Vulnerable and Damn Good at it!

Have you ever read a poem that seems a bit cold?  You know, it has great structure and amazing complex vocabulary that just says wow.  But, it seems manufactured.  It has no soul.  I do come across this pieces often.  They are still good poems and essential to poetry but they leave most readers needing more.  It isn't the poem it is the reader.  The reader longs for you to explore their vulneribility.  They come to you will an open mind and you willing fill it.  But how about their heart? 



Are you tending to that also.  Write with the three P's of poetry.  Put your passion into the piece.  Leak your pain into every word you choose.  Make it plausible by living your work; first in your heart then in your words.

Allow your poetry to make you vulnerable and expose the vulnerabilty in your reader.  That makes for some incredible poetry.  Check out Lord Byron's She for an excellent example of using the 3P's.  Lord Byron wrote about a cousin that he saw for the first time.  It is a powerful piece that exposes the writer and grips the reader by the heart.

One word of advice, if you are going to write your life, heart and soul away then you better be damn  about it.  The reader will know you are faking it and your poem will come out cold.

Now go write something!!!