In the past few months, I have taken to rarely eating meals. As a writer with a home office, I have frequent access to the refrigerator and the pantry. As a result, I regularly eat all day long. To cut down on calories and make the most out of my near-constant snacking, I have taken to really enjoying small plates throughout the day. Tiny plates decorated with a couple of orange slices, a single spiced egg and a chunk of pretzel bread make for a wonderful morning treat. An afternoon plate of a single slice off of a sushi roll atop spinach with a side of grapefruit has enough flavor to feel filling. Until the next snack which might be cheddar cheese and spple slices or a tiny bowl of taste-infused soup. The more that I’ve come to enjoy these periodic treats, the less interested I’ve become in big meals. They’re overwhelming, uncomfortable, distasteful.
What does this have to do with writing? Well, I attended a poetry event last night. (It was an inspirational North Beach poet affair, the details of which can be read about over at my San Fran Voice blog post.) And while I was there, I realized that poetry is strikingly similar to these little plates of food which have come to serve as my sustenance. The poetry reading lasted only an hour. For many events, an hour is just getting things started. But for poetry, an hour is plenty. In an hour, you can catch the tiny snippets of phrasing, the intensity of language … the flavor, if you will. You do not need more than this to feel creatively full.
I remember only a few specific lines of the poetry from last night. The line in the image above by Jessica Loos (which I hope I’ve quoted correctly) stood out because of the way that it touched raw truth with such simple phrasing. Another line of hers which I remember distinctly was “his echo punched the beauty inside me”. Who needs to know the entire story behind the line when the line itself is so poignant? Who need the entire three-course-meal when the appetizer alone can satiate?
The truth is that I will probably never be entirely satisfied by poetry as I am by small plates of food. I will always need to fill my mind more with the lengthy books that put weight in my hands and ideas in my brain. I will forever escape to the tales of fiction books when my own tales are boring or unbearable. I will always turn to the pages of non-fiction for advice, information, inspiration and more. But poetry serves an important purpose. It gives us what we need in tiny bites. When there isn’t time or need for more, poetry can fill the hunger.
[Tags] poetry, creativity, writing, life, language [/Tags]
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