Poetry in Poems
From Tentative Definitions of Poetry
Poetry is a journal of a sea animal living on land, wanted to fly the air.
Poetry is a pack-sack of invisible keepsakes.
Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanation.
Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.
Poetry is a theorem of a yellow-silk handkerchief knotted with riddles, sealed in a balloon tied to the tail of a kite flying in a white wind against a blue sky in spring.
Poetry is the silence and speech between a wet struggling root of a flower and a sunlit blossom of that flower.
Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment.
Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.
~ Carl Sandburg (1970)
Poetry is a journal of a sea animal living on land, wanted to fly the air.
Poetry is a pack-sack of invisible keepsakes.
Poetry is a series of explanations of life, fading off into horizons too swift for explanation.
Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.
Poetry is a theorem of a yellow-silk handkerchief knotted with riddles, sealed in a balloon tied to the tail of a kite flying in a white wind against a blue sky in spring.
Poetry is the silence and speech between a wet struggling root of a flower and a sunlit blossom of that flower.
Poetry is the opening and closing of a door, leaving those who look through to guess about what is seen during a moment.
Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.
~ Carl Sandburg (1970)
“How to Read a Poem: Beginner’s Manual”
Pamela Spiro Wagner First, forget everything you have learned, that poetry is difficult, that it cannot be appreciated by the likes of you, with your high school equivalency diploma, your steel-tipped boots, or your white-collar misunderstandings. Do not assume meanings hidden from you: the best poems mean what they say and say it. To read poetry requires only courage enough to leap from the edge and trust. Treat a poem like dirt, humus rich and heavy from the garden. Later it will become the fat tomatoes and golden squash piled high upon your kitchen table. Poetry demands surrender, language saying what is true, doing holy things to the ordinary. Read just one poem a day. Someday a book of poems may open in your hands like a daffodil offering its cup to the sun. When you can name five poets without including Bob Dylan, when you exceed your quota and don’t even notice, close this manual. Congratulations. You can now read poetry. |
“Reading a Great Poem”
A dust devil of words ROARS up from the loose sand of sound and spins me into a tango, a mightyfandango, then bows to my heart’s wild applause. ~ Unknown (student) "A Loaf of Poetry"
Naoshi Koriyama you mix the dough of experience with the yeast of inspiration and knead it well with love and pound it with all your might and then leave it until it puffs out big with its own inner force and then knead it again and shape it into a round form and bake it in the oven of your heart |