Even the subject line of this blog post would trigger a huge laughter from my wife. After all, she is the one who needs to listen to my boring poems (That's how I call them) :). That's a different story altogether.
Here, I want to write about my first experience on the poems I wrote.
During my School days, I was very much fascinated by how these poets write those beautiful song lyrics. I thought poets have a special brain which makes them write beautiful poems.
I use to read some of the regional weekly magazines where some of the reader's poems get published in it. In fact, those readers are also recognized with cash awards for their poems (Mostly Haiku type). It made me realize that 'Poems' are not just for 'Poets'. Even a common man can write it.
So, I thought, why not I try it out. But, you know what. I always felt that I'm a more a logical guy than a creative one.
But being a School student, I was not aware of being logical or being creative. All, I wanted is to write some beautiful poems.
So, I took out my pen and my diary. I choose a silent, private place so that none of my family members figures out what I'm doing, reads my poem, have a great laugh and embarrass me.
I reached my spot. The page is empty. The pen is full of ink. But, the words did not flow. I didn't know what to write.
Came back home with a failed attempt of becoming a poet. I didn't give up. I wanted to try some other day.
The next day, I don't want to fail again. This time, I wrote something on paper. I was very happy. But, the happiness was short lived. I read what I wrote. It didn't sound like a poem. In fact, it is a 'Sentence'.
One more day of failed attempt...
I want to be a poet, but words are not just flowing. The creative side of me is just not working.
And, that's when the 'Logical Person' inside me woke up. I started paying close attentions to the poems I read, songs I listen, to figure out some common patterns in the poems.
After reading quite a few poems and listening to songs, I made a discovery.
I figured out two common patterns to write good poems during my school days:
1) You should be in 'Love', or you should have a 'Love' failure as many songs are written when a hero falls in love or have a breakup :) .
2) To write some good poems, you need to involve 'Mother Nature' in it. Yes, I found a pattern that there is some frequent usage of some natural elements like 'Sky', 'Moon', 'Star', 'Rose' etc...
I believed, I cracked the code to become a poet.
Option-1 is ruled out as it is too much for a 7th standard school boy to fall in love or have a breakup (At least in the year 1997 in India)
So, I went ahead with Option-2. I listed some of the natural elements on the back of my diary as 'Key Words'. This is what I wrote:
Sea, Waves Cloud, Rain Mountain, Moon, Flower Breeze
Having found the keywords, I'm now trying to add few more words on the front and back to the keywords to make it a poem.
Viola! When I read them, it sounded like a poem (At least for me). I figured out. The little school going kid has become a poet. His logical brain trumped the creative brain in him. Option-2 is working great for him.
I do not remember what my first poem is. But, I'm sharing some of those poems I wrote during my school days:
Dear Cloud, if you cry farmers get happy. Don't you have anyone to understand you?
Dear breeze, why do you behave like a cyclone to me?
Dear Sea, won't your waves touch me?
Dear flower, won't your fragrance reach me?
Dear Cloud, won't you rain on me? Dear Nature, are you also discriminating by caste and religion?
Claim the branches called 'Failures', to eat the fruits called 'Success'.
Option-2 worked for few days and the poems dried out sooner. I felt that 'Option-1' has more potential to deliver an infinite number of poems. But 'Love' is so complex than poems for a guy like me. But, I need a girl for whom I can write poems.
I'm very fond of having an elder sister during my school days. I'm only blessed with an elder brother and not a sister. To my agony, a majority of my friends had an elder sister. When many of my friends were looking for girlfriends, I was looking out for an elder sister. To my luck, I found one.
Now, I have a person for whom I can write poems for. More importantly, I have got my first reader for my poems.
Here are some poems that I wrote for my sister. When I read them now, some are so funny and some of them are too good even now :)
If she comes along with angels around, people will ask who is that beautifulgirl?
Dear flowers did you learn to laugh looking at mysister? She doesn't fade, but why you do?
I am not a natural poet. It's not my hobby too. I just wrote few out of my excitement. I stopped writing poems after my school days. I didn't write any after that. I do not know why I don't write them. I write blog posts. But, not poems. Sometimes, I write one liner quotes that strike my mind on my Evernote. That's all.
After many years, I figured out something about poems. Poems are not creative magical lines. They are not logical blocks of words.
Poems are emotions.
Poems are written to express an emotion.
To tell something more beautifully.
I understood poems are words with souls. You don't need any special skills to become a poet. You just need to feel, enjoy each and every moment of your life. The poems are just hidden in the nook and corner of such moments.
All you need to do is,
Live your life like a POEM.
And, the world one day will say 'Once, there lived a great POET...'.