Today, I am privileged to introduce David Ellis, award winning poet,  whose thoughtful piece on settings without restriction has transported me into faraway places. I just love your mantra, David: I must remember it next time I venture out in a boat – perhaps it will work better than the wristbands I’ve used in the past.

PS – I’ve just had a look inside your collection – it’s poetry I can understand and relate to: I’ve bought a copy!

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Poetry is such an extraordinary medium to experiment with, stuffed full to the brim of limitless potential, taking us all on exhilarating journeys to faraway places from the comfort of our own homes.

Just like Flash Fiction and Short Stories, you can literally write self-contained stories about anything and everything that takes your fancy, provided of course that you have something relevant to say in the underlying theme or message regarding what you are writing about.

My poems are usually inspired by a specific prompt or a theme in the first instance, since with an infinite amount of topics to choose from, you have to find somewhere to hang your hat and call it home. There may be a recurring poetic line that pops up in my head, which will form the basis of the prompt or theme I ultimately end up using. Perhaps the ending will come first in the poem and I will then work the whole thing backwards retracing my steps remembering the path that was once taken, just like someone would do waking from a lucid dream.

Once I have the foundation of an idea strongly formed in my head, I will then explore where the poem naturally should be set. It is rare for me to start at a specific area or location immediately, as I prefer to set up the emotional core of a piece of writing and then have the flexibility to transport it to where it can live and breathe, without any restrictions as to location or locale. I want my poems to be very relatable to you, regardless of where they (or you for that matter!) find themselves after reading them.

While the majority of my poetry is contemporary in nature, set in the modern day exploring emotional, philosophical and inspirational themes, I’ve dabbled writing poetry based on the dwellings of Ancient Greece, The Pyramids of Egypt, Norse/Viking Mythology, Nursery Rhymes worlds, Sci-Fi Future worlds and Fantasy/Horror landscapes that explore my dreams (and nightmares). I tend to take a story based approach to my poems, where conflicts do arise and have to be resolved. It is through this process that people will find solace, peace or experience catharsis through easily relatable experiences.

If you write from the heart, you will connect intensely with a poem that can be set at any time period or place in the world. We will then be whisked right there without hesitation, clearly invoking the memory that the writer is trying to communicate to us.

When it comes to choosing the setting for poems, you are only limited to where you want to go with your own imagination. Write what you know but try setting your pieces in different time periods or surroundings that are completely unique to you.

Chances are I think you will find the results extremely satisfying and inspiring too.

David Ellis is an award winning poet and author of poetry, fiction and music lyrics.
His debut poetry collection ‘Life, Sex & Death’ won an International Award in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2016 for Inspirational Poetry Books.
He lives in Tunbridge Wells, Kent in the UK.
David is extremely fond of cats and dogs but not snakes.
Indiana Jones is his spirit animal.
He conducts Author Interviews, Musician Interviews (Singer/Songwriter), Photography Interviews, Comic Book Writer Interviews and Screenwriting/Scriptwriter Interviews over at his website.

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Ellis/e/B01BJTNGWY/

His Social Media links can be found below.

Website:- www.toofulltowrite.com
Facebook:- https://www.facebook.com/TooFullToWrite
Goodreads:- http://www.goodreads.com/TooFullToWrite
LinkedIn:- https://uk.linkedin.com/in/davidellisauthorpoetwriter
Twitter:- https://twitter.com/TooFullToWrite