My Experience: Writing, Revisioning, and what was Frustrating
I found writing these poems to be creatively and emotionally draining. I kept going back and forth between loving the work I wrote down to absolutely hating it. I knew that I wanted the overall theme of this collection to be humility, and the original drafts definitely stuck along with that goal. But as I kept coming back to each poem and reading it over I would notice its imperfections in clear detail. Seeing each imperfection would upset me and lead me to try to fix it. I often made things worse and deviated from my original purpose.
Writing poetry started to feel very some to falling into superficial “love” with someone. In the beginning, you’re infatuated with them and they can do no wrong in your eyes. But as you get to know them and see them for who they really are you realize that you can’t stand the sight of them. I know it's harsh! But I really came to hate and be dissatisfied with my work because it was as getting as the image I had in my head!
I had a hard time leaving room for my reader to think. I wanted them to see things my way. I wanted to get my point across. Learning to hold back from giving the point away was hard. When I read poems myself I hate it when I don’t get it, so as a writer, I don’t want my reader to feel the same way. As a result, there is always a Tension in my writing between, holding back and giving it all away.
The Themes
The main theme of the collection is the benefits of humility. At least that was the goal. My first piece I think really captures it. It starts off by showing how the author is in pain and goes on to reveal that it is his pride that is damaging him. The author because stubborn and stuck in his ways to the point that when failure comes to free him from thinking he is perfect and everyone needs him, he sees it as an interloper. But once he yields, failure humbles him, and humility gives him rest. The second poem was supposed to be about how the author needed to become like a child to accomplish something he couldn’t do as an adult.
Favorite Piece
At the time of this submission, my favorite piece is Reality Check. It used to be “Mommy, Daddy, Look! I Can Ride a Bike!” But I just feel so dissatisfied with its current state. “Reality Check” on the other hand has gone through my revisions. It started out as the prompt we worked on in class where we each were tasked with giving a random noun and we all had to write a poem that used each other's nouns. I wrote a piece about how painful failure feels, but how it is good for us, it keeps us humble. But after last week's class, I realized it was too preachy towards the end and proceeded to change the ending. I ended up making it look like failure and humility made the author miserable! Which was the opposite of my intent. It's crazy how changing a few things in a poem can have such a huge impact on the meaning of a poem!