The Inspiration To Write Poetry

Writing is an incredible journey, a soul-searching, an outpouring of information, a personal creative challenge, a cleansing process, and so much more.

In order to pen a quality piece there must be some internal or external resource that the writer may call upon again and again to turn mental images, thoughts, ideals etc. into a written dialogue that will stimulate its reader, leave the reader with a sense of satisfaction for having read the piece.

I made a new acquaintance recently who I shared a glass of wine with and quite a stimulating conversation about our places of origin and local politics, climate, geography, peoples, economy. Our discussion eventually centered around writing since my newfound friend was skimming through my first book "Journeys In Verse".

With favourable comment about the content of my book this gentlemen marvelled at the presentation of the book and queried where I get the inspiration to write. He too aspired to write but was unsure where to begin the process.

In response I reflected upon the very conversation that we had just so enthusiastically engaged...our homelands, peoples, geography, policical scene. What could possibly motivate one to write more than those very everyday topics that are so close to our hearts.

I referred to the standards of poetry that have been the very core of poetic verse since the first stansas of poetry were scribed including romance, nature, fantasy, distant lands, war and conflict. What an enormous resource of topical information flows from that core of themes. And there is vertually an endless stream of worldly situations and personal experiences that drive us daily to some level of emotion, consternation, trepidation, bewilderment.

We are bombarded daily with an enormous amount of information, whether it be via the various formats of media, the internet, personal observation, word of mouth from those we meet. There should never be such a things as "writer's block"....something that I perceive occurs not from a lack of subject matter but internal or external conflict resulting in distraction considerable enough to temporarily diminish the writer's ability to put together a meaningful article, story, poem, etc.

From personal experience I have found that when I feel uninspired or lack the cohesive thought processes to put together a good written piece I take a break from writing for a few hours, days, weeks, whatever it takes to recharge and recover a clarity of thought processes needed to resurrect the creative juices. Then and only then do I resume my place before the keyboard and return to doing what I love the most...writing.

I have found that in order to maintain a strong desire to write I need to diversify to the extent that I don't restrict my writing genre to poetry exclusively. Over the past two years I have expanded my publication efforts from poetry to web journals such as this, and also a poetry writing newsletter and articles.

This diversity of writing materials and a steadily growing and devoted reading audience has kept the joy and challenge of writing fresh and exciting for me. With the availability of online resources , in many cases free, the vehicles for publishing are considerable.

What inspires me you ask? The question you should ask perhaps is what does not inspire me. Look around, use your senses, your emotions, your cognitive skills to absorb the many, many things that happen around you, around your region, and indeed around the globe. Think of what triggers people's emotions, what makes them laugh, what makes them cry. There's your inspiration. Capture a moment, an event, a glimpse at mental pictures, frame by frame and paint that picture on the page or monitor screen with great purpose and satisfaction.

Inspired to write yet? I hope so...watch, listen, touch...now write about it!

Copyright 2006 by Don MacIver
author, Journeys In Verse