Wayne (Scott) Ray: Writing Philosophy

When I first met Dorothy Livesay in 1980's, and showed her my poetry for an evaluation when she was Writer in Residence at the University of Toronto, she had this to say: "Of the 110 poems in this collection, only 10% are any good and only one stands out as the best. If you can figure out why these 10 poems stand out and why that one poem is the best, then work on that style or theme and you will develop into a poet."

What I found and later developed into my writing style, was what I refer to as street poetry. Spontaneous, poetry of the moment. I found my early poetry was superficial, beat around the bush, type writing. I began to say what was really on my mind. To be more specific in the use of words and images. Raymond Souster looked at the first collection of poems and his critiquing was very helpful in further honing my writing craft. I have tried to work on different themes for each collection, not relying on any particular style or content as some poets seem to do. Presently, my writing has reverted back to the old themes of love & relationships, but still in keeping with the spontaneous, say what you really mean, style of writing. In this new Century my writing is about 50% poetry and 50% prose.

Wayne (Scott) Ray's works copyright © to the author.