Become The Leaf
Both photos taken at the Botanical Gardens in San Francisco My high school creative writing instructor said three little words that have stayed with me throughout my writing life. He said "become the leaf." To put it in perspective, if when walking down the street or in a park you see a leaf, in order to adequately describe the leaf you must become the leaf. Simply describing its' color, where it resides or what it represents, is not enough. You have to embody the object you see to express poetic verse. It is much easier to simply describe an object however when you allow yourself to become the object whether a person, place or thing, your writing takes on a whole new life and rises to a higher level. It is also much fun to take on another role when writing poetry. My teacher at the time, Dennis Parlato , taught me the basics and allowed us to write freely and openly. He later became an actor and now regularly appears on Broadway. I remember years ago having ...