(no subject)
ITP
I think it is a declaration of war:
the body sending red letters under my skin.
they are not easy to decipher,
ephemeral constellations of tiny bruises,
so I join the dots in blue biro.
I find the message still a little confusing,
like maybe it's written back to front,
on the underside of my capillaries.
because it is too difficult to make a settlement,
I send in pale troops every morning;
battlefields flare and fade on my arms, my legs, my chest.
every change becomes a sign;
my nerves fray rapidly.
the body fights back, purple tides rising under my skin.
it is too much for me; please,
I am ready to broker peace.
I am applying for a creative writing poetry course for the first semester next year. It's fairly restricted entry and I am, pretty much, entirely terrified that I'll submit a portfolio and won't be accepted. This probably ties in with an opinion of my poetry that... well, okay. "people who post original poetry on their Livejournals" are pretty much in the same category as "people who blog about their cats" and they're definitely in the same category as "people who talk about cutting themselves a lot" and "people who dye their hair black and wear a lot of eyeliner." (Um, there are people on my flist who do all of these things, and I love them all very much, but you know what I mean.) So I usually strive to make my poetry as non-emo as possible, because god, no-one wants to read amateur Evanescence lyrics, am I right? But there are things that I find intensely difficult to write about without being emo. Illness is one of these, mine and those around me - I've made several starts at writing about my grandfather, who's pretty much off his rocker, and I don't feel like any of them have really transcended my personal experience into being something that might actually speak to others as well - which is what good poetry is about, IMO. Someone said that "poetry should not mean, but be"; I absolutely believe this, but also that poetry that is intensely personal is almost always bad poetry because it might mean a lot to the author, but when it comes to the audience, they may have nothing in common with you.
Which is a roundabout way of saying, I am trying to write a bit about some things that matter to me right now, and I'm not sure I'm succeeding, but I think I have to get rid of them anyway. And if you think this is way too subjective, you should read some of the other stuff I have on my hd. ;)
I think it is a declaration of war:
the body sending red letters under my skin.
they are not easy to decipher,
ephemeral constellations of tiny bruises,
so I join the dots in blue biro.
I find the message still a little confusing,
like maybe it's written back to front,
on the underside of my capillaries.
because it is too difficult to make a settlement,
I send in pale troops every morning;
battlefields flare and fade on my arms, my legs, my chest.
every change becomes a sign;
my nerves fray rapidly.
the body fights back, purple tides rising under my skin.
it is too much for me; please,
I am ready to broker peace.
I am applying for a creative writing poetry course for the first semester next year. It's fairly restricted entry and I am, pretty much, entirely terrified that I'll submit a portfolio and won't be accepted. This probably ties in with an opinion of my poetry that... well, okay. "people who post original poetry on their Livejournals" are pretty much in the same category as "people who blog about their cats" and they're definitely in the same category as "people who talk about cutting themselves a lot" and "people who dye their hair black and wear a lot of eyeliner." (Um, there are people on my flist who do all of these things, and I love them all very much, but you know what I mean.) So I usually strive to make my poetry as non-emo as possible, because god, no-one wants to read amateur Evanescence lyrics, am I right? But there are things that I find intensely difficult to write about without being emo. Illness is one of these, mine and those around me - I've made several starts at writing about my grandfather, who's pretty much off his rocker, and I don't feel like any of them have really transcended my personal experience into being something that might actually speak to others as well - which is what good poetry is about, IMO. Someone said that "poetry should not mean, but be"; I absolutely believe this, but also that poetry that is intensely personal is almost always bad poetry because it might mean a lot to the author, but when it comes to the audience, they may have nothing in common with you.
Which is a roundabout way of saying, I am trying to write a bit about some things that matter to me right now, and I'm not sure I'm succeeding, but I think I have to get rid of them anyway. And if you think this is way too subjective, you should read some of the other stuff I have on my hd. ;)