StarFields writes: I have to come out of that mysterious Art Solutions closet and admit that for me, a poem is not a poem unless it was prepared and delivered by the energy mind.

This is a short essay on the nature of poems and poetry from the Art Solutions perspective.

The conscious mind can - very much at everyone's peril! - edit the original, energy mind derived poem after the fact if it wants to; but the original poem is a translation of the data stream from the energy mind to me.

The energy mind deals with a level of information density that is exponentially higher than the conscious mind ever could, and it can factor in rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, and every single occurrence that one might find in poetry elegantly, and most of all, in the right places and at the right time, for the right reason.

The conscious mind can't do that; it creates "Frankenstein monsters" - a horrible monstrosity constructed from dead parts without a soul - when it tries to construct a poem using the bits and pieces that have been written about, from personification to alliteration and back again without the input of the energy mind.

In the Art Solutions style of working with the energy mind and with poetry, all we have to do consciously is to give the energy mind the parameters or set up - what do you want this poem to be, to be about?

What format do you want it to be in?

How long, who is this poem for?

What style, and most of all, what purpose does this poem have?

The energy mind goes to work, calculates the variables and delivers the stream of internal representations that are then smoothly translated into words - and we have what I would call a true poem.

This process is exactly what all true and acclaimed poets across the ages have actually been doing.

It isn't mysterious, and you don't need any "talent for poetry" to be able to do that.

What you do need is to have a connection with your energy mind, to trust it, and to be able to receive what it sends to you without getting in the way.

Then there is the translation into words, and that's a basic skill that gets a whole lot better with practice.

There will be numerous poetry exercises on this site in due course to assist with the practice of writing poetry like that, gaining confidence in the process and being able to use poetry and the writing of poems for all sorts of very useful things - for exploration, for experience, for learning something new, for changing the world, for a prayer, for a spell, for something that will turn a loved one's heart this way, or that.

Poetry is a very powerful thing; very magical, and very primal to human beings.

Bring it to life for you and it can change your life.

It certainly changed mine.

Love poetry, write poems every day!

StarFields

January 2010