  Poetry
This week: Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Greetings! I'm honored to be your guest editor for this week's WDC Poetry Newsletter.
What is a Poem?
A poem is a form of verse that alludes to, but does not tell, what it is. That's the purpose of prose (or in verse, a metaphor perchance). Maybe an article or a class lesson will tell you what to do, but a poem shows what can be. Yes, the old ‘show' vs. ‘tell' ~ poetry shows the image or idea envisioned by the writer of the poem.
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.
'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
An Essay on Criticism," Alexander Pope, quoted in Rhyme's Reason A Guide to English Verse, by poet and critic John Hollander.
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~VERBAL CHOREOGRAPHY ~
I see the poet as a choreographer, creating a dance of words by designing a rhythmic sensory image that evokes the essence of a moment, an idea, a place, an event, in which a reader (and the poet as well) can participate.
I'm not alone in my assessment ~ Poetry is defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as "A verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or emotions in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use of language chosen for its sound and suggestive power and by the use of literary techniques such as meter, metaphor, and rhyme."
In a previous guest appearance back in March of this year, I explored the use of fixed meter in poetry, and we discussed the five most familiar metered feet that we read and write (the art and craft of poetry as a dance of words). They have withstood the test of time and are still embraced by writers poetic to convey poems to delight, excite, and incite readers today. Note, I did not say ‘copied' as the forms are tools - akin to the artist's paints, the musician's sheet music in measured blocks of notes, the carpenter's blueprint. They provide familiar steps, individually choreographed by the poet, to create a dance in which the reader can participate by reading aloud and hearing, tasting, sensing the images conveyed by the rhythm of the words.
Scansion is the given name for the act of choreographing the rhythmic sound of words - the beat, rhythm, tempo. So don't shun the scan lest you lose the beat and miss the steps that guide you through the dance. Just think, reading and writing poetry silently is like trying to recall a song in your head without at least humming or whistling the tune. You don't get the essence, miss a few words perhaps, so participate in the poem, whether reading or writing.
 Using scansion, scanning with your senses, you will experience that verse is written first in lines - a line being a breath of words, like a measure in music, with its own rhythmic movement of feet (the good old iambs and dactyls, for example) to incite haste or contemplation along with the image; and it's written in sentences.
Stanzas of varying length normally contain a sentence or two, maintaining a cohesive image, then moving on to the rest of the moment, either a continuation or summation or change, as the poet's eye designs.
The writer sees with poet's eye
kaleidoscopic; not black and white.
Reading aloud, you will find that each line has a base beat that sometimes holds true for the entire poem (the Shakespearean sonnet, for example); and at other times is given pause or emphasis by changing the beat or use of enjambment.
You will see from my example above enjambment where the iambic is used and the first image continues into the second line, and there's a mid-line pause - caesura - before the second line continues again in the iambic. To release the breath, I also employed before the semicolon, a word with an extra soft-foot beat, called a phyrric foot. But note that each line can still have meaning, although I like keeping it in context.
The phyrric foot is the opposite of the spondee or extra hard beat; but each creates a brief pause in the rhythm for a moment's breath, before compelling the ear and eye to move forward and continue the sensory dance.
I continue to stress reading aloud poetry to enter and join in the choreography of the dance between the poet and the reader. In response to the previous newsletter I was honored to guest host, one of our members gave voice to each of the basic forms and I am pleased to share it with you here - you'll find the rhythm of each ‘dance step' somewhere in the stanza that details the meaning of the term ~ as the poem gives voice to nature's rhythm, mortal and ephemeral.
Remember, read this poem aloud and embrace the changing rhythm of the dance choreographed for our participation by embe  .
"Rhythmic Beat"
Iamb
Two syllables
short and long
for the time of year to see,
Trochee
Another two syllables
long and short
waiting for me to be,
Anapest
Three syllables
with intensity to
climb and see the tree,
Dactyl
With three syllables
that stress to pensive long
in the forests of time
where pines no longer grow, for
Spondee
For two or more
consecutive, stressed syllables-
That - Hears, hears hears
the cold grey wind, upon the sea!
