Poetically Yours

Autumn Hilltop by Childe Hassam

Hola, Bloggers! Good day, Bom dia! Change of season and autumn sensation for poetic verses and rhymes. The poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, E.E Cummings, Wlat whitman, robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and William Cullen Bryant are some of those poetic works that influenced my poetic inclination. "A Psalm of Life" by Longfellow for me sums up my whole philosophy and attitude towards life. I consider it one of the best poems ever written.

Since the great object of poetry is to please, every means is employed to that end. Let me tell you, until now I've been striving diligently for the perfection of my versification so as to produce harmony that appeals to our aesthetic sense and thus enhances the beauty of poetry. I strive for poetry everyday even when I'm busy. I see rhymes, reasons that produce verses amidst the hustle and bustle of daily living. I sincerely believe that when one is poetically inclined, he/she can always see beauty in everything even in the most adverse circumstances and in the most vile of persons. Poetry, to me, is reaching in and out both to the most desirable and undesirable and always try to incorporate beauty in them however way that is.

Every writer or artist who decides to believe in himself, to go against the grain, to face years, perhaps a lifetime of rejection and worst of all indifference, needs to remind himself of an old saying in the underworld: "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime," or in this case, "If you can't take contempt, don't make an attempt."

To the budding and aspiring poets out there, young and old alike, I would say, write on and versify poetic images that are originally your own. Never imitate a certain style. Free verse is the best to undertake, that's what I employ, it works for me and it will work for you too. Write verses even under difficult conditions, never give up, "practice makes perfect." Inspired or not, write on, versify and you will achieve what you aim for. Have pleasant days ahead bloggers and God bless us all!

"...good work comes out under pressure of a bad life; he who lives does not work; one must die to life in order to be utterly a creator."

Tonio Kroger, in Death in Venice and Seven Other Theories, tr. H-T Lowe-Porter, Vintage Books, NY; 1962, p. 94