This is a wonderful spin on the post-election challenge. It's eloquently spoken and beautifully written. The reference to your mother is a gorgeous touch and speaks volumes to the situation the country has been put in. "i know this is not the world you wanted to leave me" is such an incredible line, putting this in the outer perspective is a wonderful idea and view about how we will experience it as the younger gen. Great work, as always, GreyBean!!
My apologies for this being a jargony comment- I wanted to cover all bases so it could best help!
Spurring off of all the comments here, I highly suggest becoming best friends with a thesaurus. When I first started writing, I also felt like the emotion was there, but it lacked a sort of emphasis and language that didn't feel as mature or rather expressive. When trying to form my writing style, I usually wrote the poem as I felt it should be written, then looked over it a million times and tried to replace some of the simplistic words with more niche ones, if that makes sense. I also had a huge moment of going on Pinterest (as @GreyBean and @twoblueviolets said) and searching for profound words to gain inspiration from to set a profound tone and overall emotion.
As many of the other writers here claimed, poetry is like an extension of your emotions and a way to describe your experiences. I resonate heavily with the challenge to adequately express what I'm trying to evoke in the reader, however, the idea of having the reader completely understand is not always necessary. I relied heavily on making my poetry relatable, but as the others said, some people will see themself in the poem, and others will not. Poetry does not have to be universal in this aspect, but I can appreciate and relate to the effort to make it so. Personally, I didn't notice my writing start to mature until I was like a year in, however, with each poem you write it is growth. If you look through your old poems and writings you will notice a writing style form over time. Even when you have a "set style" (I say this with quotes because again, it is ever-evolving) it is imperative to step out of your comfort zone and experiment with aspects of poetry. I suggest finding writing exercises online and also researching certain poem structures to extend your capability in writing.
Last part, as Greybean said, reading is a huge part of maturing in writing. When I first started out, I was big on Pinterest poetry and ButtonPoetry videos (highly recommend watching some) but as I grew, I found specific authors that I resonated with and tried to imitate their style. In doing that, I found that it helped with exploring different aspects of writing. Art comes from art. Also, I would take note of anything you see during the day that you might find interesting or profound. There is beauty in the mundane, and tying it into a feeling or experience can help with the overall relativeness and emotional part of poetry.
I hope this helps! I am sure and excited to see you mature as a writer!! Best of luck on your journey, friend! Reach out if you have more questions!
Heyyy! Welcome to Young Writers' Project! I know I'm a little late to the welcome committee, but it's better late than never...hahaa! You'll definitely enjoy the online community and platform! :)
Hey, thanks for taking the time to share your advice! I love what you said about writing a relatable poem. I think that's my biggest problem, I'm always trying to please EVERYONE. But you're definitely right, everyone relates to different things on different levels! And, actually, I read some of your poems the other day. I think it was, "The Death March of Autumn" and "to be a person," and I absolutely loved them! It's the type of style of writing, I really want to learn! :)
i agree with @twoblueviolets, i think the best thing to do is write about something that's meaningful to you! most of the time, the really intense and emotional experiences we have are not actually individual experiences (i like to choose to take this as a positive), but in reality a lot of people can relate to things that you're thinking about or going through. i wouldn't strive to write a poem that every single person can relate to, because honestly that's just not possible. people are going to connect with different experiences on different levels and that's okay! just write about how you feel and all the other stuff will eventually fall into place :)
in regards to vocabulary—READ!!!! i cannot stress how important reading is. it doesn't even have to be novels. you could read newspaper articles, grocery store lists, recipes, lyrics, literally anything you can get your hands on. the more information you take in, the more will stick with you and you'll be able to use that knowledge in the future, especially vocabulary. if you'd like, you could also keep a running list of words that you're unfamiliar with or words you just like the sound of and pull that out whenever you need some inspiration. @twoblueviolets mentioned this too, but pinterest is super super helpful for stuff like this (and anything relating to writing in general, to be honest).
I love this so much
Ah, yes-- I bow beneath to her sleepy gaze and hungry thoughts.
