I'm not a Poet, and I Know It
Misha Burnett, on the other hand, is. A gifted poet. He's written a series on poetry for the fiction author I think is well worth the time if you have the inclination to romance the language as you write. I do. Also, if you want some samples of the man's talent, you should check out his poems over at the Odd Prompts. Amazing stuff, evocative, sparse, and brimming with emotion and description.
That, and his wry take on poetry in other languages made me laugh out loud.
Poetry in German, on the other hand, should not be attempted (writing or reading) by anyone who is not both a mathematician and a masochist. I mean, come on, how do you compose a line in iambic pentameter when half of your working vocabulary is words of over ten syllables?
The point is that the English language has its own structure and rules. It is the most versatile means of communication that the Human race has ever developed. You can do things with English that, epistemologically speaking, one just can’t do. It has a beat all its own, and a vocabulary that is simply absurd. If you’re planning on writing in English, you need training from people who know the territory and have fought their battles on its strange hills. Misha granted me permission to repost his poem from this week's Odd Prompt here. He had a prompt from me "the goblins wore pyjamas" , which I had from an out of context conversation at work. He turned it into something atmospheric, creepy, and delightful all in one small package.
The woods were filled with spider’s webs And the magic always black To the home of a child who fears the devil I follow a dirt road back
The vultures sang of blood and pain Fairy tales always Grimm Untenanted Heaven and empty throne Yet still I cry in fear of Him
In the sunlit world I learned of Law Science, chrome and stone The worlds would belong to Man The sky to us alone
But reason fled at footfalls in moonlight Madness flooded to take its place The goblins wore pajamas And every devil wore my mother’s face
--Misha Burnett
And of course, because I'm not a poet, I had to illustrate the poem.
