 Poetry: August 12, 2009 Issue [#3213] |
  Poetry
This week: Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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Yet through it all this much remains
I want one moment in time
When I'm more than I thought I could be...
Written by Albert Hammond,
recorded by Whitney Houston
1988 Summer Olympics
I'm honored today to be your guest host for this issue of the WDC Poetry Newsletter. Poetry is the art of expressing in words one moment in time as a conversation between the poet and listener. Yes, one rule in poetry, read all poetry aloud ~ as the journey continues.
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Greetings,
I ask you today, is poetry relevant, does it have intrinsic meaning, or is it a mere exercise in mnemonics, a way to show of one’s prowess in lexicographical memorization?
Okay, I threw in a couple twenty-dollar words to make a point in response to a question I’ll share in due course.
Poetry is: "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." American Heritage Dictionary
I hold that poetry’s meaning is in the conversation; being in the moment, be it past, present, or future, tangible or ephemeral. The poet paints images in words that a reader/listener can hear, smell, taste, see and envision. Maybe poetry is one epic symphony, where lyric solos and arias rise and fall in rhythmic disharmony across the mountains and valleys of space and time, transcending boundaries forged by humankind and nature.
Consider the deliberately ‘simple’ haiku form, in one breath immersion in nature’s dance while conveying a message to the listener. Then, should the listener with like mind respond, the answering breath creates a tanka, and the conversation may continue back and forth as a renga.
Consider the continuity of the poem from epic to quatrain or couplet in length, each with lyric tendencies, obvious or subtle, as the poet senses and is compelled to convey by the passion of his/her muse. And, being wordsmiths, we do name those tendencies that become familiar, so listeners can choose to stay for that particular solo of verse. For example, the sonnet, though versatile in its evolution over the past millennium, still ‘turns’ the other cheek in its myriad evolutions since the time of Petrarch, to rise up and sign the ‘blues.’
Consider too the first verse etched in stone somewhere around 2000 BCE, inscribing the oral tradition of verse to print well before Homer’s ‘Odyssey.’. Do you think the Ur poet who committed to posterity the spoken epic of Gilgamesh, when contemplating the approach to the forest where the battle would be engaged, was sending a coded message along the march of time to be plucked as a grain of sand from the hourglass by Robert Frost after several millennia? Or did Frost, when he conscribed the following moment to paper:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one, as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
see the forest through the trees and contemplate the nature of life as a series of choices which each leave [A] Road Not Taken. The poem itself a metaphor for life – was that his intent? We don’t know; but the vivid imagery both surface and subliminal, has made of it one.
So, I believe that all poetry has meaning by its very nature, for the poet and the listener both, who carry on together the ars poetica begun millennia ago.
Keep Writing – in the Moment!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Enjoy for a moment in time the variety of poetic expression in our Community ~ join the conversation with a comment or review
First, submitted for your comment and review to our Newsletter ~
{Continue with me the journey poetic in some versatile creative moments
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The 'tradition' continues ~ and evolves ~ here. Share a moment of your journey as well as some great reading
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Thank you for this 'moment's' respite in your virtual home while we explore the 'conversation' that is poetry. I'd like to share a few comments before I go from our members,
First, I would like to offer my thanks for a correction to my last newsletter, where I explored the evolving traditions of free verse. I had stated that it never rhymed - which I subsequently learned, is inaccurate -  Free Verse can include rhyming end words - as you will see in the poem featured above. My sincere thanks for the insight to ~ monty31802
Share with me now some comments in response to last month's newsletter, and do take a moment to visit with these creative members of our Community
From Bella Bunny 
Kate --
Thanks for pointing the way to the Dutchman's monthly challenge. I learned new tidbits of information and even entered his contest!
I like the friendly format, the challenge to focus on the moment and explore a variety of forms of expression ~ the craft of poetry to express inspired art.. I wish you joy and luck in your poetic explorations ~ Keep Writing in the Moment
From Doug Rainbow
I would like to see more commentary on content. I would like some discussion on use of symbolism, including metaphor, simile, and analogy. Whether, when, and how should a poet signal symbolism? I would like to see discussion on the use of literary conventions, such as their validity to shortcut longer expositions of meaning. Finally, there is some debate on the site as to whether a poem needs to have "meaning" at all. Thoughts on that?
I hope this exploration showed that poetry has intrinsic meaning ~ whatever the form of its expression - both using and creating metaphor, repetition, symbolism, relevant and immediate through time. I'd like to continue the exploration next month when I return with some additional symbolic signals to convey meaning and depth of the image poetic. 'Till then, keep reading, and writing in the moment ^_^
From A Captivated Soul
This has been my problem for a very long time! When I write a poem (in the form of a dramatic monologue) I often feel self-conscious of letting people I know read it. Generally, they assume it is about me and those assumptions affect how they read my poetry.
My question is: Do you suggest having a footnote to poetry stating whether the poet is the speaking or whether they are speaking in character?
I think that some listeners will presume that all poetry, first or third peson, is 'personal' to the poet. If you want to add a brief description of the poetic form you are using, or a line as to the background for an afterward, your readers may then relate that to their impression of the poem itself. I would let the poem stand in its own moment with your listener.
Thank you again, for sharing this 'moment' with me,
Until we next meet,
What makes a poem sing for you? what makes you enter the image of the poet?
Keep Writing!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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