Free Verse Poetry
Naked Night in the Tropics
Free verse is my favorite form when learning how to write poems. Poetry is the type of writing of which I do the least.
Oftentimes I begin a poem and never finish it because it just doesn’t come together.
I usually have to work the words, as I like to call it, in order to get the piece to sound right.
All my poetry ideas come to me when I least expect them.
I had been explaining to a friend about how to write poems. This one just seemed to flow from my mind as I was getting comfortable in my bed on a balmy tropical evening. I worried about having given her the right advice, or enough that would set her on the path of learning how to write poems.
Maybe it was the tropical breezes and moonlight that triggered this poem.
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NAKED NIGHT IN THE TROPICS
Moonlight glistens on the frosted jalousies
making them seem like bars on the window,
but horizontal and scintillating, very freeing,
as tradewinds waft into the room
and billow the curtains.
I breathe in response,
and lay spread eagle, uncovered
falling asleep knowing moonlight
will slow dance across my bed,
washing over my naked body,
with its rhythm as the moon shifts
in the sky
from one window to another
projecting a square of radiance
that distorts and elongates
as the reflection slips
around the room
then becomes lighter with the rising sun,
moonlight awash with sunlight merging,
when I’ll wake and rise and walk into the glowing
and stretch in a bath of light.
My adventure novel, The Tropics, takes place in both the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands. What could be a better place to exhibit this poem.
I put this poem on the Introduction page of the book and let it set the pace and flavor of island living. That is, the flavor of safe island living. The people in the story do not always live safely.
When learning about writing poetry, especially free verse, let your feelings be your guide. Let the moment influence you.
That, of course, also applies to emotional moments like breaking up a relationship, for example.
Sadness is one time when many people claim beginning to learn how to write poems. It just the nature of the art. It’s because we feel our emotions deeply.
Emotions make great beginnings for learning how to write poems.
What type of poetry content do you like to read? What form of poetry; free verse, rhyming, sonnets, or…?
Time permitting, we may cover all of these. Since I don't write a lot of poetry, I'll need to find some great examples to examine. I'm hoping to find some among my friends because all the great poems have already been picked apart; their merits or lack thereof examined.
