Ballerina is my chapbook consisting of poetry I have written over the past few months. Before writing this chapbook, I wrote poetry when I was dealing with teenage girl type things and needed to sort my head out; however, while writing these poems, I learned how to make an image in my head and use literary devices to help recreate that image for readers. I have still been inspired by the events in my life and the everyday things I see, such as the dance picture I have of my aunt Kenda in her pink tutu and my first boyfriend (not to mention also figuring out that I don't actually like boys), but now when writing of these seemingly ordinary things, I used what I have learned to recreate my experiences.
I have learned how my line breaks effect the image I create with my words and that rhyming is not necessary in poetry. As I have learned literary devices, I have also tried many. I have learned that rhyming kind of annoys me and that a little anaphora can go a long way; I have learned that if you want a word to stand out, you can put it on it's own line or even in it's own stanza entirely; I have learned that there aren't really any rules when writing your story; I have learned that I do not like to write by the guidelines of formal poetry, but rather find a way that I can look at my poetry and be happy with what I have accomplished no matter what. Of my own abilities, I have learned that it is very hard for me to write formal poetry because focusing on rhymes or stressed and unstressed syllables is just a little bit too much for me.
When looking back at my poetry, I want to be able to tell what I was thinking without recalling the direct memory (mainly because my memory is terrible and I can't remember most of these things in the first place); I want to feel as if I were right in the moment again. Just like when I read poetry written by Sylvia Plath and Robert Frost, I want to be subconsciously aware of the literary devices used in the poetry and consciously feel their experiences.
I am absolutely happy with the poetry I have written, even if it isn't as great as poetry written by a famous poet because it is my work; I used what I learned and made something out of it. I doubt I will make a living off of writing poetry anytime soon and I probably won't be a writer when I am older, but I still want to continue to write poetry about my everyday life.
YOU ARE READING
Ballerina
PoetryThis is a compilation of poetry that I wrote through my senior year of high school for my favorite English class. I wrote these poems at a time in my life where everything was changing- for the better. I hope you enjoy them.
