How would you describe poetry’s role
in your life? As a job, a hobby or a vocation?
For me, it’s definitely not a job. However,
the fact I don’t use poetry as a means to generating my primary source of
income doesn’t mean it’s any less important to me, nor does it mean my own
poems are any worse (or better!) than stuff by people who do. Moreover, in my own personal case, viewing poetry as a job would kill off my capacity to write. This is because poems are ring-fenced in my mind as one of the few parts of my life in which I can do as I please without worrying about the fallout!
But then the term ‘hobby’ makes my hackles rise immediately. It insinuates I might be playing at being a poet, categorising my writing
alongside stamp collecting or trainspotting. And it also gives the impression
that poetry plays a secondary role in my life, which isn’t true.
And what about ‘vocation’?
There’s a concern it might sound pretentious or feel like a pose, but it’s the
word that works best for me. It doesn’t mean I necessarily spend umpteen hours
a day writing poetry, but then I’d argue anyway that the genre doesn’t require or
even benefit from lengthy periods at a desk. Instead, poems are often better
for being filtered through lived experiences. My life feeds into my poetry and
my poetry into my life. And that interwoven relationship is the reason why writing poems
is a vocation for me.
Just been revisiting this anthology of contemporary poems about War, put
together by Nina Lewis as part of her Worcestershire Poet Laureate role.
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