Art, Poetry, and Fries

In the same way potatoes have their process of becoming a serving of fries, a thought or phrase goes through a process to become art. Schlosser describes how most people don't realize the process the fries go through before landing into the hands of the consumer which is similar to the admirers, or the readers, of art, who usually doesn't realize the process that the artist goes through to create their art. The consumer will usually just think of the tastiness of the fry not the process, just as the admirer only appreciates the work of art not the process of how it came to be.

Artists have many different procedures of how to create art; however, they all start with an idea or phrase. Some artists draw "a simple circle... a random line" (Turow 2). Others stare at a canvas, or paper, until something appears. A lot of artists are inspired by something someone says, something they see, or just a thought they have. After the initial inspiration, artists visualize the picture, or story, on the canvas. A "small aspect of current work can become an entirely new piece of work and may suggest another direction" (Turow 2); which means they already have their inspiration for another painting.

To narrow the broad world of art, let's move on to poetry. Poets are often influenced by actions created by themselves or by other people. Greg Doherty tells us, on drake.marin.k12.us, "we (poets) need to know a poetic moment when it bites us in the ass" (Marin 1). Learning to spot a poetic moment isn't hard; it's conveying it in a poetic way that makes poetry hard. Some poets even brain storm. Other poets let the words flow through them and rewrite it several times before being completely satisfied. Readers want to know the story behind the emotion of the poem. Readers want a better understanding of the poet, which makes the reader feel closer to the poem and poet. If someone were to read a poem about a person being excited about their future and their goals, they would want to know what those goals are. If a poet does not include the story behind the emotion it isn't a great poem, it might be good but it's not great.

A poet has to analyze their poem before they even write it; poets can't just, for lack of better a better phrase, half ass the poem. Poets have to decide how much of their life they want to share and if they don't want to share a lot they might have to take a different approach to the poem or change it. It might be weird to say, but a poet may have to mentally prepare to write a poem. Writing poetry can be a release but it can also bring harmful emotions. If one is writing about a recent death of a friend it can help with the releasing of emotions, or it can stir other emotions from the past, or present, making a toxic mix. Poets usually know themselves enough to know if they are able to write about a certain situation in a healthy way.

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