FAQs

Some people might argue that qualifications such as editorial reviews and prizes are the way to acknowledge a good writer. I beg to differ. Consider Emily Dickinson who, was once an insignificant poet, is now one of the major American poets. This occurs because we, as a culture, define “best” authors in relation to our historical context. Therefore, one century’s bad artist is the greatest of another, and viceversa. Prizes and recognition serve well for those who purse fame and success within their lifetime, but there are other artists who create for the love of it.

I am one of those poets. Instead of participating in awards, I believe my work has to stand and speak for itself. Although qualifications are the easiest way for a poet to become recognized in his or her lifetime, I have chosen to challenge the status quo. This status quo is an invisible entity that states ‘what is’ the best practice from a series of individual points of view that became social, such as a tight circle of critics, and that then applied their analysis in every context without understanding ‘what truly is’: what truly is best can only be considered in a delicate balance between the social and the individual, being the individual, every individual, not only a specific group that defines ‘what is’. Right now, this balance is difficult to achieve because the status quo impedes it as a ghost of ‘what should be’ posing as ‘what is’ rather than accepting the quest toward ‘what truly is’ from an uncertain and constantly balancing point of view.

That said, I try to be in a balancing journey toward ‘what truly is’ but the truth is an elusive concept. A poet can approach it from many fronts. In contrast from a philosopher, a poet can bend the rules of logic and speak directly into the poetic, that is, the creative aspect within ourselves. It is here, my dear reader, where I dwell. I want to speak directly to you. If I am not able to, I will continue to practice because I know that the more I practice, the closer we will get to that point in history where you and I will be able to coincide.

So, why should you read me? There is no should. There is only a why, and that why is because you want to grow together with me in a creative manner that is true to yourself. I publish in the web because not only I want to share my work with you freely, but I would love to hear from your perspective: teach me and let me teach you. Be my eyes, see the beauty I see, and if you want, let me see through yours.

I use poetic forms in a variety of ways. For that reason, if you intend to analyze a poetic form I choose, you should be aware that I might make some slight variations from the original form. For example, suppose the poetic form I choose requires a iambic pentameter, such as the sonnet. In this case, I could variate it to a headless iambic pentameter but also make an exception in one or two lines.

I could also choose not to follow the number of syllables required on a certain form. I might approximate or simply ignore the rule altogether, although the poem follows the same rhyme scheme required. For example, a rondelet requires certain counts (4, 8, 4, 8, 8, 8, 4 syllables) per line. I might not follow these, but I would retain the rhyme pattern (AbAabbA). I could also do it the other way around, that is, I could ignore the rhyme pattern but retain the number of syllables required. I could even do a mix of both.

Why would I do this? First of all, I do it because I favor meaning over form. Also, it is refreshing to create variations of a form. These variations might sound successful, but perhaps not. Nonetheless, keep in mind that one of my purposes is to allow poetic experimentation. These experiments might perhaps not appear to be so radical, but again there is a primordial purpose to that, meaning. So, please take this into consideration while reading and analyzing my use of poetic form.

I am a philosophic poet that creates multimedia poetry, but in particular, I am a philopoiet that wants to define poetry as being.

Why multimedia? I combine images (e.g. macro photography, digital art), music (e.g. soundscapes), and text as well as videos to create an immersive experience. I want you to experience with the most of your senses as possible through the web. With that purpose in mind, my work is constantly evolving.

Why philosophic? Although I have developed my craft with different purposes in mind overtime, currently I write with the intention of leaving a body of work that attempts to disrupt structures of thought through the beauty of the mundane. I want you to experience critical thought, and at the same time , I intend to elevate you into the experience of beauty and fulfillment.

Why poet? I have been writing poetry since 1997. I started writing while I attended Middle school. For that reason, to date, I have written more than 3,000 poems. I have only published around 600 poems in my website. I intend to progressively add the old poems as I continue to create as well. I hope that my work will speak to you louder, why I am a poet, than these words.

If you still want to know more about me, please read my poetry.

A lot of the old artwork uses Photoshop brushes created by Obsidian Dawn. I have also used fractals created by open source fractal software such as Chaos Pro, Gnofract 4D, or Apophysis. I have taken all the photographs in this website unless otherwise credited. I mostly use a 100mm prime lens to shoot the macro/micro photographs. I also have used some specialized software to create some artwork such as Flame Painter, ArtRage, and Livebrush.

To answer this question, I would briefly explain that poetry is being and being is poetry. If we consider this point, then what answer could I provide? My favorite poem is you and me, all of us, existence itself opening up each each instant throughout our breath.

You might still wonder, well, what about other poems and poets? Well, I read and enjoy poetry from Rainer Maria Rilke, Arthur Rimbaud, Amado Nervo, Khalil Gibran, Octavio Paz, Rudyard Kipling, William Blake, John Keats, Walt Whitman, Lao Tzu, Rumi, Emily Dickinson, Rabindranath Tagore, Xue Tao, Sarojini Naidu, Gabriela Mistral, Friedrich Schiller, Novalis, Matsuo Basho, Pablo Neruda, and many more. These poets are just a few names of poets that you might already be aware of their existence. These poets are some names with some of my once ‘have been’ favorite poems.

