Metrophobia? Having moved here to Houston and experienced 6 months of a transit system that is nothing at all like what I was used to in southern California, is it any wonder some folks might think the term related to issues of mass transit?
But, nope, that ain't it at all, as my fellow member of the Wordsmith Studio J. Lynn Sheridan, explains.
"If your heart is pounding against your favorite sweat-soggy writing t-shirt as you read a simple poetry post, you just may suffer with METROPHOBIA....
Just think, poets, some of our own treasured genre-writers are sweating droplets of vowels or paragraphs of declarative sentences fearing a frontal attack of poetic sentence fragments....
A quick Google search shows that poetry is the most hated and feared of all the writing arts. There are loads of sites that deal with the hatred of poetry and poetry phobia."
She has written a couple of fine essays on the subject of the fear of poetry and how to overcome it, with a 3rd on the way.
Do you have Metrophobia? = http://www.wordsmithstudio.org/2013/03/do-you-have-metrophobia/
Help for your poetic fears = http://www.wordsmithstudio.org/2013/04/help-for-your-poetic-fears/
With book titles like "Poemcrazy", "A Kick in the Head" and "The Poetry Home Repair Manual", is it any wonder some writers are scared to attempt poetry?
I first discovered an interest in reading poetry and in writing it in 2003.
I joined a writing group at a local Barnes n Noble and soon I had written my very first poem, that July.
The Dandyfosilthiselwig = http://www.madmacedonian.com/2008/01/the-dandyfosilt.html
I began buying books about poetry, writing, and writing prompts and while I've read a few, most have not been touched, a situation I, at last, plan to remedy.
As part of my Library of America subscription (temporarily suspended by me for a couple of years, now) books on the works of famous poets have found their way to my shelves.
I am not afraid to read, or write, poetry, but the interesting thing is that 90% of the original poetry I've written is inspired by the works of others.
I have written original cat poems, cycling poems and others, that are riffs on very familiar and popular poems and songs.
Prancin' in the Rain = http://www.madmacedonian.com/2013/01/prancin-in-the-rain.html
I want to learn how and be inspired to write more original pieces of my own, in a variety of poetic forms.
It's time I start reading more of those books of mine for inspiration. :-D
