Poetry

Sheila did this a few days ago, so I guess I will too.

(I'm sitting in my office waiting for the bottom to drop out of our weather. I have only one class today, at 11 am. If they cancel classes before it [if it gets bad], I'm going home, otherwise, I'll go and see how few many of my students show up.)

Anyway:

1. The first poem I remember reading/hearing/reacting to was

Heh...one of the first things I ever remember reading. It wasn't great art at all but I remember vividly looking at it on the page of the book at age 4 or so and realizing I could read it - that I wasn't remembering it from having had it read to me, that I was actually reading.

It was a poem in a little paperbound book (more of a pamphlet, really - it was stapled on the spine) from Humpty Dumpty Magazine. (Does anyone else remember that magazine? My parents had a subscription to it for me when I was a child and some of my early reading experiences revolved around it).

I cannot remember the title or the author but it was about a rabbit who had a cart full of flowers. I can't remember if he was a rabbit florist (and sold them to make a living) but that is sort of the impression I retain. I remember there was a picture of it on the page - a semirealistic line drawing of a rabbit, on his hind legs, pushing a cart full of flowers next to the poem.

There were also lots of nursery rhymes, A. A. Milne, Dr. Seuss (yes, it is poetry! It rhymes! It has meter) in my childhood.

2. I was forced to memorize (name of poem) in school and........

I only remember the first line. It was something like "I wanted to see the self so I looked at the willow."

We also memorized some parts of Shakespeare plays. And in French class, we had to memorize poetry. I still remember a lot of Sous the pont Mirabeau, qui coule la Seine..."

Especially the refrain:
Vienne nuit, sonne l'heure, le jour s'en vont, je demeure..

I can still mostly recite the poem, and quite dramatically too. (Thank you Dr. Pryce, whereever you are.)

3. I read/don't read poetry because....

I read poetry because it is a distillation of experience. It captures a mood, a spirit, so perfectly. I tend to like the shorter poems - sonnets and the like. I like poems that are strongly atmospheric.

I read poetry because it shows me a little of how other people have thought and felt, and by the same token, it often puts words to things I am thinking and feeling, but in a way I would not come up with.

I also read poetry because I consider it part of being a well-rounded person. That there are certain poems you "just know" because they are part of Western Culture and there are things that refer to those poems.

4. A poem I'm likely to think about when asked about a favorite poem is .......

Well, I'm fond of the French poem (Um...Apollinaire? I think that was the author) I posted about above.

But I also love Eliot's Love song of J. Alfred Prufrock partly because it sort encapsulates the feeling of someone who is uncertain of themselves, who has a lot of interior monologue going on, and I am one of those kinds of people. And also as a testament to the poseur high school student that I was, carrying around a little book of Eliot's poems in my pocket and pulling it out and reading (or pretending to read) in instances when I was bored.

And I also love Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden.

the last two lines just kill me every time. Isn't that totally how so many of us treat the people who love us?

I also listed a few Christmas poems I'm fond of (particularly the Robert Bridges) in an earlier post.

I also be able to recite most of Jabberwocky (another favorite) and In Flanders Fields. I think the fact that I went to the effort - on my own, not for school - to learn those shows some liking of them.

5. I write/don't write poetry, but...

I used to, most of it wasn't very good. I'd like to get into it again but as usual I think I lack talent and I feel like it's not worth doing if I'm not good at it.

6. My experience with reading poetry differs from my experience with reading other types of literature.....

I think it's more concentrated - the emotion is more distilled somehow. Also, practically speaking, I can pull one of my books of poetry off the shelf and read and digest a poem in an hour or less whereas with a novel it can take me weeks or months.

I also find that I "carry" poems with me - reciting bits of them in my head, thinking about what they mean and what they are saying - more than I do with other literature.

Poems are more portable somehow. Both literally and figuratively.

7. I find poetry.....

An important part of my life but one I don't talk about often. I guess it's because I just sort of assume that everyone who reads reads poetry but I know that's not true.

I also find it a solace when times are bad, something to keep my mind occupied when stuck in traffic (that's where memorizing comes in handy). I find it entertaining and thought provoking. And just generally in that class of things I label as "Good Stuff" and things that my life would be a lot poorer without.


8. The last time I heard poetry....

Um...I don't know. If you count song lyrics, last night, when I listened to my "crooners" Christmas album, ha ha. Other than that - it was possibly when I listened to a stage production of A Child's Christmas in Wales.

The "Poetry on Record" (famous poets reading their poems even including people like Tennyson that you wouldn't think still would have been AROUND when recording came on the scene) disk set is on my Christmas list.

I'm not real big on "amateur" poetry like at poetry slams because I've heard far too much bad amateur poetry (in my high school and college days) and I'm not really up for the sort of bald political posturing that a lot of people who call themselves poets these days go in for.

9. I think poetry is like....

I think good poetry is an intoxicant. But it is also something that becomes a part of you. It is like memories - you can have memories of experiences you never had "in the flesh" from a good poem. Poetry is like someone whispering in your ear. It is like people from other times and other places reaching across the time and space continuum to share their thoughts and dreams and impressions and emotions with you. Memorized poetry is like having a touchstone of sorts, or (if it's not disrespectful of Catholics for me to say this) a rosary...it's something you can turn to in distressing times and it is a comfort.