Poetry: The Poll

[BurtWorm]

[BurtWorm]

1. I like poetry. I wish it were more integral to my life.

I spent all day yesterday working on a poem to my wife (see thread "Poem for My Wife" elsewhere in the Lounge), and I studied it as an English major, so I know how difficult it is to produce. I have enormous respect for poets. But the truth is, I don't read that much new poetry.

Just today, the NY Times published several poems to the New Year on the Op-Ed page. If I hadn't been working on my own poem yesterday, I probably wouldn't even have glanced at them.

Is there anyone here who reads new poetry regularly? Anyone who writes it regularly?

[wtmusic]

2. Thanks for bringing this up

I have so many truly terrific books of poetry, and so little time spent reading them. How can you read too much poetry?

[dawn]

21. I do...

I like to read the poems found in literary magazines like "Poetry" and the lit-mags produced by major universities. I am amazed at the amount of talent out there, as well as their dedication to the craft.

I write poetry as well, but I am never happy with the outcome. It's not easy. I've never submitted anything for publication. I'm just not ready.

[nostamj]

3. i wish i read more

but still keep a book or two on the pile.

i esp. like to read biographies of poets (and read the poems as a compliment to the bio). working on Rimbaud right now.

i don't write as much as i once did (which was pretty much every day) but still compose when something strikes me. most of my writing is tied up with lyrics these days.

Originally posted in GD on the day the news about deaths of the 6 additional Afghani children broke.

two short poems, december 2003

15 children

so fifteen children
have been slaughtered by soldiers–
another ‘regret’

ours are all at home
not thousands of miles away–
easy to forget

lost treasure

they see the coffins
that fly in only at night–
that is where they are

empty chairs, new grief.
purple hearts trump silver bells–
who will hang the star?

[BurtWorm]

6. Nice poems!

I usually try to write within a form, whenever I try to write poetry, which is more and more rarely. When I was writing my poem yesterday, I agonized a little over its formlessness. I was using the overall sound of language, more than the meter of it, to create its shape on the page.

[nostamj]

9. thanks. i do like to use strict forms

like the haiku stanzas in the ones i posted.

i've also done many variations on the sonnet and even a couple of sestinas...

while i've written 100s of 'free verse' poems, i find the structure to be both a challenge and a comfort at times

[WoodrowFan]

4. you forgot the choice "boring" (NT)

[BurtWorm]

7. I figure "boring" follows from choice 4,

i.e., bad English teachers. Or do you think poetry is inherently boring?

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. poets

I forgot who said this, but there's a famous quote on poets and poetry....

"A poet is someone who muddies their own waters to make them look deeper."

[BurtWorm]

8. That's very poetic!

Deep, even. ;)

10. I love poetry

as you can tell by my signature line from one of the great (relatively unknown poets) of the 20th Century.

Plus I even got an MFA in it, a strange twisted foolishness on my part, but I'm glad I did.

[BurtWorm]

11. Does that mean you write poetry?

What do you do with an MFA in it? Besides starve? ;)

12. well, theoretically

you can get a job teaching creative writing, but since I decided I wanted to live in NYC and just practice poetry in the sense of doing it & the competition for jobs is pretty stiff here, at first I just starved. Eventually I ended up doing what I'm doing now which is legal proofreading (at one of the top firms in the world) and I'm making more money than I ever have in my life. It's surreal to say the least.

on edit-- and yes I still write poetry.

[BurtWorm]

13. You could be the Wallace Stevens of the paralegal profession

Right?

14. or the TS Eliot

without the right wing politics or the William Carlos Williams. There are a lot of forebears who led quite professional lives. If I come even close to their excellence, I'll be glad. That's a lot to hope for though.

[nostamj]

15. i work for a 'top' law firm in NYC too

so many talented people doing the most tedious work!

16. oh no!

well, it does have its benefits, like the holidays and the access to the internet....

[nostamj]

17. oh yes!

and i'm up to four weeks of vacation. unfortunately, i'm out of a job sometime EARLY next year....

[AlienGirl]

18. I read it and write it

When I can't express myself as me, I drag out my books and read the appropriate poem to explain the inside of my head.

Tucker

[BurtWorm]

19. Poetry is your head inside out?

Wicked poetic!

:thumbsup:

[Eccho]

20. Deaths and disasters tend to make me read poetry

I find nothing so comforting as John Donne or Dylan Thomas to express my grief, 'Rage against the dying of the light.' And I have to do a thorough reading of 'The Wasteland' at least once a year.