FATE-CARVED

Tell me, my friend? What are you gonna do with the word debris now? The false pretense of promises you've had enough of now?! First you look at your empty life and then at your bare palm, which your beloved's hand will never touch again. Lines, intersecting planes of intersections, even known dimensions of Destiny are responsible for you. While your beating, stubborn heart lets you into the splinters of your line of life, you can follow it halfway and perhaps try to answer your eternal human questions: Why Have you been abandoned so soon? Why are you alone? Why didn't you go abroad when everyone moved there?!

- Now you are going back and forth to irregular geometric shapes and vestigial shapes, because only you, perhaps, can really know and honestly know yourself, no one else! You never wanted to take part in New chances, not only because you were really terrified of your deepening, pathetic failures and wondering what Petty-evil tongues whisper behind your back over and over again, and what you see out there is no longer just a living connection-but a deliberate manipulation of instincts and emotions.

In the speechless space, minute by minute, you are growing your petty little worms in the persistent habit of: you can't trust anyone! - And that's what poisons me daily with determination! You are dizzy and uncertain at the same time, the depths of experience cannot answer everything for you. The whole thing wants to break down into parts until it's completely alone!

Reviews

[JayG]

• Tell me, my friend? What are you gonna do with the word debris now?

I have to ask: What's in it for the reader? This is a letter from you to someone unknown, referencing events that the reader has no knowledge of. You say, for example:

• Now you are going back and forth to irregular geometric shapes and vestigial shapes, because only you, perhaps, can really know and honestly know yourself, no one else!

What in the pluperfect hells are you talking about? You've provided zero context to make the sentence anything but a line of words, meaning unknown.

Poetry isn't us talking about what's meaningful to us. And it's certainly not a letter from someone unknown to someone not introduced. Readers come to poetry to be entertained—to be made to feel and care. As E. L. Doctorow puts it: “Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in the reader. Not the fact that it’s raining, but the feeling of being rained upon.”

Poetry is emotion-based and character-centric. But this is author-centric and fact-based, which is the definition of nonfiction writing methodology.

The techniques of poetry have been under refinement for centuries. And we're given none of them in our school days, where they're readying us for the needs of employers. After all, aside from greeting card companies, how many employers need us to write poetry?

In practical terms, that means to write poetry we must become a poet. As Wilson Mizner puts it, “If you steal from one author it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many it’s research.” So...research.

A great place to begin is with Mary Oliver's, A Poetry Handbook. It's a gem, and filled with insights, like why we sometimes use the word rock and at others, stone, for the same thing. And you can download a readable copy (though not on a phone) here: https://yes-pdf.com/book/1596

So grab a copy and dig in. I think you'll find it eye-opening.

Jay Greenstein
Articles: https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@jaygreenstein3334

[Tasi83]

Dear JayG!

Thank you for your reply letter. Yes! There is no doubt that poetry primarily expresses thoughts and emotions. Since I basically consider myself a Hungarian writer, please allow me to use a translation program for the interpretation of my own poems! Thanks for the book! I'm going to delve into it, as you put it. (Just by the way, I would like to say that it is not a good letter of recommendation if you start staring at the person in advance, putting you on the spot!) Have a nice day!

Sincerely, Norbert T.