For a poet, inspiration can be a fragile thing to have. To find your inspiration, sometimes it can be easy, but sometimes it can feel as if it’s impossible. Just remember, nothing is impossible, just plausible; you just got to have patience. When finding your inspiration, sometimes it’s best to start simple and small. The best example I can give is this: Look in the mirror. Who do you see staring back at you? What’s their story? What’s their emotional state? What exactly is it that they want? Use those as a guide line to write. Writing about yourself is a good way to start.
Once you have mastered that, take a walk into the world and look around. Watch the people you may see. Keep an eye on nature as well. Everything has a story, everything has a poem and it’s up to you to find those words and write them down. Nobody can force your words, not even myself, but I can help guide you.
If you ever get the urge to write, write. Don't hold back and don't force your words. If you force your words, it can come out as nonsense and leave the readers confused. You want your words to come naturally and with ease, so your readers can easily understand you. You do not want to lose your readers.
To quote Robin Williams from the movie, ‘Dead Poets Society.’ “We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?”
What will your verse be? If you go on through life and you feel the words deep inside you, don’t be selfish and horde it for yourself. If you feel the words inside you and that’s all you can think of, let it out. Because life gave you a gift and you’re meant to be a writer, a poet. Many people have completely ignored what could’ve been. They could’ve been the next Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe or even Emily Dickinson, but they failed to share what life gave them.
If you want to write, write freely. Don’t lose what life gave you. You’re a writer, a poet; it’s in you to express what it is that you are feeling. Use your words that life gave you to inspire others. It’s a tremendous gift to have and it can even be a burden. If you ever feel it becoming a burden for you, don’t give up and don’t give in to that burden. If it ever becomes a burden for you, just remember that it is life building up your verse and during that time of burden is when the best verse comes.
You should never have to be ashamed of your writing, even if it's bad; at least you're expressing what it is that you are feeling. Even if the words are a bit shallow, it's the emotions that gives it power. That is poetry. You want your readers to feel what it is that you are feeling. You want your readers to know you. Again, you do not want to lose your readers.
What is poetry to you? Each poet has their own definition of what poetry means. To me, poetry means an expression to free oneself emotionally and physically. It's where you can take your emotions and pour them out and bring peace to your physical being, while in return inspiring others to do just the same. That is why I write. So, go on and write. Be the writer you want to be. Don’t hold back.
It was Robert Frost who once said, “A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It finds the thought and the thought finds the words.” So, I challenge you today, pick up a pen and write, let your poetic soul be free and inspire future writers, poets. Write and don’t ever stop writing.