Fade ~~~~~ to Color

"A poem is a verbal artifact which must be skillfully and solidly constructed as a table or a motorcycle." ~ W.H. Auden

"It's not enough that poems be exquisite. Let empathy prevail and lead the listener's heart. A face will smile to see a smile, or weep at tears. If you would have me grieve, then first feel grief yourself." ~ J.D. McClatchy

"Command your audience or to smile or weep, whiche'er may please you~anything but sleep. The poet claims our tears; but by his leave, before I shed them, let me see him grieve." ~ Lord Byron

How do you feel about your writing? How do you feel about the subjects your heart chooses to make into artifacts? Why do I see apology after apology when I read your posts that may contain some of life's bad days, months, or years for that matter? Do you feel bad for making us read the downside of your life? First of all, lovely people, I am not forced to read anything you write. I go there willingly, wanting to know, with concern, how you are. And if you are feeling down, I hope that I can say a kind word of encouragement, or let you know that I will breathe a prayer on your behalf. So, no more apologies, unless starting with an apology softens your entry into difficult subject matter :) ~ Enough said about that *smile*

I have been studying people who have spent a lifetime studying poetry and the people who write it, or wrote it, and then they have written books about these poets and that is what I've been reading...their books....Whew, I think I lost myself on that one. Anyway, I'm seeing a recurring theme.......grief, tears, crying and then laughing and then crying again...grief. Raw emotions that force us to feel, embrace passion and fall down, only to find the strength to get up again. Writing historians tell us that these emotions (mainly grief) produces great writing. We know that LOVE stimulates a good read, (s'cuse the pun ;) and guess what? Your stressful, dull, sad, heartbreaking life pushes out some of your best stories and poems. So please, grace me with the artifacts of your life, good or bad, up or down, make me feel. ~ I need you.

So, you may be experiencing a little black and white right now, but don't forget that what we do best is fade to color...and then write about it.