People long for connection–
Through words,
through emotions,
through experiences.
Sharing these commonalities
and expressing ourselves
offers a narrow, rickety bridge to others,
allowing them to cross over
into our minds,
our hearts,
and our souls.
Love, possessing the most
universal tendencies
–heartache, betrayal,
happiness, passion–
provides the sturdiest
of all bridges.
People feel it,
they experience it.
Whether they’re writers
or readers,
they’re familiar with it.
They don’t question
whether the boards
have weathered too many storms
or if the ropes are tied
tight enough to hold them up.
They have crossed
that bridge countless times before,
and they know
that they’ll reach the other side.
I have a Q&A on my instagram where I write poems based on questions readers ask. The the question for this was: “Why do so many poets use their words, talents, and failures in love to write self-centered poetry about so called love over n over again when there’s oh so many colors in the rainbow?”
My answer (described more in-depth): Poets are just people with emotions who turn their feelings into a piece of writing. Many poets do step beyond the stereotype and write about a vast array of topics outside the realm of love or relationships, but love still plays a strong part in poetry because it evokes so much passion in people. It can create so many different feelings about ourselves, others, and the world. Love can alter our perception and I think it will always dominate poetry for that reason. However, there are poets who focus on love and write nothing else, and a lot of people who don’t read multiple poets’ work, think love poems are the only kind of poetry that exist. There are a lot of possible topics out there, but poets tend to choose those that speak and mean the most to them and readers do the same. If a poet wrote about some experience no one can relate to, why would anyone read it? It’s passionate, it’s marketable, and it’s meaningful.
P.S. – apparently, as the person who’s question I answered told me, this “fails as a poem.”
If you would like to ask me a question about myself, writing, life, anything really, just comment below. I will write a poem to answer your question!
peoplethingsandlife.wordpress.com 
Love the use of an unquestioned bridge of strength for love. How quickly we often cross it.
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Just gorgeous writing! Happy New Year xo
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This was wonderful. Thank you for writing something about us poets. You are a true gift to poetry😊
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Wise words in your longer reply. I couldn’t agree with you more.
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Lol at self-centered poems. I am a poet and frankly speaking if I can’t relate in someway to what I’m writing it can be written as well as it should. Love your poem by the way. Cheers!
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Writing about something you love or like doesn’t mean it’s self-centered. Just like how the saying goes, “You can’t give what you don’t have.” So how could you possibly write something you don’t feel like writing about? And I do agree with you Allison. We write to build a connection to others – we write to express ourselves. We don’t need to write about something just to impress others. Whether only one or two (and even if no one understands but ourselves) can relate to our feelings, it’s okay. As long as we are sincere. wew! Just sharing my thoughts 🙂
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Lol I agree completely. I thought it was a strange question. Then the person who asked it ended up telling me that I failed…
We can only write what we know. But if you’re trying to get published, some topics are probably more marketable than others, such as love for example. However, sincerity is key. You need to mean what you say in order for people to connect with it.
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I can’t think of a reason why that person would say that you failed. You’re great at what you do. I don’t know if he/she is just bitter or what. Haha. Anyways, we don’t need to explain ourselves to anyone, right? We write because we want to.
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I actually get a lot of rude/hateful comments on instagram… it’s quite discouraging, really. But thank you!
And exactly!!
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People who don’t understand are usually the ones who are loud about something. haha! Cheer up Alli.
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yea…here’s the question what I want to know: these bridges, how’s the best way to burn em?
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If this fails as a poem, then this is the most wonderful failure I’ve seen. Seriously, I love it.
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Lovely writing!! Happy New Year!!
My blog: https://literatureandstuff.wordpress.com
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I believe that only love and death – extremly emotional moments in a human life – confront us with our true self (for better or worse).
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Simple and firm. A good read.
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Your poem put a smile on my face. What would this world be without love, and therefore even though it wrenches us out leaving us completely naked – honest and our true selves, vulnerable, strong and weak, we still want to fall in love and be in love. Thank you for sharing.
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Loved your poem and post. I have a question as a fellow poet/writer :’ why are we so comfortable to share our soul through writing in a way we cannot in life.’
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Consider that nothing fails as a poem. —CC
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