Writer Selbe
All right, firstly, I'd like to say that I didn't accept any prize money from Solar, and it's my fault, not hers. It was my fault for stupidly accepting a challenge when I couldn't properly execute it. I just kind of wanted to do it, and after looking up the word, I realized that it fit me in relation to the person I was talking about, not in the sense of a false rhyme, which I had hoped for, but in the sense of subject matter, as it was a personal poem.
Also, you're right about the flow. What I've recently tried to do is use the same amount of syllables in each line of a poem because I really don't understand a meter. I tried looking over a wikipedia article on it that PK gave me, but I just don't get it because I'm a stupid fifteen-year-old, lol. So, my point here isn't just to cry to you that I'm incapable but rather that I'm hoping you could point me in the right direction.
For instance, how exactly do I find the right flow? I feel like there's some sort of underlying, complicated code I don't know how to use. I try reading it aloud, but it sounds fine to me when I do but I know that's because I wrote it and I want it to be perfect and sometimes I can't see the flaws.
The thing is, I really, really, really want to be able to write good poetry and be able to compete with everyone else here. I used to only submit prose because I didn't think I could do any poetry, but now I don't want to submit anything else until I get it right. I think I'm stuck when it comes to this patch on flow, which sucks hairy monkey balls.
Bottom line after ridiculously long post:
how do I learn to interpret and develop flow?
yeah, i had my long a** post as well but apparently Gaia decided to gobble it up twice and me being the genius that i am forgot to copy paste onto a notepad. twice. so here's
my ridiculously long post.
anyways, rhythm can't be learned in one day because i have been learning and developing my own since '03. holy smokes that's 9 years! i'm not bragging, i'm just telling you that i started to listen to music like Eminem and i really liked his flow, his word choice, his clever rhymes and impacting imagery, and his music, the instrumentals were kick a** (Lose Yourself for example). i started to look him up on the internet and bought his albums, first The Marshall Mather LP, then The EMINEM Show. then, i just started to broaden my musical spectrum onto other rappers such as Tupac, Biggie, Big Pun, Nas, the Wu-Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Jay-Z, DMX, and i never stopped listening to them. after a while, i started to write some of their lyrics into a little notebook of mine which i still have because those lines where some of my favorites or i could relate or there was something connecting me deeper than what was in those lyrics. by the time i started to write my own poetry, i didn't realize it, but i was influenced heavily by rhyme schemes, meters, rhythms, all sorts of assonance, alliteration, internal rhymes, slant rhymes, half-rhymes from these rappers and then i started to develop my own. i still haven't developed my own style since i still consider myself an amateur poet, but i can tell you that flow will be a big part of my style because of my influences.
besides that, whenever i wrote down the exact lyrics to songs, such as this excerpt form "Pyrex Vision" by Raekwon from his album
Only Built 4 Cuban Lynx Pt II (here's a
youtube link):
It's all in the eyes of the hungry
It's all for the wise and the humbly, the rise came upon me
wow, i wonder what the rise is?
actually, i don't really know but i wonder a lot and that's when i experiment and i start to write my own version of what each phrase or word could mean; i have spent entire days, from morning until night, writing down lyrics i liked and then coming up with my own interpretation and i also try to follow the flow that was set as a precedent and continue to follow it until i feel a switch is necessary or i run out of flow and then i start from scratch with the same flow.
It's all in the eyes of the hungry
It's all for the wise and the humbly, the rise came upon me
the lights were abundant
the darkness responded and flickered in torment
see? it doesn't make sense at this point because it's raw and i just came up with it but i could come up with an entire poem by the end of the day and i would leave the editing for another day. that's how i started and how i continue to develop my flow.
that's not the only way but it seems like if you struggle with flow it's because you try to write a poem that makes logical sense or is coherent but then try and force rhymes into it instead of letting a natural rhythm take over and throw coherent plot in a narrative poem to the winds.
and if you wondered, yeah, i edited it a little bit so that it would make sense and tried to follow the flow as well. here's the result:
It's all in the eyes of the hungry
It's all for the wise and the humbly, the rise came upon me
like when lights are abundant
the darkness responds with a flicker of torment
i gave a meaning to the word rise a little bit; if i kept going, i could really turn it into something, i don't know what but the possibility is there and i can follow the flow and i can come up with good imagery due to all the things that the rise could mean, the lights could be, and what would be affected by such things; i don't know, this is all speculation and i think we both have the imagination to create some great poetry. you just gotta write it.
by the way, listening to some good rappers isn't the only way to draw a better flow; i mean sure, rap is great for rhythm, but to really get into it, you should also read lots of poetry with good rhythm. unfortunately, my poetical taste isn't fond of rhythmical geniuses except for Ogden Nash, but hey look up on the internet rhythmic patterns and poets who write them. again, you can do the same thing that i did with Pyrex Vision with poems; it's a little harder because they don't have music and someone to say it, but you should read it out-loud with a rhythmic instrumental in the background, especially an extremely lone one that doesn't end, and you should start seeing some results as your mind will start racing with imagination. now the problem is to write it all down, lol.
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