konmari your brain

---

oftentimes I find myself perusing 

the self-help sections in dusty bookstores, 

searching, looking for the perfect novel. 

I don’t understand why I am in pain, 

and so I continue browsing in vain. 

Reviews

[JayG]

So...a stranger walked up to me and said that they were, in some undefined way, in pain. But I don't know their age, their gender, or, the smallest thing about why they feel that way. All I know is that for unknown reasons they're seeking a novel in an undefined genre to read, that might, in some unknown way, relate to, or have an effect on, that undefined pain.

For you, who has context for all that, plus your intent for how the words are to be taken, the words are brimming with emotion. And every word points to memories, experiences, and more, all waiting in your mind, just waiting to be evoked

But pity the poor reader, who comes to poetry to be entertained by having THEIR emotions stirred. For them? Every word points to memories, experiences, and more, all waiting in *YOUR* mind.

My point? Talk to the reader about you and it will have meaning only for you. We don't talk TO the reader. As poets, we don't tell the reader we cried. We give the READER reason to weep by involving them, and by making them FEEL, and CARE, not be better informed on aspects of our life. Talking TO the reader is the nonfiction approach to writing we were given in school, as they readied us for the kind of writing employers need from us. All those reports and essays we were assigned were part of that. But... how much time was spent on prosody, on poetic technique, or on the emotion-based and character-centric skills of poetry and fiction?

The answer is none, because professional knowledge is acquired in addition to the general skill set of our school days. After all, they've been exploring and perfecting the skills of poetry for thousands of years, so a bit of digging into what has been found to be well received by readers makes a lot of sense.

Lots of people find Mary Oliver's, A Poetry Handbook an excellent place to begin. You can download it at the address just below. Read a bit of it and I think you'll be glad you did. So will your readers.
https://yes-pdf.com/book/1596

Jay Greenstein
https://jaygreenstein.wordpress.com/category/the-craft-of-writing/the-grumpy-old-writing-coach/