Poetry and Writing

I've always had a knack for poetry. I think I (usually) kind of write in the style of Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein, who we read a lot of in elementary school. In 5th grade (or at the age of 10) I composed the following:

If the world were upside down,
there would be trouble in every town!
People would be walking on their heads,
falling right out of their beds!
If we smiled, it would be a frown,
if the world were upside down.

I remember deliberating endlessly whether to say "if the world WAS upside down" or "if the world WERE upside down", but I think I finally figured it out. I wrote others too of course, but that's the only one I fully remember as it's one of the shorter ones. I really enjoy the rhyming and nonsensical style, cute and clever, quaint and fanciful, or, a personal favorite adjective, "capricious"... kind of inspired by Lewis Carroll and the very definition of the word "whimsical"...Jabberwocky, anyone?
(Of course I love Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe too, and most poetry in general really!)

I also like beautiful writing, and I like clever metaphors and pieces that don't really serve a purpose but at the same time make you think. I haven't really felt comfortable putting any of that in my blog yet, and have instead put in snippets of poetry that serve the same purpose.

The perceived danger of writing like that is that it can seem, as they say, "hokey", ("mawkishly sentimental, corny, or noticeably contrived, artificial" from www.thefreedictionary.com) to the reader, and I have read some blogs with writing like this that DOES seem a bit like that to me. Even though I can appreciate the cleverness of the ideas...sometimes it just seems overdone. I don't want to seem like that to anyone, or myself, I don't want to look back and think "what was I thinking", especially if what I chose to write about was personal (which it often is, in that genre of writing).

I also don't want to presume that people actually want to read that kind of material, that I have written. It's by genre not a form of writing that is best for communicating with a wide audience, but is most effective when personalized in a special way. The intention of that writing is to make people feel rather than give them information, and that each person responds in their own individual way. But, I feel most comfortable when my posts have a purpose and clear message to convey, or showcase some event or product/company that other people can attend or try for themselves.

But, maybe I'll try one of these days, just writing something for the sake of the writing, and put it on the Internet. Maybe I'll presume people will want to read it, and not find it hokey...and just not care if they do find it that way. Maybe someday. (Maybe soon.)

(Maybe someday I'll stop writing with so many excessive commas that I have to proof-read just to edit them out, too!)