I am thinking about enjambment, where one line of poetry runs on into the next line - or is carried over into the next verse. It is not a technique that I use that often. I try on the whole, to make my lines complete, part of a longer sentence maybe but generally I like the lines to have a definite sensible ending place. It feels slightly dangerous to let the lines roam willy nilly over the page. But I am thinking maybe I need to loosen up a bit, maybe I am becoming too constrained. Maybe I should let my words roam free as wild animals on the tundra across the page. What am I scared of?

Narrative Poetry

I like the idea of using a narrative within my poetry. Of maybe using a narrative to link the poems together in some kind of sequence.

The poems that I have written so far this term are in a strongly female voice. They are about loss, fear and regret. About what happens in life - we get older, lose our parents, go in and out of relationships, get stressed out, cope, don't cope...

The charcter in my poems (who may not always be the same character but could be) suffers loss of a parent, she muses on difficult past relationships, she meets up with an old flame and this makes her feel regret about the past (the grass is always greener syndrome)and finally she starts losing the plot until she is driven to consider taking her own life. As the reder we don't know whether she actually did - this is left up to us to imagine. Personally I am torn between wanting an end to her unhappiness and wanting a fairytale happy ever after type ending where she has a sudden epiphany, realises how beautiful the world is and bounces back bigger and better etc. etc.

Autobiographical Art Work

For some artists there is an almost insatiable desire to try and understand and change the self - often through writing and art. Through the mediums of autobiography and autobiographical art work we are holding ourselves up to a mirror for examination. There is a constant striving within us to understand ourselves and to be understood by others. It is as if only we can understand ourselves - our minds, our dreams, desires, wishes, what makes us tick then somehow life would be BETTER, the people around us would have a better empathy and deeper understanding of what we are about.

Women in particular seem attracted to autobiography within their art work. It's as if by getting it out it will make a difference to our lives - almost like a form of counselling or therapy. Maybe it is because women have so many starnds to their lives and that putting elements of these strands into their work ties all the strands together in some way.

Of course it could just be that the artists that produce a lot of autobiograhical work are the more troubled souls. Those of us who have had a difficult childhood, abusive relationships or some other adverity (illness etc). Does a happy well balanced individual have the same need to examine their past or understand why they are the way they are.