Writing Confessional Poetry

I have been writing a few confessional poems lately. It has not been easy. I guess the reasons are at least a couple. The first one is that I find it difficult to talk about myself. But, I also feel that I have reached an age where I can more easily deal with sides of my past that have left a scar. The second reason is that most of the times I end up writing confessional poems as prose poems. I think I am still mastering the art and do not feel always very comfortable with it. This must also be the reason why I choose it. The topics are uncomfortable, and so must be my writing.

If most of the times I write a poem on the spur of the moment, with little if no editing at all, writing a prose poem becomes a real task. I write many drafts. I cut out so much of what I wrote initially and yet these poems end up being much, much longer than my non-prose poems. 

I have just finshed writing a poem called Unter den Linden, as the name of the Avenue leading to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It deals with events that took place 15 years ago. It took me many days to complete it. It was a very hard poem to write in terms of subject matter. It brought back to my mind many beautiful and yet sad moments. It made me realize the importance of friendship. I am including a few pictures of places I mention, here below, just to give you a feel of the atmosphere that pemeates my words in this poem. I also mention two of my loves in this poem: a character from a poem by Rainer M. Rilke and Damiel, the angel interpreted by Bruno Ganz, in Wim Wender's Wings of Desire, simply one of my favorite movies.

I wonder how many magazines will be interested in my confessional poems. I expect many rejections in the long run, One of them was rejected this week, but it comforted me that the Editor wrote that she found it compelling. Another poem, It Was the Magnolia Tree, was published in Red Paint Hill Poetry Journal last month. It is confessional poem, but it's not a prose poem this time. You may read it here!

Unter den Linden & the Brandenburg Gate

The Pergamon Altar

The Victory Column (aka Goldelse)

Bruno Ganz as Damiel & Goldelse in Wim Wender's Wings of Desire