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Writing a Poem: The Rough Draft
I sat down this morning to write a poem with the intention of posting it on FunWad. After about two hours and a half hours of fiddling with an idea and the words nothing connected. My words didn’t want to cooperate.
This is fine. Sometimes an idea needs to be shelved and returned to later. Not everything works exactly when you want it to. So, as I was about to close the lid of my computer and move on with my day it dawned on me that it might be neat to share my process. Basically to share the day’s unfinished work.
Usually what one reads on a blog is the final, polished piece of writing. We don’t usually get to see the rough drafts or the creative process behind the post. This is probably a good thing. Who wants to wade through half-ass ideas and incomplete thoughts but in this case I’m going to share it all with you. Just to do something different and because it may give you a glimpse into how I create.
I can’t say how other people work but when I write for FunkWad I do it all on the computer. I’ll usually use a word processing application that allows me to go full screen. I find writing in a full screen application helps expand my thinking a little bit. Wordpress’ ‘Write Post’ area can get confining at times.
When creating poems I’ll usually riff on the idea first. I’ll throw down some fractured thoughts about the poem’s theme or focus and from there start putting words together. I’ll do this all on the same page so it gets to be a big tangled mess of “stuff” which I’ll start forming into a finally product.
If you jump the “continue reading” button, suppose if you’re reading this via RSS you won’t have to, you’ll get the poem I was trying to write today. All I’ve done is run a spell check. I’m embarrassed at how badly I spell otherwise I’d include the spelling mistakes as well. The spacing, punctuation, everything else, is simply copied and pasted as it was. Again, this is just to try something different and share my creative process.
Beauty and ideals. Men who create woman. In billboards. In magazines. Men in towers. Having affairs. Focused on profit. At the expense of truth. The ideal of womanhood. Manufactured by men. Who’s to say what beauty is? Children exposed to gross inequity. Pictures of an unattainable ideal. An unhealthy ideal. Promoting the destruction of love. Capitalistic ideals above the public good. What’s the goal? Money. Shareholders. A healthy, happy society. Does telling people their flawed to begin with… Unicorns, childhood dreams. Frogs in a bucket. Young women as experiments in creating a changing ideal. Who can keep up. What role do woman play. Corporate culture. Is the beauty myth actually pretty. Sexual repression manifesting as twisted fantasy. The pain left behind from conformity…,
An alter of tears
created by Industry
locked in a cocoon of iron thread.
Each poisonous weave a shocking reminder
that your beauty ripples
only in a mirror
in waves of blue and green.
True, true
you are you
and your shattered self a delicious treat
but only
only if
it is hidden behind Industry’s mask.
Your beauty is dependent
on us
and, of course,
his approval
but never your own.
We are the best judge
of what makes you whole
rainbow colors and shrunken flesh
represent your best hope of inclusion.
And love.
You do want love?
Don’t you?
To feel the touch of a man’s burning eyes?
We’ll sell it to you.
The love that breaks your heart.
We’ll sell it to you.
And in return
You will relinquish yourself
and return each day
to this altar of tears.
Where you’ll pray alone
for a warm wind to lift you up
and return you
to the whims of your youth
when Industry was little more
than a frog in a bucket
and beauty was
the unicorn in your minds eye.
Not quite yet.
Not beautiful yet.
A little dab here
A little dab there
Someone eyeliner
bluish
and fresh golden hair.
Pour on the colors
Shed all those pounds
beauty will happen
it might take a few rounds.
You’ll have to stop crying.
Your fat.
Your a slob.
You’ll have o stop crying
and act like a man
to be more of a woman
so he’ll love you with glee.
Believe us
We know
Or we wouldn’t charge you a fee
It’s all very simple
Men sit their chairs
and decide what’s a woman
and what would be fair
You buy the products
You try them on
We make the money
We sing the sing
You dance to our tune
You slap n the mud
If it doesn’t work out
You were always a goon
You’re fucked up
not right
try sensuous blue
try anything different
just don;’t try you
Your flawed and your broken’
A mess we can fix.
Your ugly and fat
a wretched excuse
We’ll fix you right up
with some staples and glue
Who would know better
what makes beauty tick
then us Men in a tower
Postscript:
I wouldn’t even consider what lies above a first draft. It’s more brainstorming. Typically what I’ll do with the above jumble of “stuff” is start to see what pieces resonate with me. It maybe a line or phrase here or a paragraph there. I’ll start putting them together and adding other words eventually coming to a first draft. And from there the fun continues.
Further Reading
So Sorry
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