Can you choose your themes? - Agnes Krampe's Blog

Cyndi raised some interesting questions on Brian's blog on poetry as a mirror of society. She pointed out that poetry should not just about the beautiful, but also about the ugly, and that it is important for poets to address the wrongs in society - to which I completely agree.

This got me thinking how we choose what to write about, and to which extent we even can choose. I feel drawn to certain themes that urge me to write about them (for me, these are often observations in nature), and I do not feel the urge to write about other topics that interest and move me - they just dont move me to make poetry. I write about the sparrow but not about genocide. From reading, it seems to me that many poets similarly feel drawn to certain types of topics. I have been thinking about why I am not usually writing about war or politics; I have strong opinions, can articulate them in intellectual debate - but do not feel I have anything to say poetically. But then, I am also not usually writing poems about love or children, even though I have people in my life whom I love very much, and certainly love my kids; not writing about something does not have to mean being indifferent.

Do you feel like you are usually writing about similar themes? Do you know why these are the themes that speak to you? Do you think you could write about anything that interests or moves you? If not, why do you think this is?

And on a related note: Is it wrong to write about the sparrow when there is genocide? Are little things trivial before the backgrop of the large themes of society? Is writing about birthday cake immoral when there is famine? (Cyndi, this is absolutely not meant as a stab at you; I think you raise a very interesting issue  here.)