Post X: A Semester of Poetry
Honestly, I wish this class was longer. I learned so much in just these few months and I was able to see myself progress in real time. Being able to write in different styles of poetry has kept me engaged and inspired. Seeing my poetry growth from last semester’s Intro to Creative Writing course to now has made me realize that I am a good writer and I will continue to be one. I decided to experiment and get fancy with my topics and writing style, and they tended to work well. I had such a fun time reading the poetry of my peers and seeing how they adapted their writing styles to the type of poem.
What I enjoyed most about this course was reading other poetry. The word substitution exercises were great with helping me get comfortable with exploring the different styles of poetry. Reading the works of other poets and analyzing their style has helped me develop my own. I now have an obsession with Kaveh Akbar and his poetry. Being able to see why a poet writes the way they do helps with determine why you write the way you do. I broke the line here because it does this like in that poem or I didn’t use punctuation because I wanted it to have the same effect as this poem. These kinds of thoughts appear only when you have more than a surface-level knowledge of poetry or yourself.
What I learned from this class is that poets have to know themselves. You have to know what your brand is, what audience you want to cater to, and what motivates you to write. Sure, inspiration can come from here and there, but why do you write? Why is this poem important to you? What do you gain from this? These are questions poets must answer. But, it’s okay to answer with an “I don’t know” and keep going. Sometimes, I don’t know what possessed me to write a poem, but I know that there’s a part of me that was itching to get those thoughts out.
Overall, I love poetry. I want to get an M.F.A. in Poetry and learn all that I can about it. This course has helped me understand myself as a poet better and has just thrown gasoline on the fire of my passion for writing. I wish all my peers the best and hope to see their works inspiring others just as they’ve inspired me.
Thank you,
The Jester











