How a poet's life impacts their work

For my presentation I have been studying Arthur Rimbaud and Gary Snyder.  While Rimbaud only wrote for a few short years, Snyder's career has expanded his whole life.  Both poets were raised primarily by their mothers, but Rimbaud's mother enforced a strict devotion to Catholicism.  Snyder began to write as he traveled around the world as a seaman on trading ships.  When Rimbaud began his traveling career, he had long since abandoned poetry.

Both poets, in their own right, were very influential.  Obviously, poets' works are strongly influenced by their lives, but do they base experiences on what it will do for their work or work based on the randomness of their experiences?  For Snyder, it was the first.  He took jobs in the logging industry and visited Reservations to get a feel for naturalism and Zen.  This connection is apparent in his work, particularly in one of his earlier works "The Back Country."  Snyder writes with a certain fascination of the world.

Rimbaud's poetry, particularly his most famous piece "A Season in Hell" is reflective of the time he spent in Paris with his mentor/lover Paul Verlaine. Another poem "Hellish Night" could have been written as a reaction to that tumultuous affair.

Rimbaud's work reflects his experiences, while Snyder has experiences to reflect his work.

The Muse

When I first entered this class, I didn't understand what the "muse" was or how to become one with it. I didn't think it was possible to enter my imagination and allow it to enter paper through my writing. I have written several poems before entering this class but they were always about my personal experiences and triumphs through life. I didn't know if that was even considered my muse or if I have reached it. I didn't know how to write about something I didn't already experience and understand first hand. Throughout the semester, I learned how to write about things never seen, or felt by oneself. I'm able to present ideas that no one has seen or felt; however, others can still relate. The muse can be defined as a source of inspiration. I guess I've always been in touch with the "muse". I even wrote a poem about reaching and becoming connected with my "muse".

I'm on a journey through my mind
Going over bumps and lumps through my brain
Electricity sparks and crackles
Soaring down a roller coaster
Watching little videos playing
Some of childhood memories,
Bad experiences and joyous journies.
Im traveling fast
up and down
round and round
and even upside down.
Through this thing we call our minds
Trying to get in touch with this "muse"
Here it is again.
My imagination and I are one
I've found my muse.
I dont know how. Welcome "muse"

So at first I was a bit daunted by the final project, but after seeing some of the presentations, I am much less nervous and stressed out. It is good to know that I have at least one class I don't have to completely stress out about for the last two weeks before summer.

I am also going to be busy getting the notebook work together along with the eight original and six revised poems. but I feel I will have much more done that I first thought.

Personal Experiences

When writing poetry, I tend to get alot of my inspiration from difficult times in my life that I've overcome. Being an open African American homosexual female, I have seen alot of discrimination from in my home and the outside world. Some of my best poems come from experiences that I've gone through. I use writing poetry as my outlet. I use writing to let go of feelings that are unwanted. When I write I feel a release of some sort.

Does anyone esle feel like this?
Is it easy for you to write about personal experiences either good or bad?
I love to share what I've gone through; maybe I will inspire someone esle somehow.

A stanza from one of my personal experience poems:

My own father slapped me. He wont
accept me
Jeanette
his daugther
first born
He doesnt see me.
He sees a failure,
a dike,
a baggy clothes wearning confused young woman.
Wishing he could just see me. Not my sexuality.
As the second slap hit my already redden face, I cried out
"I JUST WANT TO BE ACCCEPTED!"

Punctuation has been extremely difficult for me. I have been trying to add in more punctuation to my poems so they flow better. While revising my “commuter” poem, I tried to express my emotions through punctuation. I feel like I write a lot like Vladimir Mayakovsky because of this. In all of his poems he has extreme emotion that is mostly exaggerated, but you get a good feel of that emotion because of certain punctuation.

At first my poem was like this:

Paying students

And just more to pay

How much money do you need?

I really hate to say

You’re greedy!

A trait I don’t like at all

You’re not very reasonable

Just tell me who to call

Because I have a lot to say

And it won’t stop here

I have a parking ticket already!

Just let me park anywhere

Revised:

Commuter (start to my revision)

Paying students

And just more to pay

How much money do you need?

These parking violations are really not okay!

You’re greedy! A trait I do not like at all,

You’re not very reasonable

AND I know just who to call.

Yeah that’s right,

Half the people that I know!

Who are just as crazy,

Just as mean,

No regular Joes.

Haha, Out numbered?

Yeah, if I’d have to say so myself

Karma comes back around

“And you’ve been naughty” says Santa's elf,

On Being Hyper-Conscious Of Form While Writing

So, here's the thing:

I'm not actually hyper-conscious of form when I'm writing. I barely even stop and consider it while I'm writing. I tend to let instinct take over while I write, and to be honest, I'm not sure whether that hurts or helps. I do the same thing when I draw, and that tends to work out all right, but I have a stronger sense of drawing composition than I do poetic form. I've found that I tend to have a more natural voice when I work instinctively as opposed to constantly thinking, which I much prefer. Of course, I do eventually stop and think about form, but it doesn't come as naturally for me. I would much rather write the poem as I hear it in my head.

This is a Thing Which Happens to be a Blog Post

I feel like my personal poems are inconsequential. Like they're all based around tepid, boring little details of a rather privileged life, and have no real substance to them. It's difficult to find anything of any real meaning that doesn't sound like whining about past problems. As a result, I've been trying to keep my poems from being about me. I don't actually like placing myself in anything I write; it seems self-serving and egotistic. Frankly, I'm not the most interesting person I know, and am not really worth writing about. I've been told before that I need to put myself into my poetry, that I need to show people what my "stake" is in the subject, but sometimes I don't have any stake in it, and that's the entire point of the piece. Sometimes, I like to just let the image stand on its own. It doesn't really need any reason to be; it just is, and that's enough.