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Sam Gamgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 24, 2022
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DFW, Texas
Does anyone here enjoy poetry? I enjoy several poets but Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is my favorite. Here is a good one to get started.

IMG_8044.jpeg
 
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Sam Gamgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 24, 2022
648
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49
DFW, Texas
I read quite a bit, and I love the art of story telling, but poetry seems to be more about word games and being clever to me. I mean, I could deal out a few favorite poems if under pressure, but as far as "enjoying poetry" goes... I just don't.
I understand that. I think the average reader, and certainly most men, do not enjoy poetry.
 

telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I understand that. I think the average reader, and certainly most men, do not enjoy poetry.
That’s a huge statement. Most people have not been exposed to, taught correctly, or interacted with “poetry “. What they have had done to them is to have their noses ground into literature that is self absorbed, overly complicated, and contextually meaningless to children and young adults. That’s not a reflection on poetry so much as it is poor teaching.
 
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What they have had done to them is to have their noses ground into literature that is self absorbed, overly complicated, and contextually meaningless to children and young adults.
That is an even larger overly huge statement, ha ha. That is like saying people don't like oatmeal, because they have not been taught to like it.

Poetry has its charms. But, like tap dancing, it is an art that has to compete with much more dynamic and interesting arts, so newer generations find it less interesting.
We could also say that it has evolved. Rap, songs, and other forms of word jazz sorta keep the spirit of poetry alive. But, for someone to just burst into extemporaneous poetry in a public address is about as weird as someone bursting into a tap dance.

"I hope you look both ways before crossing my mind...
Because I'm cumming baby..." ~Bootsy Collins
 

Sam Gamgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 24, 2022
648
1,678
49
DFW, Texas
That’s a huge statement. Most people have not been exposed to, taught correctly, or interacted with “poetry “. What they have had done to them is to have their noses ground into literature that is self absorbed, overly complicated, and contextually meaningless to children and young adults. That’s not a reflection on poetry so much as it is poor teaching.
I understand what you mean and think your point is valid. No one "taught" me to love poetry or literature (though they tried in my school days), but much later on in life I stumbled upon things that I enjoyed. My desire was for knowledge and wisdom and I figured out the way to get it was in books. Finding and enjoying poetry along the way was an unexpected bonus.

I'll also say that I believe people do like poetry to some degree without even realizing it. When anyone dies, someone will be asked to get up and "say a few words," and what they are looking for is something beautiful and meaningful to be said, which is poetry. On special occasions like anniversaries, people don't know what they want to say but they do want to say something special, so they buy greeting cards with fancy words on the inside. In other words, when something is weighty and important, we reach for poetry.
 

makhorkasmoker

Part of the Furniture Now
Aug 17, 2021
564
1,353
Central Florida
I am a shepherd.

The sheep are my thoughts

and all my thoughts sensations.

I think with my eyes and ears,

my feet and hands

my nose and mouth.



To think a flower is to see it, and smell it,

and to eat a fruit is to know its meaning.



And so, on a very hot day,

sad at enjoying it so much,

I lie flat in the grass,

I close my hot eyelids,

I feel all my body, lying down in reality,

I recognise the truth, and I’m happy.


This poem is by Fernando Pessoa--the great Portuguese writer. Or rather it is by one of his "heteronyms." I believe it was the Catholic mystic Thomas Merton (another writer I admire greatly) who helped introduce Pessoa to the English speaking world. Merton was interested in Zen and saw a lot of Zen in some of Pessoa's poetry (though Pessoa probably didn't know much about Zen). Anyway, I've been on a Pessoa kick lately, off and on, really enjoying it. His "Book of Disquiet" has long passages that are like a prose poem.
 
