Poem

Natural poem

In the poem ‘so you want to be a writer’ written by Charles Bukowski, it gives a lot of views about how a poem should be. The repetition of ‘don’t do it’, ‘don’t be…’ and the use of ‘do something else’ and ‘you’re not ready’ are the imperatives and judgmental statement, giving a strong opposed position of some otherwise thoughts and writings.

There are two most explicit imageries presented. First it is the rocket - ‘unless it comes out of your ||soul like a rocket’ (50-51). It suggests an outburst of feeling is a must for writing a poem. Second it is the brain processing – ‘unless the sun inside you is || burning your gut’ (55-56). It suggests another must which is the sudden inspiration like a light-bulb turning on in the brain.

A lot of enjambments are used. Categorizing the verses by each suggestion, take the following verses as example. ‘[I]f you have to sit for hours || staring at your computer screen || or hunched over your || typewriter || searching for words, || don’t do it (8-13). The enjambments used are to give ascending elaboration of one’s behavior of brooding the best poem. Also, the enjambment gives a focus on the word after, which is also the first word in the verse like ‘woman’ (18), ‘rewrite’ (21) and ‘searching’ (12). The clear presentation and the division of every suggestion give readers the main points quickly.

Last but not least, there is no explicit rhymes except ‘or’ (14) and ‘your’ (10). It actually represents the natural way of speaking and suggests a point without ‘saying’ that a poem should not be made rhyming on purpose.