In Words Not So Poetic

What is Poetry?

        Poetry is either really difficult or really easy, there is no in between.  When I say poetry, I mean, everything there is to do with poetry. It is either easy or difficult to read. It is either easy or difficult to write. It is either easy or difficult to understand, to translate, to interpret, to teach, to edit, or to like. I specifically said, “or” rather than, “and”, because even though I believe there is no in between of poetry being either easy or difficult, a person can strive in one aspect of poetry such as writing, but struggle with a different aspect such as understanding them.  This is not to say, that a person can’t get better at writing or reading poems, or gain more of an affinity towards poetry, but from when a person is first exposed to poetry, it is either loved or hated, either easy or difficult.

What have I learned from writing poetry?
        I’ve learned a lot writing poetry, and still have lot more to discover, but the number one thing I’ve learned, through writing poetry, is that the process is like water, and in more than one way.  Water takes the shape of whatever it is poured into. More often than not, when I write a poem, it starts as having one message, but as I think about it more, it morphs and takes different shapes to how I am thinking, and I end up with a completely different message than I originally planned. Water can be in different states; frozen solid or liquefied, but it is still just water, H₂O. The same poem can be interrupted in different ways, by different people, but it is still the same poem.