Ask anyone who’s known me all my life and they’ll attest to the fact that I have never self-identified as a poet.
Yet as I get to know the fictional characters I write for, I find myself describing their POVs (points of view) in poetic fashion.
Or, as I like to call it: Poetisophical™ — philosophical bedrock that allows you to deduce the state of heart.
This is a little different than traditional poetry, in my opinion. Maybe it’s actually poetry upside-down.
Poetry is known for its invitation to sit for a moment in someone else’s experience. Good poetry inspires sympathy or empathy in the listener — transporting them into a vicarious experience that allows them to see something in a new way.
My “poetisophical” poetry is a bit different in that the genesis is often the motives of fictional characters in a story. They might be the good guy, they might be the bad guy, or they might be some form of chaotic neutral in the middle.
But they have their points of view and their motives, and the poems I write often speak to the bedrock of their character.
Then, to beat the character in the story, you must beat their bedrock.
Here’s one such poetisophical poem that has most people split 50/50 on loving it and hating it.
What do you think?
CHASING DOGMA
By: Sheralyn Pratt
A truth
becomes a lie
the moment it arrives.
For truth cannot be stopped
—sometimes it is,
sometimes it’s not—
it holds its space
and plays its part
but holding still
is not its art.
For truth is on the move, you see,
it has things to prove
and places to be.
So if you spot it once
and proudly mark its plot,
remember this:
truth cannot be caught.
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Chasing Dogma, Copyright Sheralyn Pratt 2019