I hope you've enjoyed this exercise in literary choreography. My dancing instructors external - Mary Oliver's Rules for the Dance, Mary Kinzie's A Poet's Guide to Poetry, and John Hollander's Rhyme's Reason. |
Check out some the variety of insightful and/or inspired verbal choreography by members of our Community ~ remember, to dance, you move your feet ~ to read a poem, you give it breath
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Now, how about showcasing your choreography in one of the following
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And, maybe this challenge will inspire the muse creative to ''reading' and 'writing' poetic
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Until we next meet, may your Muse Creative wax poetic
Keep Writing!
Kate |
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Thank you again for having me as a 'guest' in your virtual home ~ I'd like to share some feedback from a prior 'visit.' ~ Until we next meet, Keep Writing!
Submitted by: TerJa
Thank you for a good essay. Too many aspring poets don't want to bother with meter and rhyme. They just write prose and give it an odd spacing while often leaving out any puntuation. You have to know the rules before you can break the rules.
Thanks for reading - I think that we actually perceive the 'rules' or patterns of verse each in our own way, then give them our individual breath - make sense?
Submitted By: bronxbishop
Every so often one comes upon an item or happenstance that seems tailor made for the moment. When this happens, you hear someone say " Wow! This couldn't have happened at a better time." Well, The Poetry Newsletter received on 3/12/2008 and host by Wistful Rune arrived today and "Wow! This couldn't have arrived at a better time." The information contained within was not only timely; it was well presented and appealing. Color me educated. Thanks Kate! Well done!
Thank you for your encouragement ~ I'm glad you enjoyed 'dance' of wordplay to embrace 'the moment.' ~ Keep Writing!
Submitted By: Nizza
I love how you have emphasized the imprtance of reading poetry out loud in this issue. I have recently learned the importance of this since my poetry is mostly written TO be read outloud, and it is obvious in most reviews I receive that the reader only read the poem silently. Poems tend to take an entirley different form when read outloud, and suddenly the most mundane of writings become alive. I read almost everything out loud, simply because I believe words are ment to be spoken - not just read. -Nizza
Yes, reading poetry with only the eyes is one-dimensional, you don't engage the ear or other senses to feel the essence of the poem ~ glad to find a kindred spirit here. Keep Writing!
Submitted By: Maria Mize 
I gleaned a lot from your newsletter. Thank you.
Thank you for reading - aloud - and your encouragement ^_^ Keep writing!
Submitted By: SHEA
GREAT Newsletter! Thanks very much for sharing some super information helping me polish my own poetry.
Thank you or your encouragement ~ and I look forward to reading some of your poems, aloud
Submitted By: Cubby 
Very interesting and informative newsletter! And yes, I did think of a dinosaur right away when I read the word DACTYL! I enjoy writing poetry and like to try different rhythms now and then, only I don't always know the names of them. So I did enjoy this newsletter very much. And I'll never, ever forget the Dactyl as long as I live.
Great newsletter!~Cubby ")
That's my favorite one as well, although one of the lesser used ones ~ not quite 'extinct' but, a certain aura...
Submitted By: aphughes
Thank you so much! this was very hopeful, as most of the writings I have Written are poems. haha. thanks!
Thank you for reading, and your encouragement
Submitted By: katherine76
A great newsletter this week Kate! I always learn more about poetry with each newsletter Thank you also for highlighting my poem "@LL @round tHe WorLd" [E] in this week as well.
Thank you for your encouragement ~ and for offering a splendid venue for expression of the 'muse poetic.'
Submitted By: monty31802
You did a fine job on creating this Neweletter Kate, caued me to remember a few things and I have forgotten so much that remembering is good.
Thank you for your encouragement, and for providing a place for poetic expression - where tradition is being created as we speak
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Poetry: May 07, 2008 Issue [#2378]
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