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See...
EE Cummings...
plato told

him:he couldn’t
believe it(jesus

told him;he
wouldn’t believe
it)lao

tsze
certainly told
him,and general
(yes

mam)
sherman;
and even
(believe it
or

not)you
told him:i told
him;we told him
(he didn’t believe it,no

sir)it took
a nipponized bit of
the old sixth

avenue
el in the top of his head:to tell

him
While I love the poem, because I've had time to study it, and I "get it" now. The idea is obscured in meaning. It's like hiding the main idea, which goes against the very reason for communication.
And, while I do enjoy word games and riddles, it just doesn't seem like the best way to get an idea across... except in songs, where most people may enjoy the song without really giving the meanings much thought. And, how many times have we ruined our love for a song when we realize that the idea, when decoded wasn't what we thought it was about.
 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
That is an even larger overly huge statement, ha ha.

"I hope you look both ways before crossing my mind...
Because I'm cumming baby..." ~Bootsy Collins
Not at all. I taught poetry for 37 years and I worked in the education system with others, from kindergarten to undergraduate, who taught it. My observations were that poetry was generally taught to students to familiarize them with specific poems chosen by some far away committee who felt those poems needed to be taught. The teachers who taught them generally were not poets, generally were not interested in poetry, and almost to a person, not writers themselves nor were they interested in language so much as they were interested teaching. That isn't to say it was a rule that this observation was always true, but I was hard pressed to find exceptions. And yes, exceptions are out there - we all have had them as teachers.

Poetry is not rhyme, nor is it simple shorthand for being too lazy to write something longer. What it is, however, is the effective use of the language to transmit an idea, thought, feeling, etc in such a way that the reader is not only able to understand what is being said, but is able to experience it in a manner that is authentic to themself as well. Rhyme, meter, structure, personification, metaphor, hyperbole - these CAN BE aspects of poetry but they are not poetry. Most teachers revert to literature that is overflowing with these literary devices and it has the effect of overwhelming the student and distracting them from the actual poem.

To say most people do not like poetry is ridiculous in that we clearly see that most people enjoy music with words. Songs, ballads, raps, ... these ARE poems. Therefore, one can conclude, "Most people LOVE poetry."

Agualung, Freebird, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Love, Love Me Do... all poems. Yes, they have been set to music, but it doesn't make them any less poetry.

My recommendation has always been to introduce poetry to students by first engaging them with the literature that is relevant to them - songs, memes, sayings, etc and then to allow them to explore the aspects of language that make it exciting - hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, idioms, metaphors, etc, as well as meter and rhyme. And by all means, let it be playful and not serious. That can be held back for later.

I would suggest that more often than not, when a public address is given to an audience, some aspect of it will indeed include an aspect of poetry or will be poetic itself.
 
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Not at all. I taught poetry for 37 years and I worked in the education system with others, from kindergarten to undergraduate, who taught it. My observations were that poetry was generally taught to students to familiarize them with specific poems chosen by some far away committee who felt those poems needed to be taught. The teachers who taught them generally were not poets, generally were not interested in poetry, and almost to a person, not writers themselves nor were they interested in language so much as they were interested teaching. That isn't to say it was a rule that this observation was always true, but I was hard pressed to find exceptions. And yes, exceptions are out there - we all have had them as teachers.

Poetry is not rhyme, nor is it simple shorthand for being too lazy to write something longer. What it is, however, is the effective use of the language to transmit an idea, thought, feeling, etc in such a way that the reader is not only able to understand what is being said, but is able to experience it in a manner that is authentic to themself as well. Rhyme, meter, structure, personification, metaphor, hyperbole - these CAN BE aspects of poetry but they are not poetry. Most teachers revert to literature that is overflowing with these literary devices and it has the effect of overwhelming the student and distracting them from the actual poem.

To say most people do not like poetry is ridiculous in that we clearly see that most people enjoy music with words. Songs, ballads, raps, ... these ARE poems. Therefore, one can conclude, "Most people LOVE poetry."

Agualung, Freebird, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Love, Love Me Do... all poems. Yes, they have been set to music, but it doesn't make them any less poetry.

My recommendation has always been to introduce poetry to students by first engaging them with the literature that is relevant to them - songs, memes, sayings, etc and then to allow them to explore the aspects of language that make it exciting - hyperbole, personification, onomatopoeia, idioms, metaphors, etc, as well as meter and rhyme. And by all means, let it be playful and not serious. That can be held back for later.

