Why I put this poem on my page
About the title
You may be wondering why I chose the title "Message in a Bottle". I wrote this poem almost a year ago, and until I put it up here, it didn't even have a title. The reason I chose that title is both because of the nature of the message (Someone sends a message, not knowing who will recieve it) and because it literally is a message in a bottle that I threw into a river near my home. Why did I do that? Because I was inspired by reading a book by the same title as this poem - Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks. I was inspired to send my poem, which I had written months before, and let the water carry it to whomever it chose (Or be dashed to pieces on a rock somewhere, but I ignored that possiblility). Unlike the guy in the book, however, I did not identify myself, because I wanted to imagine that somehow it found its way to someone who would really cherish it, and I thought if I got a call from some beach bum that had found it washed ashore somewhere and thought it was the funniest, sappiest thing he had ever read, that would totally ruin the pleasure I took from sending it.
Why I put this poem on my page
I was a little hesitant to put this one up for two reasons. The first is the somewhat personal nature of the poem. The second is that I am literally sickened by the thought of some disinterested person surfing my web page and raping my poem, by which I mean skimming it over quickly without really experiencing it (If you want an explanation of why I call that rape, you will have to e-mail me and ask me, because I don't want to go into it here). I decided I would share it because first, although it is personal, it is a part of who I am, and the purpose of my webpage for me is to convey to the reader who I am. Secondly, I put it up because I am especially fond of it among the things I have written, and although I am sure there are a few people who will callously rape it, I am hoping that there are also a few who will read it carefully, envisioning every image, perhaps even reading it aloud to themselves. It is with these hopes that I put it up.
About the poem
This is actually the first poem I ever wrote that didn't rhyme. Up until I wrote this poem, I thought free verse was the stupidest idea anyone had ever come up with, and I still think most free verse poetry stinks (see my thoughts on Second Essence). When I first started thinking about it, I kept trying to make it rhyme, but it just wouldn't take to that form of poetry. Finally I just wrote it out as prose, and I was astonished at the result. It felt like poetry when I read it aloud, but it didn't rhyme. I was pretty sure it wasn't free verse, because it wasn't stupid and incoherant - it actually made sense. You didn't have to furrow your brow and try to decipher some hidden meaning in a bunch of unrelated words. I am pleased with the end result, whatever it is, and I hope you enjoyed it too.
-J.R.