  Poetry
This week: Labor Pains: To Birth A Poem Edited by: fyn  
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A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness.~~Robert Frost
I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean.~~Socrates
Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.~~Carl Sandburg
Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.~~Leonard Cohen
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.~~Khalil Gibran
Ink runs from the corners of my mouth
There is no happiness like mine.
I have been eating poetry.~~Mark Strand, "Eating Poetry," Reasons for Moving, 1968
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It seems there are several rather distinct methods by which a poem is pulled (often kicking and screaming) out of the mind, down through muscle, bone and nerve and slapped or lovingly etched upon the page.
For some, the idea is born, to lie flat in a pan, allowed to simmer while being spiced up by a sprinkle of metaphor, a dash of alliteration and healthy spoonings of words. Left to simmer, it roils, tumbling and tossing the concepts about until it boils over, leaving a poem splattered on the stove that exists in the back corner of our minds.
For others, the idea comes and bursts forth, words dancing (and tripping) across the page, exuberantly throwing its arms out, waving banners of intricately woven words. The poem cavorts, twists, leaps into the sun, tap dancing on a passing cloud and eventually storms into being.
While yet others tackle massive stone blocks of thought with minute chisels, descriptive dremels, grains of sand and drops of water to formulate their poem. They ponder each and every word with grave contemplation, fixing, rewording, polishing their work with both a fine cloth and mallets.
Two of the earmarks of a finely crafted poem are that the words fall upon the ear like a well performed piece of music and that it flows, layering meaning to communicate its point. Some folks seem to be able to just sit down and let the poem erupt from their minds to land upon the paper fully formed, whereas others fight for every nuance. It is when it 'looks' easy that we too often forget the mental labor, the skill or simply, the sheer talent that writer is imbued with. Regardless of how easy or difficult the birth, when the poem has life, the writer has every reason to be very proud. Mentally tired, too!
How do you approach your poetry? If you chisel each word, try sometimes just to let it spew forth. If you just let it flow, try to mix it up and really focus on a new way...try a form you find difficult! Sometimes doing it a different way will pull something marvelous out of you! The best part of all is when you create something unexpected that you are really proud of! |
|  | Aquarian (13+)
what I want to say when someone asks, "what's your sign?"
#1920147 by Rhyssa  |
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njames51 says: Hello Fyn! A brilliant poet, I reviewed many of your poems! And I learned much from reading them. "Does Poetry Matter"? Hell, yes, it matters in so many ways. For even a novice reader, a seemingly short piece like Yeats' "A Cradle Song", Langstons' brief piece "Dreams"
"Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow."
are proof of the daring ,illuminating, and symbolic underpinnings of the English language,.
I am a poet and a reader of poems. I see language used emotionally, personally , raw, philosophically, and with great attention to the beauty of words. Poetry heals, it awakens both reader and writer to experiences, nostalgia, the quest to become better people. If we had no poetry, where would people go to find validation for their struggles, their raw emotion, their commonality with 75% of the population? We NEED Poetry!
YUP!
RedButterfly  responds to a question: This is to answer your question about why people didn't respond to your question about people sharing a long poem. I'm sad to say I don't feel that I've read enough poetry. Its not that I haven't read some. In fact I own many books of poem. When I come across a poem I like I tend to buy some of the poets books. And of course I've taken poetry courses in college. But, I didn't get much exposure to poetry in grammar, Jr high or high school. (the school grade categories dates me). Anyway, I was recently required (in a WDC poetry class) to read Edger Allan Poe's "Raven" and I fell in love. I've listen to poets say that poem from memory and I've admired them. Maybe I will challenge myself to recite it from memory and give myself a little admiration. That's a good item for my bucket list. What do you think?
Not only do I think it a great idea, I also love that you are now getting to read some old classics!
BIG BAD WOLF is hopping  writes:Poems will always be needed. Sometimes a character in a book likes poetry - thus a poem will be needed. In fact, many of the books I read have poems in them, which are clues to the thing that will save Redwall, or some such thing.
monty31802 adds:I feel exactly the way you make your points in this News Letter. Thank you for this one.
Thank YOU!
drjim comments: Fyn! Great NL on poetry! Always enjoyed your thought processes, and yet, for me as an 11 year old to recite an oh say 100 line poem in front of an auditorium filled with a bunch of other 11 year olds was......WAYMAZIN' FYN! Nothing doing on my part, even today, with that kind of memory recall, but then again, I'd never tried to do that, am better with numbers (far better with mathematics than with writing), and other things as well. You are so right, seeking to tap into a mainframe of your mind and grasp alliteration out of the clear blue sky sometimes is amazing in and of itself! I love writing and reading poetry because it relaxes me, causes introspection of a kind, tells me that others' muses are truly unique, and when we take in this as the 'total human experience', it all boils down to one word - Life. Living with poetry coming from the heart sometimes is unspoken, like in that movie where Cate Blanchette portrays Queen Elisabeth I, and in asking Sir Walter Raleigh for just a single kiss, immediately afterwards she says to him with all her heart...."I die"... and rests her head upon his chest. If you ask me, a poem can be two words if one believes it is true, free-verse keeping it real enough, for is it therefore poetry imitating life...or is it the other way around? When I finish one poem that I truly love, I feel pride welling up inside of me of a kind that, if anything, I exclaim silently "I live!", and go right back to the task, writing yet another that I hope others too will find, enjoy, and broaden their perspectives. Again, a great newsletter that never fails to uplift, and I thank you for this so very much!
*big smile*
Additional note for those involved: UPDATE: The 2014 WDC Anthology is in the midst of the judging process ... we had a great turnout with almost 200 entries so it
is taking some time to work our way through them all. |
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Poetry: July 16, 2014 Issue [#6438]
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