I would suggest that more often than not, when a public address is given to an audience, some aspect of it will indeed include an aspect of poetry or will be poetic itself.
I think that we are saying the same things to make different points. Tap dancing morphed into street dancing, where the mounted shoe taps were no longer relevant, but to say that one enjoys tap, because they enjoy break dancing, is no longer valid. Thus, because one enjoys music, doesn't necessarily mean that one enjoys poetry.
I coach a Speech and Debate team, so I am familiar with how speeches take on the same aspects as poems. But, it's not necessarily a poem. No more than we think of Snoop Dogg as a poet, but in which he really is in a way.

I remember poetry slams in college, which were like having bamboo skewers driven under my nails. While poetry has come into many aspects of other parts of our culture... you'd be hard pressed to make a dollar selling a books of poetry or hosting a poetry reading, outside of an academic event. And, I say this with one of my closest and best friends in college being named our state Laureate. Her struggle with making it to the top of creative writing in poetry, is that there isn't a dime in it.
 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I understand what you mean and think your point is valid. No one "taught" me to love poetry or literature (though they tried in my school days), but much later on in life I stumbled upon things that I enjoyed. My desire was for knowledge and wisdom and I figured out the way to get it was in books. Finding and enjoying poetry along the way was an unexpected bonus.

I'll also say that I believe people do like poetry to some degree without even realizing it. When anyone dies, someone will be asked to get up and "say a few words," and what they are looking for is something beautiful and meaningful to be said, which is poetry. On special occasions like anniversaries, people don't know what they want to say but they do want to say something special, so they buy greeting cards with fancy words on the inside. In other words, when something is weighty and important, we reach for poetry.
Agreed.

I find poetry,

in small doses,

to be an excellent remedy
for filling
the tedium that exists

when I am not fishing.
 
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telescopes

Pipe Dreamer and Star Gazer
I think that we are saying the same things to make different points. Tap dancing morphed into street dancing, where the mounted shoe taps were no longer relevant, but to say that one enjoys tap, because they enjoy break dancing, is no longer valid. Thus, because one enjoys music, doesn't necessarily mean that one enjoys poetry.
I coach a Speech and Debate team, so I am familiar with how speeches take on the same aspects as poems. But, it's not necessarily a poem. No more than we think of Snoop Dogg as a poet, but in which he really is in a way.

I remember poetry slams in college, which were like having bamboo skewers driven under my nails. While poetry has come into many aspects of other parts of our culture... you'd be hard pressed to make a dollar selling a books of poetry or hosting a poetry reading, outside of an academic event. And, I say this with one of my closest and best friends in college being named our state Laureate. Her struggle with making it to the top of creative writing in poetry, is that there isn't a dime in it.
Well said.
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
Oh Lydia, oh, Lydia, say have you met Lydia
Oh, Lydia, the tattooed lady
She has eyes that folks adore so
And a torso even more so
Lydia, oh, Lydia, that encyclopedia
Oh, Lydia, the queen of them all
On her back is the Battle of Waterloo
Beside it the Wreck of the Hesperus too
And proudly above the waves
The Red, White and Blue
You can learn a lot from Lydia
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
She can give you a view of the world
In tattoo if you step up and tell her where
For a dime you can see Kankakee or Paree
Or Washington crossing the Delaware
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
Oh, Lydia, oh, Lydia, say have you met Lydia
Oh, Lydia, the tattooed lady
When her muscles start relaxin'
Up the hill comes Andrew Jackson
Lydia, oh, Lydia, that encyclopedia
Oh, Lydia, the champ of them all
For two bits she will do a Mazurka in Jazz
With a view of Niagara that no artist has
And on a clear day you can see Alcatraz
You can learn a lot from Lydia
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
Come along and see Buffalo Bill with his lasso
Just a little classic by Mendel Picasso
Here is Captain Spaulding exploring the Amazon
And Godiva, but with her pajamas on
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
Oh Lydia, oh, Lydia, say have you met Lydia
Oh, Lydia, the tattooed lady
When she stands, her laps go littler
When she sits, she sits on Hitler
Lydia, oh, Lydia, that encyclopedia
Oh, Lydia, the queen of them all
She once swept an Admiral clear off his feet
The ships on her hips made his heart skip a beat
And now the old boy's in command of the fleet
For he went and married Lydia
I said Lydia (he said Lydia)
I say Lydia (we said Lydia)
 
