I’d like to study poetry writing. Not reading, writing. I
want to do that at the University of East Anglia, UK. I’ve been hearing about it for a
long time and it sounds like the ideal place to go for creative writing.
I love this line from the UEA website- “You have been writing
poetry for long enough to know that it is a vital part of your life.” That is
so true. It’s impossible to experience something moving and not want to transform
it into a poem.
Being with others interested in writing, in a course that
encourages writing day in and day out…that would do wonders for my development
as a poet. Looking at one’s own work can be tough. One doesn’t know how to
sharpen it. Getting feedback from mentors would be learning.
UK as an environment is conducive to poetry. The poets, the
sheer diversity of writing that it is home to, is fodder for thought.
Today, brevity is again the soul of wit, with Twitter,
Facebook et al. Imagism remixed. What is poetry but compressed intensity, as a
professor called it? The world needs poets today, to interpret the influx of
information we are deluged with.
Lyrical ones, so that set to music, their words can drown
out the chatter of the internet. A course is one part of the equation. The
other is what we bring to the course. Together, magic can ensue.
Poets have listeners today. Let’s give them something worth
remembering.
