| chris | For me, yes. Poems without some purpose tend to lapse into formula - or end up sounding like an academic exercise. Passion and strong emotions - i.e., reasons - are the fuel that powers the words. |
| Kirk | Absolutely. I don't think I write unless I have an idea that says "hey, that might make a decent read". Sometimes it's a small idea, sometimes a bigger idea. But just wanting to commemorate something usually isn't enough for me. I guess I hope that selectivity excuses some of my immodest habit of putting most (but not all!) of my submissions on the front page. |
| darwin | I do....something vivid usually. I did a lot of thigns in my past that I wasn't proud, and when they get to hard to handle sometimes, I use it's cathartic power and turn it into something creative. And I like to think that people can relate to what I write a lot. I don't do well with fantasy, but I do well with what I know. |
| Echolocation | Yes -- but for me it has to be an internal reason. In other words, I don't think I'd do well trying to write one for an external purpose like a contest, or a friend's birthday, or because I feel like I haven't written in a while and should. The raison d'etre of my pieces is usually that something internal is (loudly) demanding expression. It might arise from an external stimulus, but more often it's something that, well, ferments until it pops the cap off my inspiration... |
| aparajita | absolutely. mostly it is an intense personal feeling/reason that prompts me to write it out. |
| Misti | No, which is why I'm so prolific. Sometimes I just tell myself to write a poem or three or four so I do. My best poems have been inspired by tremendous loss or pain, though. At those times, the words just flow. |
| B.K. | Yes, I can't just write to write, it has to flow. (the muse has to be there,) If I try to force it, it takes all day and it's not generally very good. The wierd part is that everyone thinks I should be able to write birthday and poems for all occasions, but it just does not work that way. bk |