written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Sunday 16 October 2011

You were my rock

06:00:00 Posted by Lara Clayton , , , , , 6 comments

by Sue Sheard

What aids me most when I’m writing? I have to say it depends what I’m writing about. Dreams give me plenty of ideas for story writing. People watching coupled with an idle curiosity give me even more. When I was writing my dissertation, I got through a large box of chocolates in one afternoon and often wished I’d never given up smoking – certain that a trip to the bottom of the garden for a crafty fag out of eyesight and earshot would help. A few years ago when I was desperately stuck Lara recommended Julia Cameron’s Write to Right to me and it has probably become the nearest thing I will ever have to a bible because, like a favourite teacher, she never fails to point out the right direction. When it comes to writing poetry though, I find the thing that helps me more than anything is pure emotion, whether it be the abject terror I feel when the kids are hopelessly late home and all means of contact are switched off or sorrow when somebody close has died, total happiness when I’m having a great day with people I love or violent anger to people who’ve hurt me in the past. This poem was inspired by the latter two.

You were my Rock

You were my rock and I was Sisyrus
Day after day I pushed you uphill but
Night after night back down you rolled
Crushing me under the weight of your load.

You were my world and I was your Atlas
Spinning and turning while making your days,
And your nights, your meals and the beds.

You were my anchor and I was the boat
With a world to explore but kept
all at sea far from freedom and fun.

I was the kite and you were the string
till I found a strength to snap you and
carry me, leading me onwards, upwards
Outwards, out here.

6 comments:

Ashley Lister said...

Sue,

Thanks for joining us here at the blog today.

I think Julia Cameron works as an excellent recommendation for any writer. She has a way of making her point so it doesn't stifle creativity.

And I enjoyed 'You Were My Rock.' Powerful poetry with elemental descriptions that reflect perceptions of relationships. Thought-provoking material.

Best,

Ash

Lara Clayton said...

I love the way you've acknowledged different resources for different types of writing. And that the resources that aid stories aren't always the same as the ones needed to write poetry.

I thought that emotion was a really interesting choice, but I can completely understand how a powerful / intense emotion can inspire a poem; be the stimuli to write poetry. It's these moments of raw emotion, captured within stanzas, that result in emotive poetry being successful. Meaning that the words become capable of stirring similar emotions in the reader.

Thank you for being today's guest blogger, Sue. It's certainly given me something to think about.
Lar x

Christopher James Heyworth said...

The Myth of Sisyphus, surely, and an image so apt for a relationship in which most of the effort used to come from you?http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/sisyphus1.html
I like especially the loosened kite image - the gaiety of kites is a perfect image for your escape.
I find that gulping down gallons of previously unknown poems inspires. A hearty recommendation for The Salt Book of Younger Poets and another recent Salt publication, The Best British Poetry 2011. Both are full of goodies.

Damp incendiary device said...

Sue,

The images of Atlas and Sisyphus are so clear and concise. A brilliant piece of writing.

I'm going to see if I can find a copy of Write to Right, as I'm up to my ears in writing portfolio :)

Thanks for the great post.

Lindsay said...

Thank you for the great post, and wonderful poetry. I really loved your poem, it was bittersweet but you have got such great poetry out of it. Another one here who's just ordered 'Right to write' from Amazon here :)

sue sheard said...

Oh the shame of it- how I wish I could say it was a typo! Never mind I have a whole new range of emotions to draw from and my newest resource is a book on greek mythology and the resolve not to rely on memory alone from now on- it keeps failing me.:)