#NaPoWriMo Day 26: Why Do I Write? (Sonnet).

Often, I wonder if it is moral,
This selfish desire I harbour so deep,
I’m in two minds, caught in my own quarrel;
A thought haunts me until I am asleep.

My words amount to nothing, yet I write
Verses that not a soul would ever read,
Written under a moonlit sky at night,
The stars, the only witnesses I need.

But what is a verse when it is not read?
What if all I’m looking for is applause?
Would my poems be discovered when I’m dead?
Or perhaps discarded, or even lost?

But know this– I write knowing I’m selfish,
Knowing that someone, somewhere, will read this.

~© Shubhangi Srinivasan.

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Today’s prompt via napowrimo.net is to attempt writing a sonnet, following as many (or as little) rules of the traditional sonnet, as possible. If you want to check out some of the rules of traditional sonnet writing, check out this post. I love writing sonnets. They are deceptively hard to write. You might think, ‘How hard could it be to write just fourteen lines of poetry?’ But there is so much more to a sonnet than just that. As a fan of writing really long poems, I find the Sonnet, Haiku, and Sijo really difficult to write. But that would never stop me from attempting to write one. That’s what the NaPoWriMo season is all about, anyway!

I chose to write about how every artist feels like they’re selfish for wanting their work to be seen by the world. It’s as though social media has entirely warped our perception of art forever. A bunch of random lines scribbled and painted strategically can be considered art, but not something that an artist has put hours and hours of effort into? That doesn’t seem right. In fact, this was one of the reasons why I hadn’t written on this blog in so long. I kept asking myself ‘But who’s going to read it?’ even though I dearly hoped that it reached more people. That was the goal from the beginning anyway; to build a community here. 

That being said, if you’re an artist, I hope your traction on social media doesn’t affect the way you see your art. I hope it doesn’t make you feel like what you’re doing isn’t good enough. Art has always been subjective, and those who love your art will find their way to you eventually. 

Hope everyone’s having a beautiful weekend! See you tomorrow with a brand new poem!

Yours truly, 
The Shubhster.

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If you like my poem, please do leave a comment or follow my blog! I write a lot of random but interesting stuff, and I try to keep it real. I’d love it if you went ahead and checked out more of my work, while you’re still here. If you think someone you know would appreciate the things I write, feel free to share my page with them! You can also reach out to me on my Twitter or Instagram handles. I always appreciate seeing new people come up to me and tell me they like what I write! It doesn’t happen as often as I would like for it to, but let’s change that, maybe?
This has been day 26 of 30!
See you tomorrow?
Cheerio! Xx

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~Featured Image by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash