poetry, what it shows

Now I am not sure exactly how to start this off, but here I go.

For as long as I have been able to write I have been writing poetry. There are many differen't kinds of poetry, and it all depends on the writers state of mind at the time.

( Psychologists identify seven kinds of mental images — those of sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, bodily awareness and muscular tension. All are available to poets, and are used by poets, though rarely to the same extent. The key point is the purposes to which imagery is put. Metaphor, simile, allegory, personification, metonymy (attribute for whole) and synecdoche (part for whole) all involve imagery. Often the things compared are both images, but one of them may also be a feeling or concept. The effects achieved are very various, therefore, and the matter is further complicated by literary fashion and a poet's individual obsessions. )

( sited: www.poetrymagic.co.uk... )

I shall show you for instance a poem of mine which I wrote yesterday morning at about 4 in the morning. Then I will elaborate about what it means and why it means that to me. Althought to others it could mean something completely different.

The name of the poem is "NEW WORLD ORDER"

"Tears, they stain, My clothes blood red,
with no sign from which they'll end,
the gratuitous gestures and lives we live,
will help our government dish what they give,
we cannot stop them, no matter the tries,
forever we'll live on, as our soul dies,
"Do what we say and your life will be perfect"
should we listen to them, is this way worth it?
Do we give up our soul and live on forever,
or do we give up our lives and never surrender?
we can never take over, they rule too high,
they tower above us, like the clouds in the sky,
history will not change, and neither will we,
no more are we allowed, to live like the free,
This world we live in, and its unending torture,
will eventually, get, our beloved hearts tore,
we DO NOT have a chance anymore,
do we live like slaves, or die on the floor?"

Well, to most people this poem is pretty self explanitory. The thing is, though, I am not most people. When I began this poem I had no idea what overcame me or even why I wrote it. To me it means that there is something controlling us as human beings, and I don't just mean "the government" as portrayed in my poem. We are always being controlled, through our jobs, our parents, our friends, our husbands/wives. We cannot escape the inevitable, nor should we. This poem to me means that there are somethings in this world better off left alone as the saying goes. I choose to write things like this because it gives many different people many different insights on the perspective of their lives. To be a writer shows that you have passion in something more than just the well know, such as news, weather, life, families, so on and so forth. If we are willing to write down more things and use them as a supposed metaphor, then, maybe this world will begin to understand things a little better.

I hope that atleast some of you understand what I am speaking of. This may sound like a tangent, or more of a ramble, but to my defence, not that I need defence, It is 3:38 in the morning and I haven't slept in almost 48 hours straight. This is one of my favorite topics though, I love writing, I figured why not write about writing. It is easy to do, simply write what you feel it doesn't have to rhyme, just as long as it makes sence to you that is all that matters. Others will take from it what they see, which is the brilliance of true poets.

please I would love your insight on this topic. I wonder if some people are as happy and excited about poetry as I am.

Good topic.

I think some artforms are a gateway to your true thoughts and feelings. Music, Poetry, the performing arts to a lesser extent.

I've been trying to write a song along similar lines as your poem above, but i had had no luck until i stopped trying. If you let the words write themselves rather than thinking too hard about it you get a much better, truer result. This one below just basically wrote itself after i had watched an election debate on TV.


Industrial. Invitation to stop, close the curtains.
Precipitations evaded us and nothing is certain.
So fall over each other to expand and to breed.
Don't think to the future and where it will lead.


The final embrace of the life we now know,
the damage is done and the last seed is sewn,
brace yourselves for the fallout, the dark,
humanity will leave one hell of a mark,


It's like a masquerade ball full of the faceless,
or a minority group befriending a racist,
claustrophobia striking in wide open spaces,
but you say the world is O.K.


Don't believe what you're told, propaganda displayed,
the truth in this world, always over the page,
So research yourself and make up your mind,
Spread the descent because the people are blind.

reply to post by fooffstarr


Nice Fooffstarr .. did you write that your self? Pretty damn good...

Yes, I would say poetry (and music ... except some of the crap we hear on the radio anymore is completely void of feeling -- fake garbage) are windows to the true feelings of the writer .. thats the point of writing them though, no? Self expression.

So what is this thread about?

Is it about what a poem shows us about the poet's state of mind at time of writing? His concerns, his hopes and fears? His mental illness, perhaps?

Is it about what a poem shows us about the society and culture in which the poet lives?

Is it about how poetry may be inspired or influenced by something 'out there' - a muse, a spirit, an alien being, a government mind control programme?

Or is it just an excuse for people to post their 'poetry' on line? What's wrong with Facebook and MySpace?

Originally posted by Astyanax

Or is it just an excuse for people to post their 'poetry' on line? What's wrong with Facebook and MySpace?

That is not at all what this is about... The reason I posted that was to merely show an example of what I said:

Originally posted by Sharati

Psychologists identify seven kinds of mental images — those of sight, sound, taste, smell, touch, bodily awareness and muscular tension. All are available to poets, and are used by poets, though rarely to the same extent. The key point is the purposes to which imagery is put. Metaphor, simile, allegory, personification, metonymy (attribute for whole) and synecdoche (part for whole) all involve imagery. Often the things compared are both images, but one of them may also be a feeling or concept. The effects achieved are very various, therefore, and the matter is further complicated by literary fashion and a poet's individual obsessions. )

( sited: www.poetrymagic.co.uk... )

It was not meant just to show you that I can write poetry... more of an Example. You see.