I am not a poet. Even though I have my first poem up on the excellent http://ink-sweat-and-tears.blogharbor.com/ I know this because I find the whole thing so laboured: the economy of words, that slippery sense of rhythm, the rubix cube line breaks. I actually panic when I'm writing it and that is never something I feel with prose. It is not a natural talent or a pleasure, really. But I will keep reading, greatly admiring, analysing and if, for true suffering that will make me a better person, writing a few pieces. Simply because every short story writer should look at it for the vivid sense of the visual, sensual and evocative use of language. You can do so many tricks, test out meanings and dance through magical realism.
Poets, I salute you.
Check out Ink, Sweat and Tears. It is a very fresh and passionate site, that dispenses with that pipe-smoking, pompous, beard-twiddling nonsense (and that is just the women.)
About Me
- Julia Bohanna
- Shortlisted Bath Short Story Award 2013 Runner-up Cinnamon Press Competition 2013 WNNER: Don Louth Writer of the Year (run by Reading Writers) WINNER: Bradt/Independent on Sunday Travel Writing Competition 2012. SHORTLISTED: Scott Prize (Salt Publishing) 2012 for a short story collection. Writer/ Journalist - assistant editor and writer for the art and books pages of Wolfprint. Most recently published in Independent on Sunday and short story anthologies: Sentinel Champions No 9, 100 Stories for Queensland, 50 Stories for Pakistan, 100 Stories for Haiti and From Hell to Eternity. In a recent writing competition, Joanne Harris described my writing as '...compelling (but quite creepy)'
3 comments:
That's funny, I find 'poetry' easier than prose but I still feel the need to put inverted commas around the word as I'm pretty certain I'm cheating the system...
Loving your work Juliab x
I think there are hallowed halls for the beard twiddlers et al. And Im sure they'd like to not have places like IS&T.
I called by to post a 'nice poem' post but got sidetracked with having to register n stuff.
So 'Nice poem'.
v
I just wish I found the whole thing more fun...it always feels as if I try to hard, like squeezing toothpaste and only getting tiny particles of unminty sticky debris. Cleans your teeth but it's not the same.
Enjoying The Workhouse storming the building though. What is the collective noun for poets, I wonder?
Post a Comment