Carson Letter 11/29/11

Questions
1. Tell me how you go about your writing?
I write poetry to learn. I write poetry to explain things to myself. I write poetry to learn about myself, to learn about what I believe. But most importantly, I write poetry to learn about what I don't know. Writing poetry allows me to understand subjects I did not know I could understand. Writing poetry is my art which makes me feel really good when I've written something that both teaches me and teaches someone else also. There is always so much more to learn. And I've got so much more to write, and learn.

2. How do you get started?
It just happens. I had written some poems before, but not many. I was bored one day and wrote a poem, not a love poem, just a poem. From that moment onward, I have never quit. I did not learn how to write poems in school though. I learned on my own. I took poetry classes, English classes, history classes, science classes, accounting classes, economics classes, and they all taught me a lot, but nothing teaches you how to write except by just doing it on your own. And that is true whether it is football or computer programming or portrait painting. You learn it only when you want to learn it. You learn it by doing it because you want to do it, not because you have to do it. Such is true with everything.

3. What are your favorite conditions about writing?

There is no favorite moment to write. One writes when one is ready. Sometimes I am confused, or frustrated, or angry, or even hungry or extremely happy or just plain ole "feeling goofy". Then I sit down at a blank page or computer screen.
Sometimes something someone said to me comes to mind. Sometimes my reaction to something someone said comes to mind. But mostly, some word is just in your mind and you write it down. And from that one word you explore where it goes, what sentence comes out, what phrase appears out of nowhere. Maybe a metaphor comes alive and you ride it to the very end. But sometimes nothing comes out, so you wait a while, sometimes a long while. Writing requires a lot of patience.
Sometimes I can "see it" (the poem) and it is written for me, but usually the poem just follows itself to its own destination. Some poems have a life of their own ready to be unleashed from the brain cells you have. Some poems activate brain cells you didn't know you had. This actually happens the more you write. And oh yes, that does feel good, really good, for real good.

4. Do you revise your work? How?

At first I thought nothing should be revised. But that is wrong. I always revise what I have written. And then I revise it again. There is always a shorter, and quicker way, to say what you meant. The shortest explanation is the best explanation. And of course, with the computer, always use spell check and let it check your format. However, there are words and formats the computer does not know, so keep a dictionary close by with your sentence diagramming skills, and challenge the computer if you do not agree. In fact, challenge everything, all the time. Challenge so you can learn.
Someday I'm going back through my early writings, and revise every one of them. Everything is subject to revision, everything can be improved, even you and me, even though we don't want to admit it. There is always a way to improve.

5. Do you have copies of drafts and finished pieces I could take to school? If so, can you give me some examples?

6. Is there anyone who reads and comments on your work if so who?

My friends comment on my poems� sometimes. I send some poetry, but not much really, to my friends and relatives. It is hard to comment on someone else's work, especially a friend or reletive, so mostly i just write. One poem is hanging in the church lobby. I have joined a couple of online poetry sites, but those are usually not very productive. One person at church called my poems "intense". Actually, that is one of the best compliments I have ever had.
Otherwise, I am my own critic. I read them, and edit them almost weekly, and add/subtract to my web site quite often. I still learn from what I wrote a long time ago. A good poem stands the test of time, and can have multiple meanings. I'd like to get others to read them, but I don't expect that to really happen. Poetry is not really very popular. These poems are written mainly for me, and I've learned to accept that as a fact. But it is fun for me when others do read them. Putting them on my website is the only publication I do.

7. How do you go about editing and proof reading?

I am a big believer in sentence structure, though poetry does give you a lot of freedom in structure. I write what is called "Free Verse", which means rhyming and sentence structure and punctuation are not required. Stephen Crane and R.Buckminster Fuller are my favorite Poets.
However, I absolutely believe everyone should know how to diagram a sentence, for real. I really do believe in the diagram procedure of sentences. I use the system all the time. I am very hyper-sensitive to the proper use of the similar words (to, too, two) and (their, there, and they're), etc.
But I am also fully open to using words in metaphors to mean more than the original intention of the word. In fact, that is the reason poetry is so important: the use of words to mean more than their original meaning gives new meaning to the ways we see to world.
But every time i read my poems, I am editing them, every time.

8. What do you usually write about?

I write about truth, justice, and the American way, at least the way I see truth, justice and the American way. I write about science, religion, and poetry itself. I write about my feelings as I see and observe the world from the little bitty quantum atoms to the vast universe expansion and the bending of space and time.
But most of all, I write about Love. It may not seem like it, but Love is the underneath meaning of everything, even science and hatred and war. And while every line I write does not say Love and God, every scientific and philosophical thought expressed is about Love, whether the scientist or philosopher even knows it. We humans don't even agree about what Love really is. Nor does science know how to quantify it. But Love is like a good turkey & dressing dinner all prepared and coming to the family festival. Love is the essence, and I hope that is what comes out of my writings.

9. Is there anything else that you would like to tell me about?

Be true to yourself. Write or do some kind of Art, and be free to change your art over many times through your life. You may do art in writing for a while, or you may paint for a while, or do stained glass for a bit, or sing in a rock n roll band. But computer programming has an art, architecture has art, teaching is art, and just being good and helping other people is an art. And you may return and do some of the other art forms again and again. This is good. You become your own Artist. Art is doing something beautiful emotionally. Just do your art, and explore, because we all have art within us like a river finding the way to the ocean. And the ocean is filled with Love. That is how you become a true artist, you describe the order in chaos.

Have Fun
And
Never Quit Learning.

Stay gold�

And may all your fours have sevens�

�Carson's Grandpa Helt
� www.CharlesHelt.com