Poetry...

A lot has been said about my poetry skills by others, but whats better than the words from the horse's mouth? So here it goes...

For many people, poetry is supposed to be some lines composed by using bombastic words, cryptic language that you cannot understand, hidden meanings that only your english teachers can decipher and teach you.

I was introduced to poetry by my 7th std English teacher, Mrs. Lalitha Chandrasekhar, whom I had the opportunity to meet last Oct, and she was overjoyed at hearing about it, even though she was lucky enough to not see any of my poetry...Then I liked it (esp Daffodils by William Wordsworth) and there started a thread of thought...It continued a bit in my school days, but the real thrust came in my college days. I became famous and infamous at the same time, and there were lots of inspirations to write more and more. So it continued...And even now, I write only when I get some inspiration.

I wanted mine to be different from the usual stereotype. The first thing that captured my mind about poetry is rhyming words. I loved the simple yet awesome effect it had on me. It always brought a smile in my face. I remembered then, the essence of using rhyming words in nursery rhymes. It really does make us smile, and is easy to remember. Maybe I am still a child, but I like it that way...I remember my teacher, Mrs. GV once said "To write better English, you have to think in English". So, I began to think in rhyming words.

I dare say its unconventional. I wanted to keep poetry simple (1 reason is that my vocabulary is limited) cos I wanted everyone to read it and get the meaning. I dint want them referring dictionaries to figure out whats in there. Even a 2nd std kid can understand my poetry. Ofcourse, whether people think its good or bad is beyond my control.

First thought of anyone who reads my poetry is that its childish and its too long. My problem is that once I start writing, its hard for me to stop. Some of the poems I write for fun because of something I juz wanna say and it comes out as rhyming. Those are definitely short (or shorter than my usual length). But the poems I really write seriously are due to issues that affect me a lot and things about which I want to express myself. For me, poetry is just my way of expressing my thots as words....So the more I am concerned about something (or someone ;) ), the more lines it occupies on the computer notepad.

Coming to others' opinion of my poetry, 60% of the people boo it in public, 40% appreciate it in public, 20% actually change their opinion of my poetry after a while, but almost all appreciate it in private...I like the negative comments, cos those makes me realise whats wrong and improve, I like the positive comments a little lesser, cos I feel its just an acknowledgement, and I definitely avoid any overdose of it. Also I know many people out there can write much better. So, I dont waste an opportunity to read something better than mine or different than mine and appreciate it.

Well, it seems ironic, but 3 of what I consider my worst poems were published in the Int'l library of poetry for the last 3 years and my profile has been included in the Int'l whos who in Poetry. I submitted those cos they were the only ones lesser than 20 lines (a pre-requisite). Anywayz, I dont think much abt such stuff. My poetry is purely for my pleasure (of writing it) and others (for reading it).

But the bottomline is that I dont change my style just cos its not the usual style. I take my poetry seriously, as in the end, the whole point of it is that I want people to recognise the meaning it contains...even though in a much lighter manner than most of the poems out there...

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The search has just begun !!! (for yet another attempt at reading something better than mine)