Roses...the come up!

Creating Poetry

First, I need an inspiration to write my poems (duh).  My inspiration can be something I see, hear, or just a feeling I'm having.  I've been inspired by random thoughts and different musings.  Sometimes, I just start writing the poem and see what comes out on the page, then edit it.  For this page, I will use a specific inspiration, roses (I'm looking at a vase full of them right now).  So, I've titled this page ROSES.

I just thought of the phrase -coming up roses-, so I'm changing the title to ROSES...the come up!



The Writing Process

Now that I have a topic and a title, I need to put some words down.  Usually, I just try to let the words come out on the page as naturally as possible.  As I start to write, I get into a rhythm or rhyme scheme: abab or abc abc or something like that.


Starting Out
Here is what I started out with so far (picture).  I included the picture so you can see that starting out can be real rough.  But that doesn't matter. If you look closely at the picture, I actually started to edit the poem before I even finished.  I wrote "my", then decided to cross it out.  That doesn't mean it will stay that way, but it's now an option I have.






Timeline

Sometimes you may start a poem and not finish it until much later in the future, and that's cool. Just remember to keep writing.

Rough Draft


I have completed my rough draft of Roses...the come up. Take a look.
I decided to rhyme the second and fourth lines for each stanza. I don't know if I will keep it that way, but it's what came out as I was writing.

Flow
Sometimes, you just have to get it down and keep writing.  I started to think about some alternative words and different ways to write some of the lines, but decided to just put down my rough thoughts







Roses...the come up

The poem is finished.  Take some time to compare the original version to the finished one.

Original vs. Finished

Original	Finished
Hidden deep under my troubles mounds of weight to travel through a glimmer of hope warms the soul Only time knew Slowly reaching new heights sprawling outstretched arms grasping the space all around patiently rising without alarm Long awaited arrivals that unfold easily, evenly to bloom Beautiful new blossom awaiting another - making room	Hidden deep under troubles weighted mounds...traveling through A dazzling glimmer of hope warms the soul only time knew Patiently scaling unchartered heights, sprawling outstretched arms Grasping space all around quietly rising without alarm Long awaited arrivals unfold easily - evenly to bloom Beautiful new blossom anticipating another … making room

The goal here was to use words that provided more imagery and to get rid of words that were unnecessary.  I also wanted to change up the format of the text so that it wouldn't be so blocky (is that a word?).  The finished poem looks more interesting just because of the indentions.  It doesn't look like small paragraphs, which no one wants to read.

What Does This Mean For You?
From here, I hope you guys can see how I build poems and understand that no matter what you start with, you have the power to transform it into a beautiful piece of art.  I started this process by looking at a vase of roses and I ended up with a beautiful poem.

So keep writing and don't get discouraged.  The poems I write now are much better than the ones I started out with.  Remember, you can revise and revise until it fits for you.  For all my poets, keep it going.