transform this stream into an wonderous expression of pure thought known as a poem.

Accessing this wonderous point of creation implies witnessing a burst of intellectual energy from within. For some, this point is achieved when one enteres the so-called "alpha" state of mind. The body is completely relaxed and comfortable. The condtions surrounding the work space are as ideal as possible, without stress, with light and air. At the surface of consciousness there is a thought, or an idea that demands the poet transform into writing. Upon relaxing fully, the poet then unleases the subconscious stream, that for some rages to the surface and drives the writer to complete line after line, page after page until he or she exhausts that stream. For others, at first, perhaps like the novice poet and writer, the unconscious stream may begin only as a trickle. But with time and practice and study, the stream will grow ever-stronger and eventually lead to the gentle river of creativity that the masters know so well.

Writing poetry is an often overlooked art form that seems out of place for many in these turblent times. To the serious writer, however, none of today's troubles matter. Driven by passion and the will to create beauty, in its endless number of forms, the serious writer sees the world with his or her mind's eye and deftly turns their secret vision into a poem. The gifted and talented writers understand and acknowledge the need to read and study the works of the masters. That is to say, not to imitate them, but to reach a level of understanding as to how and why they wrote and came to create each unique work. That is the goal every writer seeks to attain, that is to say, mastery of one's own mind and yeilding entirely to the passion of the creative process.

For the serious writer of poetry, there are many great works and studies that go far beyond the small offering of advice that this article has provided. The best advice, in summary of all, is to read, study, and, above all, write.