Top 10 of 2019

It is tough, after writing so much, not to let creativity become routine. I've tried to let the time I've set aside for poetry be a focus for creating something new, rather than an urge to meet a deadline. It's been a tough year, but I still think I've found some time to let the spark fly :)

Weirdly, the ones I'm proudest of this year all sort of all in pairs. There were many others I loved -Caterpillar was a special poem for a friend, Identity made me delve into how I think of myself, Fantasy reminded me why it's important to create, Wordweaver captured an Alan Moore idea of the power of ideas, Told was inspired by the climate protesters, and Our Challenges Are As Unique As Our Gifts took two ideas I knew well (everyone is unique, everyone has challenges) and connected them in a way I hadn't managed before.

Motivation

Aesop Inspired
I am a huge huge fan of the artist Aesop Rock, he has this incredibly interesting way of rhyming - filled with analogies and never shying away from describing things in interesting ways. This is probably the poem I've written that has come closest to capturing that style for myself. On top of that, it has a lot of lines and imagery that I just adore. One I was rewriting for a long time, because it seems like this might be one of those poems I love but other can't connect to (potentially because Aesop's style is eclectic and I'm struggling to match it). I don't care. One of those I've memorised because I adore the rhythm so much.

Poem Catcher
Sometimes simplicity is the solution. It can be tough to keep writing poetry, especially after all this time - and I really want to keep changing up how and what I write. This was one of those times when I was struggling and just took a shot at a much simpler style of poem. It ended up being very fun - exploring a slightly surreal idea, but being very visual and not exploring it too long. I really liked it, and if any of my arty friends want to have a go at drawing it let me know ;)

Religious Poems

Faith
Inspired my a mental health in Christianity day my church ran. A friend of mine used the line "my faith is not my depression", and it got me inspired to think about all the things faith isn't (and is). I'm always really scared when writing something like this that I'll make some big theological faux pas, but I was very happy with how this turned out. I loved embracing the "CS Lewis letter" style of writing, and I think I helped capture something unique on the way.

Good Friday
One of those poems that changed the way I think about things. I remember, very clearly, getting the idea of "what if humanity could be represented as kids on a playground?". I remember being kind of sad that I didn't have the skill to write such a thing - in my head the idea worked best as a children's book format, and I don't have the best prose. As it is, I had a go anyway (I think with the encouragement of a friend), and I am so, so happy with how it turned out. A bit of a theme, but it really helped me visualise a lot of the actions of humanity - I feel like a lot of history can be interpreted in this way without losing much nuance.

Empathy

Where Passion is Sewn

I have a lot of odd tastes. I know this, and embrace it a little bit. This does mean that, in public, I'll rarely hear music I love - and also that I don't want to subject others to something that I know is unlikely to suit their palette. What is tough though, is to make sure I'm always encouraging of people with different tastes (I can't be the only one who inadvertently finds themselves making fun of odd habits, no matter how hypocritical that is). This is a little poem to remind myself of that - to adore the passion in others and encourage it where I can.

Take on the World

Outside of poetry, I also do some sports journalism. This year, I took a bit of a step back from quantity and tournament reports, and focussed instead on a few high quality pieces. One of them was an interview with a friend about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. She described her symptoms as "a battery that couldn't fully charge". Shortly after, I myself got ill and had similar (though far, far less severe) symptoms of fatigue. I tried to use what I had learned from her to express that irritation of fatigue in a poem, and I hope I did it justice.

Big Ideas

Give Love a Try
Inspired by a spirited discussion with a friend about Christianity. My friend raised the (very legitimate) point about the harm Christianity has caused over the years. Fairly off the cuff (i.e. I sat at the screen a while pondering a response) I responded that many big ideas - regardless of how benevolent they may seem - have also been used for harmful ends. I gave science and love as two examples, and pondering over it, I realised how interesting it would be to write a poem from the perspective of two evangelists for the idea of love and a skeptic. I saw a little of myself on both sides of the argument, but the line "love is perfect, those who practice it are not" came from the evangelist, though it mirrored my thoughts in a way I hadn't expressed before. I do love writing from characters, I need to try it more.

Here is a Truth
I know I was discussing truth and lies, but I cannot remember how this idea came into my head. What I do remember though, is once the idea was there, finding it very fun to follow through. Listing all the types of lies/liars/truths and then finding a common uniting theme for each was a very fun idea, and made me do a few mental gymnastics I hadn't had to do before. I'd love more ideas like this, as tough as they are to write.

Communication

The Girl Who Dreams in Books
Written for a friend, and I loved how this one turned out (although I feel I have a lot of friends this could apply to). Again, I love the slightly surreal imagery. Dreams is an issue I've tackled a fair amount before, so when I say I think this is my best take on it I'm acknowledging how tough that task is. Maybe there's also a longing here myself - my reading has had to take a big back step in recent years, so hopefully I can inspire myself back into the pages again.

Another Tongue
I am very lucky to live in an anglo-centric world where I can travel to many different countries and meet people who know my native tongue. It's not the first time I've tackled the topic of how amazing I find people who can speak more than one language, but I think this one shows my progression as a writer. It was also very fun to perform this in front of the German society!


Many thanks to you for reading this too! I can't believe how long I've been writing now. If you every read one and want to chat about it, I would love to. It's hard work writing, but the conversations I've had inspired by the poems have been one of the things which ahve helped keep me going :)