So, you’re a writer are you?

So, you’re a writer are you? You tell me you’re old fashioned and still use a pen and lined paper, even though you do have a word-processor which you’re not confident enough to use.

Let’ see if I have understood you correctly... You write words on the lines on the paper; not just any old words but ones which help you describe the thoughts which are in your head. But to whom are you writing? Yourself?

If you are, why write if the thoughts are already running around in your head waiting for you to understand them...?

Well, yes, I suppose you’re right when you say that setting them down in order on paper, helps you marshal them, so that they express precisely what you’re thinking, and I suppose that, once they’re written down you always have them for future reference, to remind you of today’s thoughts which you might otherwise forget when future thoughts crowd in on them.

And, I suppose, that no matter how briefly you describe today’s thoughts in words, you can, if you’re careful about where you store them away, always review them, even rewrite them, in the light of future events and experiences.

And now you tell me you write poetry. Does that mean you’re a poet?

What is poetry anyway? Oh, I suppose you’re now going to quote someone’s definition aren’t you? Yes, of course I’ve heard of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, he was a friend of Wordsworth’s wasn’t he? But they’ve both been a long time dead. What did Coleridge have to say about poetry, eh?

Oh, all right, I’ll accept that what he said was a comparison between prose and poetry. So, what did he say?

Did he really say that? Well, I suppose to say that “prose consists of words in their right order” was pretty obvious even when he was alive. It would be difficult to understand what the writing was all about, if the words were in the wrong order, wouldn’t it?

And what was that second bit “Poetry consists of the best words in the best order?” Mm, I’ll have to think about that for a minute or two. He doesn’t say anything about whether the words at the end of the lines should rhyme, or whether there should be capital letters at the beginning of a line, even if it isn’t the beginning of a sentence. But , I think he’s right you know. Most poetry that I’ve read and liked seems to be most effective when it consists of brief , vivid phrases, made up of evocative words. And a lot of what’s called poetry today doesn’t rhyme, it just reads like prose cut up into short lines that don’t start with capitals; except where a new sentence starts, and I like that.

Good on yer mate, I’d like to read some of the things you’ve written. Let’s have a look!