THE TRUTH ABOUT POETS AND POETRY

Have you ever read poetry that was correct in form, intelligently written and well presented but it left your emotions untouched? I believe that poetry is more than just verbal or lexical expression, it's a mystic thing where hearts are bared and souls are revealed. It's an unveiling of the poet's deepest essence. Poetry reveals things about the poet that they would never simply "Say" to another in conversation. It's more than an art form, real poetry is as alive as the word artist who paints it.

The world is filled with people who write, but it's not overpopulated with true poets. Real poetry lights a fire in our spirit, whether sad or funny, romantic or horrific, it breaches the barriers and distance and touches the heart of the reader with the heart of the poet. Anything less than this is a cold exercise in putting words together without spirit.

I believe that true poetry is a gift, just like a singing voice is a gift, we can't imitate or fake it, even if we study to do so for a long time! But if we do have the gift it will be more perfected the more we use it and the more we learn to let down our barriers and write from deep within us; daring to say those things that have remained unsaid. Offering the treasures that have been buried beneath the years and locked behind the walls.

If you are afraid to expose the raw pain, the passionate love, the insidious fears, you will never write real poetry, just an imitation without the power to arrest the thoughts and capture the hearts. What you write may be artful, pretty but it will never be powerful unless it has tapped into your very soul.