I think the act of writing is a political act whether you want it to be or not. Is it possible to write a poem about feeding the ducks in the park right here, right now without it resonating beyond the context in which it was written? Is it possible to write about baking bread or even making a sandwich without nodding to the last 70 years of women's rights, however imperceptibly? It might not be your intention to write a 'political' story or poem, but it will be read within the world context in which it is written, it's unavoidable. I know the phrase "witnessing our time" is cliched, but by putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard we're doing just that.

The poem I've posted is a love poem, but it's also a poem about people's responsibilities to each other, because of how people influence each other, in this sense it's political (without looking it).

That's what I think anyhooo.

One of the beauties of poetry is that the reader can read anything they want into it i suppose but that isnt necessarily the way the poet wrote it.

If you write a love poem surely it is about the relationship and emotion between two people the beauty of that relationship or the pain caused by break up or absence you would not normally assosciate it with the suffragette movement or some other covert political statement.

Is there perhaps to much desire to read politics and other covert messages into things which the writer meant as a simple statement of love, desire, hurt, fun or whatever.

If I wish to make a political statement then I would write a poem which did that fairly blaintently although there may of course be a covert message as well.

That may of course mean it lost some of its impact but personally I dont think it does.

Equally if we are talking politics with a small p and we mean the politics of a realtionship then that of course is a different thing all together.

I am fairly much of the opinion that by trying to read too much in to a piece of poetry or prose often detracts from the simplicity and beauty of the real meaning of the work, and it may be this which has dissuaded the man in the street from reading so much .

I also wonder if much of the dogma we here on radio and TV by so called experts when discussing literature and poetry is just so much clap trap designed to create a comfortable living for them. Let us not forget the definition of EXPERT

Ex is a has been and Spurt a drip from a tap

( sorry ladies and gentlemen on here not directed at you lot but at the self important critics and commentators who spend their lives filling our screens and radio waves with speculative and inconclusive rubbish about anything they can think of to keep them in the public eye.)

postive critic from anybody is of course accepted in the spirit in which it is given and I am genuinly grateful for the comments and help I have already received on this site and not just from the site experts but all those other people who have commented on my poem

I think I may have strayed from the point slightly but these threads do take you to wonderful places dont they.....plus it will keep the topic alive for a while longer I hope

take care

david

In my case ideas find me. I don't find them.
I'm not sure how it works but they just pop into this empty space I call head even when I'm not looking for them. This can be a bit of a pain because usually it means I have to write something down even if I don't want to.

I prefer to use ideas from a real life experience, but I think half my ideas are bought about through reading something in a paper, something odd usually, some are based on a personal experience, usually de-personalised for the purposes of writing it properly, and some come from people's interactions on the street that I spot. Things people tell me as well, like when a friend of mine thought her postman was a peeping tom, I had good fun writing that.

I write from personal experience mainly, or from a friends personal experience and twist and turn from there. I am very naughty when it comes to writing as I start writing without knowing where the story is leading to, or of a middle or end more specifically. I wish I had more power in that regard, I will get a romantic idea in my head but it's the end that I really struggle with, which is probably why I can never think of myself as a writer as it's the idea that is the hardest part for me. Also, as I work horrid day jobs and do not have a computer at night and as I am VERY idle most stories (if you will) are done in fleeting seconds and so I can never give as much as I would like to, but at least I think in the meantime doing such I am learning more about my style and my writing is at the very least developing. Hopefully one day an opportunity will arise where I can sit and become a writer - proper. I know that it is all down to me, and I take off my hat to you all that have done it!

Sometimes I will get an idea from something I dreamed about. Other times a sentence will "jump" into my head that sparks off an idea - or I might overhear someone say something that gets me thinking. But the dream one is the most common.

I watch people. Mainly because they're jammy buggers and they steal my stuff. No but seriously I watch them all day, you can a learn an awful lot by watching folk. Try developing a mental or neurogical disorder that helps too.

Dreams are good - and of course, personal experience, which colours all that we do and write, even if indirectly. I find that if I am writing a story, I won't start putting fingers to keyboard until I know the name of the central protagonist (OK, prententious word for hero). The name will somehow just arrive in the forefront of my brain, and I know that it's the right name for that character. Slightly weird, but I've found that this works for me.

I did a creative writing course a few years back, and we had to do exercises with images (a favourite card, or poster perhaps) and with headlines. It's amazing what you can come up with to an apparently humdrum local headline if you think laterally enough. Another exercise asked us to write a story that had a well-known saying as its theme - I wrote a short based on 'Too many cooks spoil the broth'.

But wherever they come from, the tricky thing is getting them down on paper!

I seem to get my ideas from 2 things. The first is when I'm wandering around London and I will hear/see something which will trigger an idea. The other is listening to music. If I find a song which fits the mood of what I'm trying to write, I can get the 'feeling' of a story, but it takes a while for everything to fall into place. I've been working on the plot of my 1st novel for about 8 months now and it's still not complete yet.

Hi Pete - you're at the top of the new members' list on the left at the moment - Welcome!

Pete, I use music a lot too. In fact I only listen to music when I'm writing and it informs who I write about, sets the mood, the tone and even influences the style and form sometimes. But not music with lyrics usually, except for certain musicians who I always make an exception for.

I'm with Tweed on this one, they just pop into my head at the strangest times.

They then take up residence in my head until I let them out by writing them down.

Sometimes a little scene suggests itself, a few words maybe. I always carry a small notebook, write them down, and sometimes begin just to write the story without the slightest idea of where I'll end up. Somehow it always develops, maybe the characters take over and go off to do and say things while I watch and listen, writing it all down as the 'picture' plays itself out like a movie. Or perhaps it's more like writing the book you're reading. Then I'll read and re-read, perhaps putting the piece away for a time, and always find that what needs to be done is easier to find then.

Me too - sometimes they are based on personal experiences, more often on those of friends or family (it's easier to distance myself creatively when it's about other people rather than write self-righteously about myself)... but more often than not an idea will pop into my head at the wierdest moments. While having a pee is a good one! (Too much information?)


The toilet is a bowl of creative inspiration - now there's a title for a poem!

Lisa

Lisa, have you seen Ben's short story Cubicle 3? Now that really was more information than I wanted to know.