Hello all,

I've been on a bit of a poetry kick recently. Besides the posts on this site from earlier this month, I've been working on some pretty good poetry at my apartment, while Lauryn Hill and Bob Dylan blast out my speakers.

One poem that I'm working on is this most "hip-hop" sounding piece of poetry that I've ever written. It could easily fall into a beat, and has a few rhymes within rhymes that help the poem roll off the tongue a lot easier. In keeping with a hip-hop tradition, I also added some self bragging lines that are famous in a lot of popular hip-hop. It's fun stretching myself in new directions, and making new stylistic choices with my word play. It keeps things interesting and fresh, so that I don't get bored too quickly.

I'm also working on another poem inspired by Syd Barret's kids song, "Effervescing Elephants." Although the lyrics to that song aren't all that complicating to the ear, they're proving to be a lot more complicated to try and mimic. Maybe I should just ditch trying to make it sound like the song, and just write it in a way that I know how. I'm trying to make it a fun little poem, that would sound like "Magical Mystery Tour" era John Lennon lyrics. The more I write poetry, the more I admire the great poets out there. Good poetry is HARD to write. When I hear Dylan, I'm green with envy.

matt out