This is a wonderful spin on the post-election challenge. It's eloquently spoken and beautifully written. The reference to your mother is a gorgeous touch and speaks volumes to the situation the country has been put in. "i know this is not the world you wanted to leave me" is such an incredible line, putting this in the outer perspective is a wonderful idea and view about how we will experience it as the younger gen. Great work, as always, GreyBean!!
My apologies for this being a jargony comment- I wanted to cover all bases so it could best help!
Spurring off of all the comments here, I highly suggest becoming best friends with a thesaurus. When I first started writing, I also felt like the emotion was there, but it lacked a sort of emphasis and language that didn't feel as mature or rather expressive. When trying to form my writing style, I usually wrote the poem as I felt it should be written, then looked over it a million times and tried to replace some of the simplistic words with more niche ones, if that makes sense. I also had a huge moment of going on Pinterest (as @GreyBean and @twoblueviolets said) and searching for profound words to gain inspiration from to set a profound tone and overall emotion.
As many of the other writers here claimed, poetry is like an extension of your emotions and a way to describe your experiences. I resonate heavily with the challenge to adequately express what I'm trying to evoke in the reader, however, the idea of having the reader completely understand is not always necessary. I relied heavily on making my poetry relatable, but as the others said, some people will see themself in the poem, and others will not. Poetry does not have to be universal in this aspect, but I can appreciate and relate to the effort to make it so. Personally, I didn't notice my writing start to mature until I was like a year in, however, with each poem you write it is growth. If you look through your old poems and writings you will notice a writing style form over time. Even when you have a "set style" (I say this with quotes because again, it is ever-evolving) it is imperative to step out of your comfort zone and experiment with aspects of poetry. I suggest finding writing exercises online and also researching certain poem structures to extend your capability in writing.
Last part, as Greybean said, reading is a huge part of maturing in writing. When I first started out, I was big on Pinterest poetry and ButtonPoetry videos (highly recommend watching some) but as I grew, I found specific authors that I resonated with and tried to imitate their style. In doing that, I found that it helped with exploring different aspects of writing. Art comes from art.
Also, I would take note of anything you see during the day that you might find interesting or profound. There is beauty in the mundane, and tying it into a feeling or experience can help with the overall relativeness and emotional part of poetry.
I hope this helps! I am sure and excited to see you mature as a writer!! Best of luck on your journey, friend! Reach out if you have more questions!
Heyyy! Welcome to Young Writers' Project! I know I'm a little late to the welcome committee, but it's better late than never...hahaa! You'll definitely enjoy the online community and platform! :)
Hey, thanks for taking the time to share your advice! I love what you said about writing a relatable poem. I think that's my biggest problem, I'm always trying to please EVERYONE. But you're definitely right, everyone relates to different things on different levels! And, actually, I read some of your poems the other day. I think it was, "The Death March of Autumn" and "to be a person," and I absolutely loved them! It's the type of style of writing, I really want to learn! :)
Awww...thx! :)
Also, I just read your poem, and it was really insightful!
btw-Welcome to YWP, it's such a great writing platform! I love it, and I'm sure you will too!
Thank you so much! I checked out your advice on Pinterest, and it was full of great advice! And dw, you were really helpful! Thanks again!
i agree with @twoblueviolets, i think the best thing to do is write about something that's meaningful to you! most of the time, the really intense and emotional experiences we have are not actually individual experiences (i like to choose to take this as a positive), but in reality a lot of people can relate to things that you're thinking about or going through. i wouldn't strive to write a poem that every single person can relate to, because honestly that's just not possible. people are going to connect with different experiences on different levels and that's okay! just write about how you feel and all the other stuff will eventually fall into place :)
in regards to vocabulary—READ!!!! i cannot stress how important reading is. it doesn't even have to be novels. you could read newspaper articles, grocery store lists, recipes, lyrics, literally anything you can get your hands on. the more information you take in, the more will stick with you and you'll be able to use that knowledge in the future, especially vocabulary. if you'd like, you could also keep a running list of words that you're unfamiliar with or words you just like the sound of and pull that out whenever you need some inspiration. @twoblueviolets mentioned this too, but pinterest is super super helpful for stuff like this (and anything relating to writing in general, to be honest).
i hope this was helpful :)
Thank you so much!! Also, I have literally never heard of that Ben Franklin quote :/ :D but sounds like something i'd do!!!