The Avatar State

The Avatar State:

Just as there are four elements
Existing in harmony with one another
So too are there four states of poetry:

[Air:]
Air is the element of freedom
Exemplified by the use of free verse
It has no structure and no true shape
But allows us creative control

Through the use of air as a poetic medium
We allow our emotions a freedom to be
We allow them to soar upon worded wings
Gliding freely through the skies of literature

[Water:]
Water is the element of the changing flow
It can be hard as ice or as soft as snow.
Its nature resembles the power of rhyme
Which grants us order and a structured mind

By pushing and pulling the words we may-
create a picture of what we wish to say
Painted upon a canvas of emotional lines
We create a sculpture of structured rhymes

[Earth:]
Earth is uncomprising
Craggy on the whole, it resembles the concrete
Poetic soul
Like the craggy mountains with peaks and valleys
It can take us down
A creative alley. For rock resembles-
A stoic man, unmoving by nature
he is destiny's hand. He holds to his beliefs
Indifferent to emotion, for he is the land
Surrounded by an ocean.

[Fire:]
Fire is the last of the four elements
But it is the most difficult of all to portray
For in order to display it I must write in song
And that cannot be done today...

[Avatar:]
And so I leave you now, with the knowledge of four
But I hope you've enjoyed the taste of this lore
I hope to display in these coming weeks
That I've learnt and mastered all and each.

"For I am Avatar Chen, the last Word-Bender"

-Chen Yuan Wen, 19th June 2012