Putting Pen To Paper

Friday, July 14, 2006

Here I am

posted by Ruth at 7/14/2006 10:31:00 AM

As a bit of introduction to those of you who may not know me as David's (this blog founder) mother, I have been writing poetry since elementary school, but only started saving it since the 1970's. My rhyming, mostly Christian, and usually understandable poetry, is not what is generally published these days; so, I have had only a few published over the years. I did self-publish a book of poems for family and friends and helped other family members self-publish a family anthology of our work. I took a class recently and got David interested in taking writing classes which he seems to thoroughly enjoy.

My aim is to post a little something on the blog here now and then and welcome comments from the members here. I'm trying to learn to write in different styles, but it isn't easy for me.

As my first post, here is a poem I wrote three or four years ago.

Here I Am

My Smiles emerge from deep within;
But, I cannot, will not, even begin
To search for the why of it.

I barely skim the surface of life
A stone hop-skipping the waves of strife.
No need to cry of it.

Here I am as was intended
Broken dreams and heartaches mended;
Still, in nightly dreams I roam.

Always onward I must go
As water down the hill must flow
Finding comfort in the touch of earth its home.

----------

They say a poem is never finished and I'm beginning to believe that. Every time I thumb through my notebook, reading over them again, I stop to make corrections to typos, or change a line that just doesn't seem to flow, or find a better rhyme. Just in putting this one into this post, I made changes to all the stanzas but the last one. Oh well, this is the version you get. Tell me what you think.
click to show or hide the full text of this post
click to post a comment or read comments from: Blogger Fred MacKenzie, Blogger WDavid, Blogger Ruth, Blogger Ruth, Blogger WDavid, Blogger Ruth, Blogger Aaron,

7 Comments:

  • Hi Mom, I like it alot. A very positive, optimistic poem.

    By Blogger Fred MacKenzie, at 7/14/2006 08:56:00 PM  

  • Well, I'd kind of hoped that the whole family angle that started this writing group would remain hidden, but it's out of the bag now. :-) No problem. Ya, the first four members are all family.

    As for the poem...yup, I like it. It's short (I never have been able to wade through lengthy poems) and it reads well. The cadence seems to work except for the last stanza. Maybe it was intentional, but it seems upside down from the other three. In those the third line has the fewest syllables but in the fourth stanza the third line has the most. Help me understand it.

    And yes, I treat my stories like your poems. Whenever I read an older one I end up tweaking a few words here or there. My inner critic is never satisfied. :-)

    By Blogger WDavid, at 7/14/2006 09:08:00 PM  

  • David, unless I'm writing in a specific poetic form, I seldom count syllables so specifically that each line or stanza has to match. If it seems to flow well, I'm happy. Maybe that's a flaw in my writing... I don't aim for perfection!

    By Blogger Ruth, at 7/15/2006 03:29:00 AM  

  • Perhaps you only have family here right now because this is so new and we have always been loyal blogger fans of yours, following you from one to the other. Give it time to grow and keep advertising!

    By Blogger Ruth, at 7/15/2006 03:31:00 AM  

  • I'll grant that my exposure to poetry in school was limited but it always seemed to be all about the syllables. To me, poetry seemed to be the art of cramming wild and free-flowing emotions into an intricage cage made of syllable counts, rhyming patterns, and line numbers while still keeping the emotional essense intact. My own brief fixation with poetry was all cinquain and Fred is all about haiku. Perhaps you've managed to break more conventions than you think. :-)

    By Blogger WDavid, at 7/15/2006 07:35:00 AM  

  • Somehow I doubt that creative writing instructors today spend a whole lot of time on the traditional forms, not when you consider what is winning contests. Your exposure to poetry definitely needs updating. Boy do you need to read more of today's poetry! You wouldn't believe the things people call poetry today which are winning contests all across the world. For years the most popular poetry winning contests was all free verse, and there are many variations of that, some of which are (to me) unintelligible gibberish, and some of which are understandable, but none of which rhyme or adhere to any syllable count as some traditional forms do. I noted recently too that some contests are choosing prose poetry as winners. All of those forms are new to me and that's why I want to keep experimenting with them.

    By Blogger Ruth, at 7/16/2006 11:21:00 AM  

  • I love the ending, touching and wonderful the spirit behind those words. Placement and timing is everything.
    Thanks for sharing,
    Aaron

    By Blogger Aaron, at 7/17/2006 03:51:00 AM  

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