Creative Thoughts by Chris Bunton
I cannot speak for all poets. I can only speak for me.
My poems come from inspiration. Or from Spirit. Or flows from within. It’s hard to tell. But it just comes.
Sometimes I can turn on the spigot, but not totally control what comes out. Other times it leaps into my mind fully formed or mostly so.
I do not like rules. But sometimes I will twist a concept into the shape of a poetry form.
But if I have to work too hard at it, then it’s a drag. I don’t try to use big words. I want the feeling and the idea to flow, not bog the reader down with trying to look up the meaning of a word.
Ideas leap to the mind like a fire that must be contained and used or it will be lost.
And that’s pretty much where my poems come from. Some event or idea sparks a feeling or begins the flow and I put it down and then tweak it later.
I no longer carry a notebook. I just email my poems or ideas or articles to myself.
When I get a tingle of inspiration, I open my email and start writing an email to myself then hit send when it’s done.
It works quit well. It creates a record and saves trees. It also keeps me from needing to carry a notebook and pen in my pocket.
I’m actually using that method right now as I write this. It’s an email to myself. Then I’ll flesh it out later on my computer at home.
When I write free form it just flows. But when I write forms, I just decide what form to use, then the words come or the concept comes and I shape it.
Forms are more work. I’m not a big fan of rhyming unless it’s natural or less than perfect. I think rhyming is fake sometimes. The highly educated people would say that it is “Contrived”.
So for me the rhymes must be real or come from inspiration, not by work. Course, that’s not always possible. Sometimes you gotta stick the right word in there even if it’s not by nature. It’s like a sidewalk through a garden.
Poetry is spirit and feeling. It can convey a concept quickly or on another level because it follows its own rules or a form which does not impede the truth of the feeling or spirit.
Poetry is art. You are painting a picture with words. My favorite art is Impressionism. I like how it’s a painting of a thing. But it’s not exactly the thing. But you know what the thing is.
Poetry to me, is like that. It’s a feeling or concept or idea which is put down in words, in such a way that it’s like the thing but not exactly the thing. And the reader knows it, but can’t argue with it, because it’s not the thing. It’s naked truth in a word salad, that makes sense.
That’s why poets and prophets are sometimes hated. Like clowns, they fill a weird place with seers and shamans.
The poet says, “It’s mine! I don’t care what you think. Take it and go, or don’t. But, it is what it is. This is me, and us.”
Poetry to me is about writing. I have to write. I’m called to write. I’m compelled to write. I have a burden to write. Sometimes, it comes out as a story. Sometimes it’s an article. Sometimes it’s a lesson and sometimes it has to come out as a poem.
Sometimes, nothing else will fill the bill but a poem flowing free.
Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called “The Future is Coming” and is a collection of dystopian short stories.
Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/
Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogspot: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/
Buy a cup of Coffee
Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public
Photo by the Poet.
Free Life Blog 