Oh Man, Not Another Poetry Lesson!

One type of writing I post on this blog is poetry. I know that many people don’t give a turkey’s quill feather about poetry, but I’m okay with that. I post them because they are about My Humble But Accurate Opinion. But instead of the musings of my mind, my poetry runs the spectrum of emotion. Starting in December of 1984, and running through the present, I’ve attempted to capture the issues of life as I experienced them.

The first poem, “Dreaming of You”, was written during some major changes in my life. I had gotten into the U.S. Navy a few months prior; the first time to be truly away from home and on my own. I was in love with a girl back home and missing her terribly. So, for the first time I put my feelings into writing. Truly one of my favorite poems.

After that I used that creative outlet to express myself. The way most of these came about was that I felt a deep desire to write, driven by an emotion strongly felt in my heart. Usually, the only way to describe that emotion was to start writing. I compare the experience to “giving birth”. Not that it’s something I’ve ever truly experienced, mind you, but the cycle seemed the same. It was laborious to do. Sometimes I didn’t like the challenge of picking up the pen, because I knew what I was getting myself into. Not until I knew the poem was complete would that emotion subside, and the “baby” was born.

Not all of my poetry came about in that fashion. Some simply were the results of exposure. Being a sailor, the life of strip bars and pornography was a usual part of the life, and effected my outlooks and me.

I guess the most important thing to notice as you read is my hunger for God. When I had turned eighteen, I had abandoned my roots as a Catholic to look for God on my own. I had become greatly disillusioned with what I grew up believing, and felt that there had to be something more. You will see in the writings my hunger for Him, and my eventual coming to know Him through a relationship with His son Jesus.

All in all, these writings came from within me. They were attempts to express my opinions and myself. Not all of them will strike you, but they don’t have to. But rest assured, at one time in my life they struck me – that’s why they were written.

I wish I could share some of the more recent works, but nothing has come out in awhile. Who knows? Maybe I'll be "struck" again and write more.

I post them with their original dates for a reason – they are a reflection of who I was at that time in my life. I hope that through them you may find some of yourself as well, or at least give you reflection on that person you used to be.

© Emittravel 2011