Student Poems and an Aesthetic

Stop by Carol's Corner today for the Poetry Friday Roundup. 

I wanted to share a couple more poems from my week with students at Brewer Elementary. I loved this photo and Metellus was so proud of the way his poem looked on the page, a little like that spraying water. 

This poet did not sign his work. We live in a military community where many fathers and mothers have been deployed multiple times. I hear his heart in this one.

I'm taking an online poetry class this month with Bob Haynes at Writers on the Net. Our first assignment was to write out our poetry aesthetic. I know the definition of the word, but I'd never thought about it in relationship to writing poetry. Trying to put into words the way I approach poetry took a little thought. Here's what I came up with. It feels very tentative.

I often find myself writing about the complexities and challenges of relationships. I like persona poems, like to try and understand what might make another person respond to life the way they do. I am not drawn to poems that are not accessible, but I long to understand the way those same poems make the leaps they do, the hidden connections. I like for a poem to make me stop and work to understand my own reaction to it, but not work to understand the poem. I am often frustrated by my inability to find the words and images that convey what I feel. I love the feeling that comes when I manage to get close. Writing in general, and poetry specifically, has given me a voice, but I am still often tentative to speak too loudly, if that makes any sense at all. I value honesty in a poem and vulnerability. I like to write joy, but it's much easier to write grief and struggle and sorrow. I don't think I have the freedom of play that I profess to love with words, even though I do love it. I call myself a writer, one who writes poems. I haven't made the leap to calling myself a poet.

At the end of the class, we will revise our aesthetic. I'll let you know if mine changes. Have you ever tried to define your approach to poetry? I'd love to hear if you have.