Week 2 Post

I think posing the question of what inspires you in your poetry, while seeming simple and cliche, is actually a really interesting idea to look into. For me, inspiration is never static. It changes from day to day-minute to minute- and can be found in really diverse situations. I think one of the greatest things about poetry is that it doesn't have to fit any mold and therefore allows the writer to be free as well. I wrote my first poem about the image of a goat slaughtering that I witnessed while in Kenya. Later that day I went to go read through it again and possibly make some revisions and I found that I was completely turned off from the idea of it. I let the poem be and turned it in as it was. Poetry is beautifully raw in that way; if you allow it to affect you, it can keep records of your life. It can capture the tiniest moments in the biggest ways. I think that is what inspiration is really about; being able to let insignificant happenings, images, or sounds effect you in significant ways. It will be exciting to read the different authors and pick up on their styles, language, and syntax and watch a transformation occur in our own poetry.