for I Know nothing

For I Know Nothing 

For as long as it seems I have only ever known nothing 

and for s far as I can see I will continue that way 

and from winter till spring 

in my pursuit I will not sway 

as I must know more to survive 

yet I can't seem to obtain what i need 

and so forth I will never thrive 

and I will always plead 

knowing it will fall om deaf ears 

as its so far out of reach 

I come to tears 

knowing that I will always only ever know is nothing  

Reviews

[JayG]

Start to finish, this is you talking about you. My point? Poetry isn’t a means os informing people on how we feel. No one cares, because, not knowing us, or, the smallest thing about why we were moved say the things we do, because they lack context to make it meaningful. Remember, in this you’re giving effect without cause. The thing to remember is it people read poetry for selfish reasons: they want to be entertained. They want you to make them feel and care, not be better informed on what kind of a day you’ve been having. Make sense? The reader doesn’t want to know, for example, that we’re sad. They want us cloak THEM in sadness. They want an emotional experience, not a lecture. The problem is, that when reading our own writing it always works. So unless we edit from the chair of a reader we will supply the context that makes it work for us. We have the backstory that gives us that context. We also have intent for how the words are to be taken. What does the reader have? Only what the words suggest to them, based on their personal experience. Your intent doesn’t make it to the page. Nor does the emotion that you hear as you read the words make it to the page. So, for the reader, the words are dispassionate. One very useful editing technique is to have your computer read the poem to you. You would be surprise at how much that picks up. It’s not a matter of talent, potential, or even how well you write. It’s that in our school days we were given only the methodology necessary to write nonfiction. That makes perfect sense when you take into account that public education has as its goal preparing us for the needs of employment. And how many employers—other than greeting card compsnies—want us to write poetry? Nonfiction is fact-based. Its goal is to inform. But poetry emotion-based, and it’s goal is to evoke emotion in the reader. But…the ability to do that is not either intuitive, or, part of our school-day training. It’s an acquired skill. I know that’s not good news, and you certainly weren’t hoping to hear it. But, since we will never address the problem that we don’t see as being one, I thought you would want to know—especially, since there is a solution. Pick up a copy of Mary Oliver’s, A Poetry Handbook. It’s filled with the answers to questions you didn’t know you should be asking. And many of them, are fascinating. For instance, there’s the reason we shout “Oh s**t!” but not “Oh feces!” And that information is more useful in setting the mood of the poem then you might think (it has to do with hard and soft sounds). You can pick up a readable PDF copy at the address just below, though I suspect you’re going to want a good copy of your own, from Amazon, in the end.
https://yes-pdf.com/book/1596

Try a few chapters. I think you’ll be glad you did. And as you work to pick up the tricks developed over the centuries, hang in there and keep on writing.

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