1/21/13 Prompt: Freedom

Today is an important day of remembrance.  One on which we ought to think back on progress which has been made and reflect on how we may be able to push our causes further.  Sometimes, however, it can be difficult to find common ground with another person, and this is where poetry comes into play.  Poetry is a way that we can create morals out of mythology; it is a method by which we can take the uncommon and make it understood.  To use a piece of a Sartre quote: "every age has circumstances which can be expressed or transcended only through poetry."  To me, this means that our language, our methods of communication are somewhat inadequate.  Poetry, in and of itself, does nothing but take the uncommon (your private experiences) and turn it into something that can be more fully understood (through use of metaphor and similes - analogies and comparisons help to make light of stories).  This is a process of telling stories - something which comes naturally yet also takes much practice to actually perfect.  Anyhow, I wanted to focus back in on a more straightforward topic: Freedom.

I think this topic is one which has gotten a lot of attention over the past month.  How much freedom should we possess?  How is that freedom granted?  Is it a paradox that freedom isn't free?  Is anything truly free?  Are we "condemned to be free"?  Or is freedom a natural gift?  Something in between?  These questions should help you start thinking about this prompt:

What does it mean to be free?

To translate this into poetical terms: Think about a situation in which you have felt free in some way or another and write about that.  What were the circumstances?  Were you alone?  Have you never felt completely free?  If you can, think of a time that can be used as a metaphor or a simile for freedom then explain why and/or how.  Take this poem to anywhere it feels like it wants to go - don't feel you need to be constrained by anything that doesn't feel necessary, and, as always, make sure you have fun!



On another note: The blog has not been updated in a few weeks due to that horribly scary thing known to many as writer's block.  However, I was dared by a friend to write a poem a day over the next few weeks... months... year.  I'm not sure I can do it, but I'm certainly willing to try.  Therefore, I would also like to take this challenge a step further and post any pieces I come up with here.  This, I think, will give me a good chance to catalog the different pieces about which I write, and it will also give me an opportunity to show how a small piece/poem can be worked through and edited or revised to bring out its potential.  The writing process, as a forewarning, is not one which is pretty.  However, the name of this blog is Life is Rumored to be Written Here, and life, as we all know, is not always pretty.  This, if nothing else, is the goal of my blog and work: to show how life can be made into art and vice versa.

I look forward to this experiment over the next few however longs.  C'est la vie.

Have fun and happy writing!