Poetic Reflection Week 15

#1: Elyas Mulu Kiros    

       

What is the reason you participate poetry picnics of  Jingle Poetry At the Gooseberry Garden?

The Gooseberry Garden helps me to not only share my poems with fellow bloggers--passionate and supportive poets and creative writers--but it also keeps me up-to-date with their new poems. It is a fantastic place. I learn something new every time I visit it. I also get introduced to amazing bloggers, who are new to me, whom I may never discover on my own.

I love the support and the welcoming nature of the Jingle poets--they always inspire and humble me.

How does writing poetry impact your life? Why poetry?

Poetry is my mistress, I know that may sound a cliche but it is a reality that I experience daily. She is demanding, she forces me to act bold, unafraid, and she pushes me to always be original, to remain true to myself, and to explore new territories. Whenever I am happy or sad, she lets me express my thoughts or vent my frustrations. She never judges me. She just listens. She only encourages me to let it all out and she likes to expose me naked. My life without poetry would just be like a pile of waste. To move forward, to live my past behind, to move on, I need her. She calms me down when I am angry, mad, or disgusted. She gives me comfort when I feel alone. She joins me too to celebrate my moments of happiness. She helps me escape from my worries, troubles, dilemmas, disappointments, hurts, etc. I need no alcohol, cigarette, or any other substances that certainly have the potential to ruin my life. She replaces them all. She is the best mistress one can ever ask for. I am obsessed with her. And I would rather be obsessed with her than anything else. She allows me to tell my truth, which can either have a healing or a negative effect on readers. I know that the truth hurts. No one wants to heart it, including me. But she forces me to face, express, explore, and share it with others! But when I share what comes out of me, I never intend to hurt or harm anyone.

How many blogs do you have?

I have three blogs: Kweschn, Destination-X, Kemetsahift Alem (Books World) ... Kweschn is where I post my original works, poems and short stories mostly. Destination-x is where I re-post what I discover online. Kemetsahift Alem is where I share quotes or excerpts taken from Ethiopian literary books, written in Amharic (Ethiopia's official language), Afaan Oromo (second widely spoken language, similar to Somali, it's a Cushitic language), Tigrigna (third major language, which is also the official language in Eritrea, similar to Amharic--both are semitic languages).

How long you have been blogging?

Since I was a Freshman in college, end of 2004. But I have a love and hate relationship with blogging. I used to create blogs and destroy them after a month or so. The one blog I had before these three blogs lasted almost 2 years. I mainly blogged in my mother tongue Amharic.  I used a pen-name then. And still I was terrified by the idea of getting exposed, judged, scrutinized by readers. People were very positive about my writing, but I never considered my writing as good. I still have that insecurity, but the more i write, the better I am getting at fighting it.  So I deleted that blog. Most of my friends were unhappy. However, I couldn't help it. So I created these new blogs, each different from the other. Now I blog almost daily. And I don't think I will delete any one of them. But you never know.

Which poem you have written so far best demonstrates your poetry talent?

That am not sure. If the question was "which poem is your favorite", I would probably answer it, but this too would be hard since all are my babies. I don't think that I have a poetry talent. I am my own worst critic. Even though I believe my writing is not good, I just write to liberate my soul, I have to write, otherwise, I would go mad or something.

So if I were to be like the horrible parent who favors one child over another, I would pick this poem as my favorite:

http://kweschn.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/yellow/ ... I wrote it recently, and I like it a lot. I never thought that I would write about Yellow in such affectionate manner even though I always considered it as one of my favorite colors. I thank my Yellow Flower who inspired me.

When I think of you, I think of YELLOW
I feel very calm, relaxed, and mellow
I feel so joyful, I feel so happy
I reach out to you like a puppy

You are my yellow, my source of peace
My glimmer of hope, my autumn kiss
You inspire me, my yellow petal
I jump, I fly, I feel immortal

You make me smile, my Northern Star
When I think of you my tears disappear
You put me into a light trance
When in my mind your lips touch my lips

 

Thank you!

Cheers

http://kweschn.wordpress.com

#2: Julian Corvinus Javier

What is the reason you participate poetry picnics of  Jingle Poetry At the Gooseberry Garden?

- it always has been my dream to touch the sky, to reach the stars, even amidst through all the difficulties and hardships, pain and suffering, anguish and turmoil, and all the rough memories from and of my life. the reason I participate in such activities is to make use and maximize this gift of creating literary art. i want the world to know of this gift that was given to me. I want to share and show the world what I can do. when I create poems, it has always been my goal to make a masterpiece that is better than the previous piece trying to outdo and outwit myself whilst touching the hearts and souls of my readers, making them smile and feel happy, making them feel sad, making them feel angry, making them laugh, making them cry, or sometimes even scare the crap out of them. I want to communicate using the language of my heart, my passion, that which is poetry to all the souls I can reach with my poetry all over the planet.

How does writing poetry impact your life?

- without poetry, I may have died long ago. I would've become a lunatic in a correctional facility or maybe even a crazy fiend of evil intent killing people without remorse whilst killing mine own soul. when I finish a poem it makes me feel calm.

Why poetry?

hmmm... I actually do not know why... I actually do not know when it started but before I knew it, words came out of my mind into my hand into my pen into my paper writing about what I feel, see, hear, smell, or even taste. sometimes it scares me how I cannot control my hand while I write my pieces, like I am being possessed by some sort of foreign entity. I feel a rush and then i write what my mind tells me to write. and if I try to hold it in, it drives me nuts hearing my mind recite the words over and over again. so, the question "why poetry" honestly, I really do not know why. I guess it's the language of my heart and soul... or maybe even my alter ego. hidden amidst the words of my poetry is my life's story, my unstable mind, and personality.

How many blogs do you have?

- I only have one, it's http://crimsoncorvus.wordpress.com/ and it's titled "The Red Raven" or the "The Crimson Crow".

how long you have been blogging?

- I made my blog April 2009 but never had the chance to look after it until November 2010. i started pimping my blog back in february 2011. so, it is safe to say that I started blogging my poetry February 16, 2011 as that was the time I became hooked to my blog.

Which poem you have written so far best demonstrates your poetry talent? Please give the poem content along with link to your poem post, thanks.

- I have several poems that I think best displays my art but I'd like the reader to decide which one is the best for I am but a mere human with flaws and I do not want to lift up my own chair. as Socrates have said, "As for me, all I know is that I know nothing" I also know where I stand. I also do not like stereotypes and I would not want to stereotype myself that is why I leave the decision to the reader. I currently have 81 poems in my (still growing) collection of poems @ <a href="http://wp.me/pTDjw-fq">"A Murder of Poems"</a>. if your curious why don't you check out my collection, click one of the links from table, read my work and see for yourself.