I have this gnawing desire to write a poem about sailing aboard an airship. I've never actually been on an airship, so how does one visualize the deck, describe the sound of the engine, or sense the air aboard such a vessel?
The timeworn adage to, "write what you know," is a prohibition that would have adversely affected most of my work to date. I know little all about being a steam engine, or foxes, and yet I've written about them both.
Two of the approaches I employ involve the use of the metaphor and the parable. With a metaphor, I can flesh out a subject by comparing it with a seemingly unrelated one. Train of Thought, is one such example of linking two otherwise dissimilar topics.
I like to employ the use of the parable when I wish to explore a basic principal, as was the case when I wrote, Fox. There, I got to delve into innocent, headless play, and followed it to the resultant trouble that this sort of behavior is bound to bring.
So, an airship ride should be a cinch to write about, right? No, not so; not until I can figure out which approach would be best employed, or the end I want to reach. Should I be thinking in metaphor, in parable, or perhaps in terms of merely a visually atmospheric piece? Hmm...
At this point in the process, I have only a vague sense of that which is begging to be written. So, in lieu of hiring an airship, I am left to meditate on its imagined elements, and to seek out possible experiential cross references, while I assume, once again, the poet's trance.
The timeworn adage to, "write what you know," is a prohibition that would have adversely affected most of my work to date. I know little all about being a steam engine, or foxes, and yet I've written about them both.
Two of the approaches I employ involve the use of the metaphor and the parable. With a metaphor, I can flesh out a subject by comparing it with a seemingly unrelated one. Train of Thought, is one such example of linking two otherwise dissimilar topics.
I like to employ the use of the parable when I wish to explore a basic principal, as was the case when I wrote, Fox. There, I got to delve into innocent, headless play, and followed it to the resultant trouble that this sort of behavior is bound to bring.
So, an airship ride should be a cinch to write about, right? No, not so; not until I can figure out which approach would be best employed, or the end I want to reach. Should I be thinking in metaphor, in parable, or perhaps in terms of merely a visually atmospheric piece? Hmm...
At this point in the process, I have only a vague sense of that which is begging to be written. So, in lieu of hiring an airship, I am left to meditate on its imagined elements, and to seek out possible experiential cross references, while I assume, once again, the poet's trance.
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