Calvin: You can't just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood.
Hobbes: And what mood is that?
Calvin: Last-minute panic.
English exams included, I can well commisserate with Calvin. I can't count the number of times I needed to write an article for something, but the words just wouldn't flow. And yet, I was always (and still am) capable of coming up with something, and people would even like it. It's never hard to write with good technique, once the basics have been drummed into you through practice. This includes everything from poetry to short fiction. But it's not often that one comes up with something truly creative, something with soul. That inevitably requires inspiration.
I haven't yet found anyone sufficiently interested in my style of writing to read and critique all my poems, but if I ever do, I would like to ask one question: can you identify which poems I wrote because I was told to (or told myself to), and which poems flowed automatically? I've been writing poems since fourth grade, some good, some bad, some ugly; but the good ones generally write themselves. From high school, I started saving my poems and they're all up on my poetry blog; some thirty-odd poems so far. I often change my judgements on my own writing as my personal taste evolves; but the really good ones, written in true moments of inspiration are always clear winners.
I ran a little experiment this week, seeing as I've run into a bad case of poet's block and haven't written a poem since last december. I told myself to write two poems, on something, anything. No arguments. And I came up with these: Have Faith and The Slightest Excuse. I invite my readers, especially poetry enthusiasts, to render their judgements... no mercy asked!
And yet... no matter how much I complain that my poems are not that good when I coerce myself into writing, it's even worse if I simply sit still and not write. Going poem-less for seven months frayed my nerves. Now I'm almost feeling like myself again :)
Cheers,
Prashanth.
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2 comments:
well creative is supposed to be orignal or unusual, something new...so its actually only u who can tell what u wrote was orignal(in ur perspective) or not, i mean u know it better that if u had read or seen that kind of work earlier or not..
just assume that u get an inspiration from some poem that u read at some place and then write one like that, i an ignorant who soul may not have seen that kind of work earlier, will take it as creative....
and creative just happens...u might be doin sth and some how it turns up to be sth else even before u realise...
btw i coudn't differentiate b/w u both poems as far as creativity was concerned...i still made to choose i will choose "Have Faith"..
Scarecrow,
I'm not talking about originality, just creativity. But you're right, I'm theoretically the best person to judge my own writing... but as I said already, I keep changing my opinions on my writing from time to time, so I want to know what other people think.
I didn't actually want a comparison of the two poems, but something on an absolute scale particularly in the light of them being "manufactured" poems... but I, too, felt "Have Faith" came out much better.
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