What is your reason for writing? You’ve always had words whirling around inside your head, searching frantically for the exit to your fingers, but without some kind of motivation, they’d never make it. So what’s the point? What’s your point? In this chapter, you’ll identify your own underlying reason for writing, first by exploring some of the classic reasons why writers of yesterday and today chose poetry as their main form of expression. Why you write will greatly affect the type of audience that will be listening, and once you know who you’re trying to reach, finding your voice is much easier. Everything from the words you choose to the way you decide to string them together plays a role in making your voice heard by that audience. Don’t know what your voice sounds like, or if you’ve even found your voice yet? No worries! We’ll go over that too.
As with any journey, becoming a better poet requires an understanding of your destination. Before sitting down to write, have you asked yourself, “Where am I going with this? What am I trying to say?” Most poetry can be divided into two “destinations”: poems written to express a feeling, and poems written to make a connection with the reader. Both destinations can lead a poet to success, be it wealth, fame, or simply having an emotional outlet, but while they both are wondrous in their own right, the destination you choose will greatly affect the poetry you write.
Maybe you’re the poet who writes to express emotions, many and varied as they are. You may be communicating the pain you feel from losing someone close to you, or the overwhelming joy of finding—at long last!—true and genuine love, but either way, what truly matters is that you are able to, first, put your thoughts and emotions into words and, second, put them onto paper (or a word document on the computer). If you write this way, then your poetry is the reflective type: in other words, the emotions of the poem are experienced by you and for you. It really doesn’t matter whether or not others approve of the writing: you have expressed what you set out to express, so mission accomplished!
Reflective poetry is and always has been an incredibly important form of writing. For many it can act as a sort of therapy that helps them to work out complicated emotions and thought processes. Have you ever written a poem as a means of letting go of certain feelings or ideas (e.g., a broken heart or an unhealthy desire)? Even relatively commonplace events like experiencing something for the first time can be easier to handle and work out with the aid of poetry, so for you and other like-minded writers, the ink on your paper may as well be your blood, because it’s every bit a part of you as your hands, eyes, and toes. It is poetry that truly comes from the heart.
If, on the other hand, your writing aims to connect with and otherwise engage your readers (inspiring thoughts and emotions within them regardless of their different positions in life), then your writing is considered observational. With observational poetry, the writer’s goal is to stir a specific emotion or thought within the reader based on an experience or observation. Even though the reader may not have experienced the same situation in their own life, a well-written observational poem can make the reader feel as though they have. Subjects for this style of writing are incredibly diverse, often touching on global experiences or detailing cultural and societal issues. These poems frequently address those life topics that would be labeled “taboo” in normal social settings. Maybe you’ve been abused in the past, so as a means of teaching others about the fear you now deal with on a daily basis, you could write a poem describing the event. Did that presidential election not go the way you were hoping it would? Writing an observational poem can be a great way of showing others exactly how much change is needed.
One of the best parts of observational poetry, though, is the freedom we have to experience what would normally be outside of our capability—for example, a grown man can write about what growing up without a father would be like, or a deaf woman can write about what she imagines her husband’s voice sounds like. These poems aren’t written from direct experience, but because of the ability of poetry to create empathy in its readers, the writer can still evoke very specific and powerful emotions in his or her audience.
Thankfully, no one has ever written into law that all poets must be either A or B, so if you want to write an observational poem one minute and a reflective poem the next, by all means get funky with it. In general though, most poets begin their journey with observational poetry—after all, life is constantly happening all around us, and as writers, we must be adept at converting our observations of life into words. Now the questions that remain are: “How do I pick my words?” “How do I know what to write so that I get my point across to the greatest number of people?” Answering these questions, while not easy, will definitely aid you in discovering your voice.
“By sharing my words I prove to myself that my words matter, that my voice matters, that I will live on, somewhere, in someone’s mind and heart.”
—Kati M.
Roughly one quarter of the quality of your work can be attributed to your voice: the characteristic that communicates some truth about yourself as an individual, as part of a group, or as something in between. The concept sounds simple enough, but many writers, even those who have produced several publications, still don’t know their own voice. Your voice as a writer isn’t something that can be put on a timeline like a publisher’s deadline. In fact, most will stumble upon it when their hands are too cramped to write another word. Your voice is your passions, your anxieties, and your personality, which comes through in certain phrases but holds back in others; your voice is what remains of you in the written words after they have left your fingers.
Unfortunately, your voice doesn’t come with a “how to find me” guide, and your preferred GPS app will be just as useless in the search. The reason you won’t find a “how to” book is the same reason why searching the Internet won’t help: it simply takes time. That’s right, friend: all you have to do to find your voice is keep the words flowing. Okay yes, of course knowing the ins and outs of grammar, expanding your vocabulary, and utilizing all of the free time you can get will go a long way toward helping you discover and define your voice as a poet, but when all is said and done, your voice will be most apparent when your comfort with the written word is obvious. And how do you get comfortable with writing? By picking up your pen.
A quick word of warning now that you know time is the crucial factor in finding your voice: do not rush yourself! Take your time and understand that your goal—first and foremost—is simply to enjoy the act of writing. Allow your personality and love for writing to naturally guide your practices and skills surrounding the craft.
An important part of discovering your voice through practice is determining what works best for you. Many writers find value in participating in daily writing challenges hosted by different social network communities, such as Her Heart Poetry, the Round Table Challenge, and Artlixir Poetry. These communities excel in challenging their members with vocabulary prompts, imagery challenges, and different poetic forms on a regular basis. Online writing challenges are particularly beneficial to growing poets, because they create writing opportunities while also providing a place where other artists’ works can be read, allowing you to both expand your current skill set and see how others are approaching the same idea. Other writers decide to pass on the daily challenges and instead challenge themselves—you know you best, after all. These writers tend to be very hit-or-miss with readers, because they can come across as less focused and “off the beaten path,” but they also tend to be the writers who set trends instead of following them, and create poetic forms instead of depending on them.
Remember, too, that just like you, your voice will likely change with time. Even if you found your voice at an uncommonly young age, it is highly unlikely that, twenty or so years later, you’re still writing about the same ideas. Even if there are still some common themes between then and now, surely you’re no longer communicating in the same way. Reading through that old, forgotten work can be very beneficial, though, and it’s a practice many accomplished writers utilize. If you have any old journals or poetry, try reading through them a couple times a year, paying attention to what has changed. How has your writing improved? Has it gotten worse in any way? What does your old writing have in common with your current writing? Ask yourself every question you can when reading through your previous works, because with every answer, you’ll be that much closer to discovering your voice.
Before we move on to the techniques and tools for writing poetry, let’s do a quick recap: you read up on a brief history of poetry and saw how concepts formed ages ago still influence writing today; you learned the differences between the two “destinations” of poetry and how they factor into your personalized writing style; and you explored the poet’s voice and methods you can practice to get more comfortable with written words. It’s been a busy section, to be sure, but now it’s time to get into the nitty-gritty of the craft!