I like to read and write poetry, but I know a LOT of people that just throw up their hands at the very word---POEM. At our writer's workshop this week, we talked about poetry, what it is and what it's not which must have inspired me enough to write the following poem. I hope it'll help some of you, who find poetry nauseating, to see that it can be fun!
WHAT IS A POEM NOT?
by me
A poem is not a how-to manual
A poem is not an artificial stance
nor a convoluted puzzle to decipher
A poem is not a rhyme
although it might like to rhyme
A poem is not a recipe guaranteed to delight
A poem is not fraught with ulterior motives
A poem is not mysteriously profound
And those are some things poems are NOT
A poem IS a collage of words
bumped up against one another
some simple words--some absurd
Most words are ones most have heard
A poem is made like a child's bouquet
of random thoughts one's observed
A poem is just what a poem IS
Oh my gosh--this might be one!
Cute! Did I inspire this one? ;-) I like it!
ReplyDeleteYes, you and many others! :-)
ReplyDeleteI didn't understand poetry--or like it--until my junior year of high-school. I believe it was a substitute teacher who explained it to me...you're not supposed to read it with your mind, but with your heart. It's pure words, meant to evoke images and emotions, but not necessarily make literal sense. That little bit of advice made such a difference in both my reading and my writing.
ReplyDeleteAnd I repeat: I HATE classes that make you analyze writing!
I don't know how to get my name on this, but it was me, Jean Marie, who just wrote that (above). I guess that's how!
ReplyDelete