How do you make it free?

How do you make poetry flow free and just do its own thing.

Well..i don't know i just keep writing words in my head, ideas flow naturally if you're well inspired..

Thank you. What I do is what is going on in my head over and over I just put it all in words.

There are certain "trance-like" moods I have been in, allowing my mind to flow freely. There are only three poems that I have written in a trance-like state, and they are some of my best... and my longest. One of them is #2 in the best love poems section, and it took me 4 hours to write, yet it seemed like just ten minutes. I don't remember fully thinking, I just wrote ... it's amazing. You have to let yourself live the life of someone else, let everything about you be forgotten and just fully be in tune with your emotions.
The other two poems were "Leave Me Lonely, Leave Me Coldly", and Also "The Dove Is Dead", and if I told you the others, it would be too much like promoting my poems.

The poem that is written from the heart is the one that means the most. It can touch other people, as well as yourself, and it is important that if you feel in the mood to write a poem, you immediately do so... unless you are in a life-changing 'thing' like taking the SAT's or you're launching up into space (lol)... But it's important that you realize that you have to be emotionally prepared to write a poem =]

Hope this helped you.

~Stephen White

What i always found worked for me..is that if you didnt complete it..at the time you started it..its gone to shit, anything you have to go back to..not only is hard to pick up where you left off...but you also lose that "in the moment" feel to it

A good way to make your work flow is to write it as lyric poetry. the study of syllabic response developes a rhythm that eventually leads to an ability to flow better...at least this is how it was for me. these days, I am not so much concetrating on syllabic response as I am on the flow and a way to write, even an unrhymed sentence, in a more flowing manner. Lyricism is the best way to develope this I think...

Stephen and some of the others have offered some wise and valid opinions/advice here.
Myself, I just write on whatever moves me, sometimes it is just emotions I can't contain within and it just pours out. But sometimes I really have to work at it though, lol. I write best when heart and mind converge.
That said however, writing from the heart is what matters. Just write as swiftly as you can, it can always be changed later to make it better. I always end up revising/editing/adding to/ re-writing each poem many times from the rough draft. This is a vital and necessary part of writing a good poem. But mainly don't try too hard, don't try to 'force' a poem, just let the words and emotions and thoughts come naturally and smoothly. The more one writes the easier this gets.
Find what works best for you, background music, silence, writing at night or a certain time of day, writing inside or writing outside, writing for someone in particular or writing just for yourself (this works very well for me, it frees one from the self-consciousness of writing 'the perfect poem' or worrying what others will think of it), try different styles and forms, try to find what works best and is most comfortable for you.
Let the poem write itself (and revise it later) and it will flow smoothly.

Peace, Poetry & Power,

Gary Jurechka