Last week, famous Slam Poet Jovan Mays came to LHS to talk about and read his poems, along with giving instructions for students on how to write their own poetry. Here are the big points made in his visit on how to write poetry in a way that is more genuine and powerful!
- Poetry is your own language
You need to make your poetry seem like your own. It is not as meaningful or special if you just throw the words on the page and make it rhyme or have a fake purpose. Dig deep into the depths of your heart and head to find the true reason of why you are writing the work. Not only may you make some new discoveries in yourself and your art, but you can also write like you mean it.
- Nothing just IS
“Experiences are powerful,” Mays states. He means this in the way that every experience has a message or something you can take away from it, to gain more wisdom and expand knowledge. Life is full of experiences, which then brings inspiration for this kind of writing. Go inside to get the best parts from it, the possibilities are limitless!
- Your page is not a cage
“People have thousands of thoughts per day,” Mays says. You can use so many of those for your own poetic purposes. Don’t worry at all if it doesn’t come spewing out from your head to your pen. Once again, you have to dig deep inside yourself to find the perfect thing to write about. This means that the page shouldn’t scare you to write about what you feel. Go further, and put exactly what inspired you in the first place to express your feelings.
- It’s not ABOUT the ABOUT, it’s ABOUT the JOURNEY
People get so excited about the ending prize that they forget that the journey to the end is just as beautiful and important. Think about traveling on a road trip, or in an airport. We tend to want to get it over with, even though it’s actually a prize in itself. “Is the thought truthful or helpful?” Mays asks. This can be great advice, not only for writing but also for real life. Sometimes the untruthful thoughts can be the most helpful for poetry and self-esteem. The whole journey of writing a poem can form a new you, so try to take it all in before the end.
- Imagination restores order
Though it may seem like imagination is more of a source of havoc and less of order, whenever creativity is on the line, put the imagination in charge! All of the best poems out there have so many funny and silly features that would have never existed without the power of imagination. Think of imagination as like a crutch for creativity. If all of the ideas are drained, check imagination for the next new aspiration.
Mays’ final points were about how to get new ideas for poetry. He said that to start, write a title. The example that he gave was to write in the ____ of my ____. In the first blank, put a part of the body that is meaningful. In the second, put a part of a room. For example, in the corner of my heart lives…, and then start the poem. Mays also stated that a room can be anything that holds something; anything from a computer to a bread box can be written about.
In the end, this Poetry Slam is very inspiring for new creativity. From Mays’ own poems to learning how to accomplish writing poetry, the seminar was worth every second spent there. Happy writing!
