Friday's Writing Essentials: Priming the Pump

When I was fifteen I read my first poem.  Here are the first four lines of forty-five:

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.

The poem, Mending Wall, by Robert Frost, is a masterpiece of blank verse with no stanza breaks or end-rhymes.  When you have time, I urge you to click on the colored link in the title and read this poem, even if it is very familiar to you.  On one level, the poem can be understood as a metaphor on creativity.  Frost uses the metaphor of mending a wall that sits between two neighbors in a field, as a tool to understanding the creative process.  This is reminiscent of the things we do when we write, building and tearing down.  In a manner, the way we write requires such dissonance.  We sit down to write, and we end up ripping the very words off the screen and wearing out the delete button.  And yet, after time and hard work, the hewing and chopping pays off.

I’m sure I wrote at least a dozen poems before I ever read a poem; at least one that could be found in a book (I read quite a few of Andrea’s poems…and Laurie’s, etc.).  My ninth grade English teacher was a genius.  He was also a beautiful individual who cared more about the holistic development of his pupils than a letter grade.  I know.  I got a C on the first exam.  Something about Shakespeare and tempests.  But when I wrote my first poem, Mr. Frisbie asked me to stay after class and read it out loud to him.  I was a little embarrassed and asked him why he needed me to recite it back to him.  He then delivered a long soliloquy (I had by that time learned to recognize the literary device).  He described to me how much my little poem reminded him of Robert Frost (yeah right, I’d never even heard of the guy!).  He went on to say that Frost not only wrote about his feelings (as my little four-liner had), but he also concerned himself with how the poem might sound when read aloud. 

I’m going to stick my neck out here and let you all see my little Frostian rhyme, with the proviso that you not pick it apart too badly.  After all, I was only fifteen, had never shaved, and certainly had never read a lick of America’s Poet.  Here’s the poem.

Am I now not to be able to tell

How the memories once so dear

Faded dimly across my sanded beaches

To wash ashore only in sorrow?

See, all you poet fans… I haven’t changed much, huh?  Anyway, I just wanted to divert your attention away from your own toiling trouble for these few minutes, to give you some idea of how I got started.  I was a pump that just need to be primed.  I hope all your pumps are well primed today and ready to serve us up some fine writing in today’s Writing Essentials group.  I’ll be reading, both poetry and prose!

                                                           ~        ~        ~        ~

For easy access and more information on the Writing Essential channel at Gather, please consult these articles (click on colored hotlinks below):  

Writing Essentials by Pam Johnston VP Community Engagement

Meet the Writing Editors by Pam Johnston  

Official Description of Writing Essentials by Jennifer Hodge, Gather Editor

Want to publish to the Writing Essentials group?  Simply join the group by clicking here and then clicking on the "join button" on the left hand column.  Remember, when you publish your article, add "Writing" to your choice of groups, and don't forget to include the tag, "writing."  

-------------------------------------------

Written by Edward Nudelman, who is also a Books Correspondent for Gather:  POETRY CENTRAL

Keep up with Ed’s other posting and Gather activity by joining his Gather network-just click here and select the orange “Connect” button on the left-hand side of the page.  If you are interested in my background or qualifications, I invite you to read my profile which has information concerning my published writings.