The Upside of Obsession: Saturday Writing Essential 11/7/09

One thing that I dearly want in my life is to be able to express myself well as a poet. I am not a great poet, but I’m constantly growing as one, and it pleases me to no end. I know that this is an avenue of expression that I seek to explore with every fiber of my awareness; a channel that needs opening; a fierce desire that won’t be quelled. I am obsessed with that. Don’t worry, I’m not talking real, unhealthy obsession as in mental disorder (unfortunately that too has served the art of many an unhappy, but celebrated artist). I use “obsession” in a lighter manner, to mean a desire to work through something as far as it will take me. I’m talking about a healthy determination to squeeze everything I can from something I love. Live and breathe my art - Eat life. I’m learning to do this more and more every day, believe me, it is a skill as well as a gift. So I’m doing it. Never mind how well, I’m just doing it.

“What is this post about Atticus? You seem to be slipping.....We don’t care about your poetic ambitions.  We want meat! Can you give us meat?”

Ok, so for the purpose of this post, I want to get small with this idea of creative obsession. Recently I've been having a lot of fun with a particular poetry form, which was suggested as the poem of the month in another group Mindful Poetry. Actually a lot of people are having fun with it right now. You may have noticed the plethora of Abecedarians being posted. As for me, I've been trying new things with it, re-arranging the rules, turning it on its head, glueing things on to the side of it, etc. I've posted the best results, but I'm not done with it yet. In the process of hammering on one of my poems, trying to get it into an even smaller box, it occurred to me that every time I do something like this, work some idea to exhaustion, I get a charge of adrenaline fueled creativity that catapults me into new levels of thinking. When I am there, it is the greatest thing on earth. I find myself snickering joyfully at all sorts of spontaneous ideas and barely able to contain myself or refrain from sitting down to write (even when I'm supposed to be doing something else). This is obviously not really "obsession" but it is a kind of self generated will to obsess. True obsession is debilitating and destructive. What I want to generate is inspiring and creative. Sometimes these “mini-obsessions” result in some bad work. However, the bad is usually sprinkled in with some good poems or at least some ideas that I find pretty darn compelling. I could go on and on but this post is not what I want to obsess on.

Here is your prompt for SATWE 11/6/09:

1. As an exercise think of something you love and write some variations of a snippet or very short poems to learn to view whatever it is, from a different angle.

Example: Apple

Write a short poem or even just a stanza or a line about an apple; then write a snippet about how the apple implicated a murderer; then use the taste of apple to contrast the bitterness of a breakup in a haiku; grab a dictionary or a thesaurus to help you describe “apple” in a way that you never have. etc, etc, as many gyrations as you wish to include. You can use an idea or a form too, be as creative as your mind will allow - that was just an example, pick what you want to write about.

2. Do not pass judgement on your individual attempts, At least not until you see them all together.

3. Do post them all together as one post. I think it will be interesting to us to see the juxtaposition of several different short ways of dealing with something

4. Alternative-or- Bonus Prompt: All this may seem too much to you. If so, or if you want to do this too, write about a positive aspect of a minor obsession (determination).

Tag your post “Satwe” - so I can find it!

now don’t get carried away...wait a minute what am I saying do get carried away, that’s the point... but know when your subject is exhausted for you, and for the present - then move on... to something else!