An Оde to the Beginning – A Тhank-You for Guidance

No master just randomly materialized himself out of thin air. Poetic skill and finesse, like every artistic endeavor, develop through repetition, guidance, and adaptation. One of the many aids I had throughout my early creative stages were marked by a certain individual: Jeannot. I would like to dedicate this special blog post to my, dare I call him, sensei. He helped me structure my first poetic efforts and guided me throughout many early steps. (If you want to know more about the creation of the poem or Jeannot, stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Nicolas about my first steps.)

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Beauty

Look for Beauty not in Nature
Not in flowers, mountains, stars.
There can be no Beauty greater
Than the one born in our hearts.

What your soul is looking for,
Outside of you will never find,
Know, that Beauty, at its core
Is a product of the mind.

So, when the world seems dull and grey,
And Life naught but a sad display,
Remember that your eyes alone
Can paint the world in joyful tones.

Beauty not in Nature search:
Let it from your heart emerge

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 I remember talking to him about my starting ideas, how I wanna progress them differently and how syllables help create imagery and rhyme schemes. I still recall, to this day, how we looked at the construction of Hip-Hop flow elements to deepen my understanding of rhythmic behaviors within different rhymes. The aforementioned poem was a gift for a love long passed but it portrayed a certain technical approach to writing paired with a clear concept and a nice progressive idea. The last couplet, or how I like to call them the “bangers”, help in creating the last strong imagery that ideally combines the whole poem.

To finish this post, and to reminisce about the sea metaphors (remember those I mentioned literally 1 blog post ago?), I would like to show you one of my all-time favorite poems with the name deep sleep.

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Deep Sleep

When soft blue blankets me surround,
And drops of water silence sound;
The darkness me to rest invites:
A dream so sweet, no will to fight.

At peace then, calmly, one more breath;
Sinking slowly down the depth,
Already strength is leaving me,
A light, now, I believe to see.

Thunder then the silence breaks –
Rush of Life, my body wakes!
A shock, a gasp, the moment gone:
The grasp of Hypnos came undone.

As sleep can’t steal my night away,
Shall Death not take a single day.

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The imagery this poem has to offer is what makes it special to me. I really like the duality, mixed with its innate ambiguity which is developed throughout the poem. I could go on and on and ramble even more about stuff I barely understand myself but I want you to put whatever you desire into this piece.

 I do fully believe that without Jeannot’s shared knowledge, I would not have been able to attain a certain degree of poetic “know-how”. So here are my sincerest acknowledgments for this awesome person. Thanks for the time and effort you put into helping me become what I am today.

Sincerely yours,
A friend