During school I HATED poetry and literature! In fact I hated even having to write anything at all! Being left handed I place a lot of pressure on the pen moving it forward which results in my hand growing tired with each word, but besides that... the mere task of writing back then seemed as tedious as having to iron your clothes! Poetry and literature was probably the reason why my grades for Afrikaans (First Language) had always been lower than that of my English grades. All though I could probably attribute that fact to Poetry alone!
For my very final exam on Afrikaans Poetry we had 37 poems we had to study. Our paper included only three of them... that by itself annoyed the crap out of me, let alone the content! Our teacher was kind enough to spot seven of the poems for us which she recommended we study well! She concluded that we could read through the rest in our preparation for the exam. Me being such a great fan of the subject spotted three of the seven poems, read the other four and did not even take a look at the rest! I have to admit that I enjoyed writing that paper as I answered questions to the three poems I chose, resulting in my highest grade ever for Afrikaans...
The writing-bug made its appearance though, regardless of all that, a couple of years ago when I got acquainted with a couple of people who enjoyed writing. Since then a friendship has developed which is describable beyond words! As they shared some of their work with me I became aware of this inspiring feeling of putting a pen down on some paper. Of all the things I could write about. . . I decided to write a POEM!
What I enjoy about writing has nothing to do with the words, or the way I construct my sentences! It is more about the process and the thoughts behind it. More so the feeling you get from your inner being which lets you know. . . this is what you will be writing about! Noticing how that feeling grows and developing from within you....opening up through your chest!
I can relate with Allan Ginsberg so much from the movie Howl when he mentions how you leave certain “hints” in your work for people to pick up on! I enjoy how I can make a poem perceive to be regarding a certain topic, but then the meaning of it is something completely different. How I can disguise my thoughts behind text and when someone else reads it, it takes on a total different meaning to them!
Regardless of my grammar not being correct or if my tenses are not up to scratch, I enjoy writing for all those reasons... and also, how in today’s day and age... the keyboard does not make my left hand grow tired... at all!
For my very final exam on Afrikaans Poetry we had 37 poems we had to study. Our paper included only three of them... that by itself annoyed the crap out of me, let alone the content! Our teacher was kind enough to spot seven of the poems for us which she recommended we study well! She concluded that we could read through the rest in our preparation for the exam. Me being such a great fan of the subject spotted three of the seven poems, read the other four and did not even take a look at the rest! I have to admit that I enjoyed writing that paper as I answered questions to the three poems I chose, resulting in my highest grade ever for Afrikaans...
The writing-bug made its appearance though, regardless of all that, a couple of years ago when I got acquainted with a couple of people who enjoyed writing. Since then a friendship has developed which is describable beyond words! As they shared some of their work with me I became aware of this inspiring feeling of putting a pen down on some paper. Of all the things I could write about. . . I decided to write a POEM!
What I enjoy about writing has nothing to do with the words, or the way I construct my sentences! It is more about the process and the thoughts behind it. More so the feeling you get from your inner being which lets you know. . . this is what you will be writing about! Noticing how that feeling grows and developing from within you....opening up through your chest!
I can relate with Allan Ginsberg so much from the movie Howl when he mentions how you leave certain “hints” in your work for people to pick up on! I enjoy how I can make a poem perceive to be regarding a certain topic, but then the meaning of it is something completely different. How I can disguise my thoughts behind text and when someone else reads it, it takes on a total different meaning to them!
Regardless of my grammar not being correct or if my tenses are not up to scratch, I enjoy writing for all those reasons... and also, how in today’s day and age... the keyboard does not make my left hand grow tired... at all!
