I am a lot of things it turns out. I’m a crusader for equality of all kinds, I’m a musician and song writer, a blogger, a journalist, a bit of an amateur graphic artist, and a photographer.
I take pride in all of these things, and while I don’t think of myself as wildly successful at any one of them (more like mildly successful at one or two of them) there is, it turns out, another thing that I am that helps with all my other endeavours.
I am a poet!
Technically, poetry is defined as “literary work in metrical form; poetic works; poems; verse” but personally I like the old idea that poetry is the act of conveying the most information in the fewest words.
That doesn’t mean that you try to be curt or terse. On the contrary, you simply choose words that convey more than other words might.
And it isn’t just words
There is a wealth of education in the concept of poetry that can be applied to anything you do in life.
Photography, for instance, might be described as the recording of images for historical or documentation purposes. But photographs can convey much more than facts. Framing, lighting, shutter speed and aperture settings can all play a part in conveying mood and emotion. That’s poetry.
Get the picture?
And when I’m on a job site, there are often times when interpretation of the requirements can give you some leeway in how a job is accomplished. My boss and I both have the same idea, that the better something is, the longer it will last, the more it will be appreciated, and the more likely we are to get referral work as a result.
Perhaps it’s a bit flowery to refer to contract work as poetic, but if you bear the concept in mind, the results are always good. And frankly, I consider that a form of poetry.
And when I write blog posts or even magazine articles, and especially when I write prose for short stories and in my novel, I rely heavily on poetic turns of phrase to convey settings and situations in the quickest and most concise possible way.
This technique, hopefully keeps the reader informed and intrigued. And only good things can come from that.
And the trick is?
There is no trick. A long time ago I started writing poetry. I have scraps of paper with verses on them that were written by myself when I was just barely into double digits on the odometer.
There is always a part of me, sitting in a quiet corner, writing poetry and verse, in my mind, in my heart. And every now and then that work will find a niche in whatever I’m doing for a living at the time. And it will end up stuck in a picture, or nailed up with the drywall, or yes, embedded in some work of words that might be a song, a story, a book … or even a poem.
Seasonal Alliteration
©2007 Kelly Babcock
Spring sings
Summer sizzles
Autumn settles
Winter sleepsI go on
Year by year
Heart ache fades
Love keeps