To answer which poems from all of these poets is my favorite, is like asking: from all birds free in the sky, which one is your favorite? I might have only two or three in my awareness at a certain time of the day/year, but on another day, there are other birds in my awareness. So which is my favorite from so many that I can’t even grasp my awareness yet? Each bird that I see is my favorite, and as it passes by, and leaves me behind, a new favorite comes and takes its place. It all depends on my state of awareness and process of maturity.

Furthermore if I try to answer what is my favorite poem, considering the ones I have written, I can only say that my favorite poem is the one I am currently writing, that is the one I currently am being. The beauty of poetry is presence, the transparency of being.

Therefore once I finish the poetic process, that poem stops being my favorite after a while. The process shifts the moment my pristine awareness acknowledges the end of a process and the beginning of a new one, thus a new favorite arises into my consciousness. The new process becomes the new favorite until it is time to let it go. I might read an old poem and realize there is room for improvement, so I add upon it as it makes me feel happier and fulfilled. However beyond the textual, poetry is an ongoing process just as being is.

Therefore, my favorite poem is me, you, and everything we are as we exist within the embrace of creative love. That said, I know that there are a lot of poets out there doing amazing work. I will eventually compile a list of contemporary poets and friends that inspire and create lovingly, so if you would like me to read your work and perhaps add you to the list, contact me.

All of my acoustic material comes by combining several VSTs through Ableton Live. Ableton Live is a software for musical production, also known as a DAW. The midi controllers that I most use are a Maschine Mikro, an Axiom 25, and a Line 6 UX2 to capture sounds through the cardioid condenser microphone. The VSTs I most enjoy working with are from Native Instruments and Soniccouture.

I love creating music. I have been slowly growing my poeticacoustic collection and hope that my work might inspire you into creating poetic soundscapes too. If you would like to create music too, I will let you know how I got started. If you do plan to work with poeticacoustic productions for the long run think consider saving some money and buy some good software. I would personally recommend the following software for their live performance capabilities:

Ableton Live if you want to have a set of basic sounds because you cannot spend money in certain VSTs.
MASCHINE if you prefer to have a wide set of beats, grooves, and instruments.

However, you might want to get right on hands but still don’t have the budget and the knowledge to work this out. You can start with Reaper, Garageband or Acoustica Mixcraft. I started out with Garageband. I learned that using loops can limit creative potential but it will surely enhance your poetry. Theres is a limit with this approach. As you feel the need to be more precise acoustically, you will outgrow using loops and will start learning music theory.

That said, I also believe that small but concrete projects are the way to progress yourself step by step when you don’t want to spend most of your time with music theory. The danger of focusing only with music theory is that you might not practice and practice is the most important thing to do. Start with an idea and see how far you can go by yourself. If you need help, slow down and don’t get frustrated. Every artist becomes good after a lot of practice and then…. From even a lot more practice, just don’t give up!

A ‘good’ song comes after a lot of hard work, and even then, you won’t please everyone so just remember to be yourself. If you create to feel good about yourself and to share to others no matter their response, then you will get better and better at it because you will keep practicing. However practice might not make your work ‘perfect’, but you sure will find fulfillment as you create what reflects your transparent self and that is ‘perfection’.

Note: If you want to get the basics first I recommend you to start with Coursera’s Introduction to Digital Sound Design to understand how sound works and Introduction to Music Production to understand what is a DAW and what how to create your own music. In order to keep going, search for tutorials if you have questions about a particular midi controller or DAW.

I write poetry in this website with a copyleft licence: I am using a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC 3.0) License. This means that you can copy and remix my work for non-commercial purposes (artwork, poetry, and music) elsewhere as long as you credit me and this website.

Feel free to use this work elsewhere but if you do, I would love to hear about it. Contact me here.

[one_half]You can follow me on social media. I update these account with the most recent blog entries and quotes from my poetry:

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You can follow me @poeticstuffshop to find poetic quotes from old authors (I curate and sometimes rehash each citation):

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You can support my work by being part of my editors. I thank the people who have contributed to my writing HERE.

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You could buy something for yourself or a poetry lover you know at my shop: poeticstuff.com (I design each product).

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You could join the Best of Lina Ru mailing list HERE and the Poetic Stuff mailing list HERE.

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You could buy my book, Being Poetry, and support and read my blog: beingpoetry.com

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[three_fourth_last]I publish poetic films weekly at this site —linaru.com— to cross the boundaries between the pictorial, the acoustic, and the linguistic. I publish on this website because I want to be able to share a continual poetic experience with you. Poetry flourishes within as a way of being that results, through an impulse or a well thought expression, in the poetic act. These artistic compositions might follow some rules of post-modernity such as favouring the concrete over the abstract. Nonetheless, let’s remember Rainer Maria Rilke’s words on his Letters to a Young Poet:

I can’t give you any advice but this: to go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows; at its source you will find the answer to, the question of whether you must create. Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside. For the creator must be a world for himself and must find everything in himself and in Nature, to whom his whole life is devoted. … What else can I tell you? It seems to me that everything has its proper emphasis; and finally I want to add just one more bit of advice: to keep growing, silently and earnestly, through your whole development; you couldn’t disturb it any more violently than by looking outside and waiting for outside answers to questions that only your innermost feeling, in your quietest hour, can perhaps answer.¹

With this on advice on mind, I shall seek for new venues of expression which shall be posted here in the future. Till then.

1. http://www.carrothers.com/rilke1.htm