Poetry

Yes, occasionally I've used "poetry" in my work -- the bit of prophecy at the beginning of Guardian of Honor, some spells/prayers in the Heart books, and in Heart Quest a very mediocre song. I won't say that genre novelists use different techniques than poets, and aren't good at it, but it's rare that I've found excellent poetry in a novelist's work, and that certainly includes my own. I'm not sure if the mindset or techniques that make a good novelist can transfer to poetry. I'd say writing as writing and all techniques can be learned...but I just don't feel that way today. ;)

In any case, I DO understand that it takes time to craft a poem, or even very lyrical prose, and sometimes I simply don't have the time.

That said, I'm going to insert one of my favorite poems of the season:

The Shortest Day

So the shortest day came, and the year died,
And everywhere down the centuries of the
Snow-white world,
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.

They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen.
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.

And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, reveling.
Through all the frosty ages you can year them
Echoing, behind us--listen!

All the long echoes sing the same delight
This shortest day
As promise wakens in the sleeping land.

They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends, and hope for peace.
And so do we, here, now,
This year, and every year.

Welcome, Yule!

--by Susan Cooper, 1977 http://www.thelostland.com/biography.htm
written for The Christmas Revels
http://www.revels.org/