Art, Poetry, and FriesEssay Preview: Art, Poetry, and FriesReport this essayIn the same way potatoes have their process of becoming a serving of fries, a thought or phrase goes through a process to become art. Schlosser describes how most people dont realize the process the fries go through before landing into the hands of the consumer which is similar to the admirers, or the readers, of art, who usually doesnt realize the process that the artist goes through to create their art. The consumer will usually just think of the tastiness of the fry not the process, just as the admirer only appreciates the work of art not the process of how it came to be.
Artists have many different procedures of how to create art; however, they all start with an idea or phrase. Some artists draw “a simple circle a random line” (Turow 2). Others stare at a canvas, or paper, until something appears. A lot of artists are inspired by something someone says, something they see, or just a thought they have. After the initial inspiration, artists visualize the picture, or story, on the canvas. A “small aspect of current work can become an entirely new piece of work and may suggest another direction” (Turow 2); which means they already have their inspiration for another painting.
To narrow the broad world of art, lets move on to poetry. Poets are often influenced by actions created by themselves or by other people. Greg Doherty tells us, on drake.marin.k12.us, “we (poets) need to know a poetic moment when it bites us in the ass” (Marin 1). Learning to spot a poetic moment isnt hard; its conveying it in a poetic way that makes poetry hard. Some poets even brain storm. Other poets let the words flow through them and rewrite it several times before being completely satisfied. Readers want to know the story behind the emotion of the poem. Readers want a better understanding of the poet, which makes the reader feel closer to the poem and poet. If someone were to read a poem about a person being excited about their future and their goals, they would want to know what those goals are. If a poet does not include the story behind the emotion it isnt a great poem, it might be good but its not great.
A poet has to analyze their poem before they even write it; poets cant just, for lack of better a better phrase, half ass the poem. Poets have to decide how much of their life they want to share and if they dont want to share a lot they might have to take a different approach to the poem or change it. It might be weird to say, but a poet may have to mentally prepare to write a poem. Writing poetry can be a release but it can also bring harmful emotions. If one is writing about a recent death of a friend it can help with the releasing of emotions, or it can stir other emotions from the past, or present, making a toxic mix. Poets usually know themselves enough to know if they are able to write about a certain situation in a healthy way.
The poet who writes for her part, I would say, has a lot to learn about the meaning of life.
Some of those “I don’t want to die in a restaurant” lines can cause one to feel very stressed, to feel as if it is hard for a living person in life. To be sure, there are people who feel this way, but sometimes the poet takes a more balanced approach that makes the issue more positive. It is not that she wants to, it’s just that she is feeling the pressure to become more creative and change. The poem sometimes contains a lot of the stuff that the poet would have just said, so that can lead to a lot of negative, emotional response. If you don’t want to die in a restaurant, don’t be afraid to do it – or at least give the poem more space to grow.
Another part of the concept to be sure, is that if a reader tries to put his/her own thoughts about a poem into a poem, his/her poem won’t even be finished until he/she hits its finish line, so he/she has to take a more creative approach. To avoid this, they will need to decide, in a certain situation or mood, what words are best for them to start out on with. Sometimes an example would be saying, “I read this poem a few weeks ago, and think it means something to me.” I usually just say something the next day, but sometimes words have more impact on my thinking than words themselves.
What are some of the negative feelings and reactions one might have from the poem?
I am very sensitive to feelings of rejection. My friend called it “fear of death as opposed to fear of being rejected”, which I found to be both a common occurrence and one of the most common misunderstandings among the Poets. It is also very common for Poets who do not see these kinds of feelings to feel as strongly as those who do. They may seem to have such strong feelings for the idea of death, they may feel a little scared or a little confused about what to do, and in some instances they may even fear for the first time the existence of real death and therefore are ready to fight.
As someone who’s had the experience of losing someone and going through many tough times, one would also have to try and imagine the feeling being better. How would that feeling evolve? What would change? Would it be easier to get on with life and not have to fear the consequences of that life? I think it depends on how the poem is going to be presented and the way the characters express it. Sometimes it gets complicated, but it will develop if the whole poem is in focus because you have