April is National Poetry Month…
Whoa… don’t all celebrate at once. I can hear many of you cringing at the thought of poetry, but I’ve discovered it’s not that bad.
Seriously if you’re reading or writing the right stuff then it can be a wonderful experience.
How do I know that? Well, at one point, I was obviously one of those cringing… 🤣🤣🤣.
I had no concrete reason to dislike poetry. It did remind me of high school though, and all the old English blah, blah, blah and $20 words that I had no frikken idea what they meant.
I found it frustrating and totally unenjoyable (is that a word? 🤔).
Even stuff like Shakespeare…
Seriously, am I supposed to take it all to heart and embrace the nonsensical meaning of sentences that go on forever or speak in a language that I don’t know or care to learn?
Why does everyone love that shit? Oops sorry… I feel like that question is a huge creative faux pas as all writers are to be hinged somehow to the ancient texts of “the Greats”. 🤦🏻♀️ Ugh!
To be honest, I think poetry (and other flowery prose or old English writing) always made me feel stupid because it seemed to be written in code.
I remember in English class, someone would comment on a poem with some clever observation as I scanned the text and wondered if we’d just read the same thing. Sigh…
Here’s the thing, when I read, I like to feel the words and understand the meaning behind them. A good poem can make that happen.
A poem that’s well written can leave you thinking and pondering life’s nuances for a long time. That’s powerful. Check out Canadian poet Shane Koyczan.
He does what they call “spoken word”. The words come from the depth of his soul as he shares his stories in a poetic way.
It’s not about what’s missing… just like reading a story, the reader can fill in the gaps with their own experience–it’s about what’s on the page.
I don’t want to be talked down to.
Feeling stupid or incompetent in trying to read something, is not fun. It’s snotty and needs to be tossed. 🫣You, hereby have my permission, to toss anything that makes you feel less-than. That should never… ever… happen and is unacceptable.
I’m a writer. I develop characters and settings. Situations change. My twisted writer brain meanders through some tough situations to develop a full, fleshed-out story.
Poetry though, is different.
I enjoy writing poetry. I’m not sure it’ll ever win any awards or go on and make me famous, but I do it anyway.
For this month, my goal is to complete ten poems. I’ll publish them on my blog and let you decide whether they’re any good. I won’t be crushed it you don’t like them. 😉
Tell me your thoughts on poetry. Do you love it? Loathe it? Indifferent? Have you tried your hand at it?
Pic: Source Unsplash. Artist: Trust “Tru” Katsande
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