The Poetry Tool by Smitha Chakravarthula

Can an art be taught? Someone recently remarked to me that poetry can’t be taught. It is an inborn talent. You are either born with it or don’t have it. And frankly speaking this had been my notion too till recently. The idea that poetry can actually be taught to someone was far from my mind. Recently I read a book by Bob Ross the painter in which he teaches amateurs to paint step by step. It was a paragraph in that book in which actually revolutionized my thinking.

I quote from the book, “Perhaps we should redefine talent and examine the notion that many of us seem to have that one must be talented in order to paint. What is talent other than a pursued interest.”

This set of the thought if painting, why not writing in my mind. After all isn’t poetry painting an image with words. With some thought and hours of surfing the net, I came to the conclusion that poetry can be an acquired art too. And that is exactly what I am doing to do during the course of the following few months. Teach you to try your hands at poetry. I cant guarantee that you will write a great poem at the end of it but if you follow my columns carefully and do the exercise I suggest, you would have a decent poetry in your hands and from there taking it from decent to great is an improvisation task which continues through out the life. And to people who already write poetry, my columns will help you to improve your poetry and try your hands at various different styles of poetry.  I tried my hands a few months back at writing a new style of poetry every day, the results weren’t award winning but it was an enriching experience to me as a poet.