poetree

ysabetwordsmith invited me to post as part of the serial poetry theme she's currently hosting.

Silk Road Allies is not my first co-owned ‘verse. Throughout high school and college, I wrote for various fantasy-based stories, where there were multiple contributors. However, Silk Road Allies is unique, in that it was one of the things which got me more active in crowdfunding.

For those, who do not necessarily follow me, for the last year, I’ve been slowly crowdfunding an urban fantasy series on my journal. Currently, I’m about halfway through the first story. I have four more outlined. Outside of this project, I occasionally call for prompts for ‘Poetry Fests’, where I write poems based on prompts left in the comments. It was during one of these sessions, in which [Bad username or unknown identity: ”ysabetwordsmith”] left the initial prompt which sparked the Silk Road Allies. Entitled only as ‘Day 5 prompt’ it detailed what might have happened had Italy accepted China’s bid for an embassy in early history. The prompt had a different feel than she was expecting, and [Bad username or unknown identity: ”marina_bonomi”] jumped on it, asking for further prompts when [Bad username or unknown identity: ”ysabetwordsmith”] posted her next Fishbowl. I’ve since written poems for subsequent poetry calls.

My relationship with poetry, and writing in general, is chaotic at best. I started as a fiction writer. These days, I write primarily poetry, and indeed, roughly 85-90% of my publication credits are poetry. I think in it. But it does not come easy.

In some ways, I think that is why Crowdfunding, and this idea of a shared world appeals to me. It forces me to think on my feet. It presents me with new materials and ideas I might not have considered otherwise. If [Bad username or unknown identity: ”ysabetwordsmith”] had not left me that prompt, I’d never have written ‘Day 5 poem’, and Silk Road Allies would never have been born. In calling for prompts, and in continuing to write poetry, I am continually challenging my personal boundaries - how far am I willing to go to find the perfect word or turn of phrase? I am challenging my creativity, my intellectual.

For me, poetry is not a matter of amusement. It’s a matter of need. ‘I write for the same reason I breathe, because if I didn’t - I would die,’ Isaac Asimov said once, and it rings true. I write for the same reason I breathe.

There may be long breaks, and continual revisions, but I keep writing.