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Sam Gamgee

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 24, 2022
648
1,678
49
DFW, Texas
Here is another poem I enjoy:

The Listeners​

By Walter de La Mare

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door;
And his horse in the silence champed the grasses
Of the forest’s ferny floor:
And a bird flew up out of the turret,
Above the Traveller’s head:
And he smote upon the door again a second time;
‘Is there anybody there?’ he said.
But no one descended to the Traveller;
No head from the leaf-fringed sill
Leaned over and looked into his grey eyes,
Where he stood perplexed and still.
But only a host of phantom listeners
That dwelt in the lone house then
Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight
To that voice from the world of men:
Stood thronging the faint moonbeams on the dark stair,
That goes down to the empty hall,
Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken
By the lonely Traveller’s call.
And he felt in his heart their strangeness,
Their stillness answering his cry,
While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,
’Neath the starred and leafy sky;
For he suddenly smote on the door, even
Louder, and lifted his head:—
‘Tell them I came, and no one answered,
That I kept my word,’ he said.
Never the least stir made the listeners,
Though every word he spake
Fell echoing through the shadowiness of the still house
From the one man left awake:
Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,
And the sound of iron on stone,
And how the silence surged softly backward,
When the plunging hoofs were gone.



FYI: This is an EXCELLENT reading of this poem if interested:
 
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bullet08

Lifer
Nov 26, 2018
8,932
37,913
RTP, NC. USA
Here's a proper one.

Address to a Haggis - Robert Burns

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’ need,
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut ye up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

Then, horn for horn, they stretch an’ strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
Then auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
Bethankit hums.

Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi’ perfect sconner,
Looks down wi’ sneering, scornfu’ view
On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither’d rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit;
Thro’ bluidy flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He’ll make it whissle;
An’ legs, an’ arms, an’ heads will sned,
Like taps o’ thrissle.

Ye Pow’rs wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o’ fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies;
But, if ye wish her gratefu’ prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!
 
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HawkeyeLinus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2020
5,580
40,851
Iowa
I've been reading voraciously since I was little and had a flashlight under the covers, lol, but I've just never read poetry to read poetry. I appreciate it as a literary form and usually get something out of it when I actually read some poetry and certainly don't dislike it, but in all the years I've been buying and reading books I've not once purchased a book of poetry. On our trip last summer we made an impromptu (and terrific) stop at the Kerry Writers Museum in Listowel. After learning about some famous Irish writers I resolved to actually get something other than a novel or two - i.e., seek out and read a play or some poetry in the evenings while enjoying a pipe at our rental cottage. All my forays into book stores led to me buying a couple of old novels by Maurice Walsh and . . . . zero plays or poetry, so there you are.
 

litup

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 16, 2015
722
2,206
Sacramento, CA
I was an English major with an emphasis in writing (a creative writing major, in other words) so I do enjoy a lot of poetry. A lot of what I like would be classified as "contemporary" American poetry.

My favorite poets are Robert Bly (his early work mostly), Charles Bukowski, Donald Hall, Wendell Berry, and Mark Strand.
 

mso489

Lifer
Feb 21, 2013
41,210
60,433
Don't get me started on poetry. Right now I'm reading Robert Bly's collected work, Louise Gluck's collected poems, and Stanley Moss who I'd kind of overlooked until now.

Literary agents mostly don't take poets as clients, because there's too little money in commissions, so poets have to be their own agents, and some are better at one job or the other.

At the same time, it should be understood that poetry is a billions of dollars industry once you see that hip-hop and rap are a genre of poetry, spoken not sung, despite the musical accompaniment.

One unique feature of poetry is that it can join remotely distant aspects of human knowledge in one stream of thought -- say, for example, religion, chemistry, needle work, urban decay, history, military science, slang and animal husbandry, all in one poem and to a separate and intended purpose.

I somewhat think in poetry. For all the good that does me.