Poetry?

DWill · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:29 pm Post subject: Poetry?

Hey, I don't know where this fits, exactly. Under non-fiction might be the closest. I read Indigo's intro, noted that she likes poets, and then realized that is the first mention in the forum I've seen of poetry. Another thing I realized a while ago is the internet is a great resource for poetry. You don't have to own every anthology in the world, but instead can often find single poems just by searching. Anyone have favorite lines they want to share? That's one way to go about it. This may be a mark of oddness, I don't know, but as I walk along the backroads and trails this spring, I recite aloud the first 33 lines of The Canterbury Tales in Middle English, as enjoined on me by a Prof. Smith about 35 years ago. You know, "Whan that April with his showres soote/The droughte of March hath perced to the roote"... Great stuff! And NOT controversial! Poetry seems to be somehow the quintessential literature of spring as well.

But I offer these instead, from Robert Frost. (Indigo, I'm probably a wee bit more old-fashioned than you.) You can look up the full text of this plain-spoken yet rather strange poem on the 'net.

From "Directive"

"Back out of all this now too much for us,
Back in a time made simple by the loss
Of detail, burned, dissolved, and broken off
Like graveyard marble sculpture in the weather,
There is a house that is no more a house
Upon a farm that is no more a farm
And in a town that is no more a town.
The road there, if you'll let a guide direct you
Who only has at heart your getting lost,
May seem as if it should have been a quarry--
Great monolithic knees the former town
Long since gave up pretense of keeping covered."

I'll give away the ending, hoping you'll be curious about what comes in between:

"Here are your waters and your watering place.
Drink and be whole again beyond confusion."

Saffron · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:52 pm Post subject:

DWill:

Saffron · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject:

Oh, and I forgot about W.C.Williams -
This is Just to say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

(This poem makes me think of kisses. I think because eating a very ripe juicy piece of fruit always makes me think of kisses and I know this poem was written to his wife)

President Camacho · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:00 pm Post subject:

Ok D, I don’t know any poetry but I didn’t want to be left out.

So I started thinking and decided to try and make up my own poem. I went online and found the rules to make up poems are far more complicated than just making rhymes. These directions from ehow.com on how to write a haiku poem look the easiest!

Step 1: Think about a theme for your haiku and write down some of the words that come to mind on that theme.
Step2: Organize your thoughts roughly onto three lines. First, set the scene, then expand on that by expressing a feeling, making an observation or recording an action. Keep it simple.
Step3: Polish your haiku into three lines, the first with five syllables, the second line with seven syllables and the third line with five syllables. It may take some time and substitution of words to make it fit.

1. I have my theme – my dog will be my theme
2. Three lines of thoughts about my dog… ok…
i. She is a small dog
ii. She eats too much and has arthritis because of it
iii. She breathes funny when she gets excited
…..ok, I have my three lines of thoughts…

Scene: my bedroom – dog is on my bed
Expand with feeling: what?
Observation of action: dog is sleeping

5 syllables, then 7 syllables, and then 5 again…

Dog is small on bed
Eat much weighs much bad on joints
No funny breath dog sleep

Yes, it was incredible for me too. Mario

ralphinlaos · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:14 am Post subject:

DWill -

Oh, I do enjoy poetry so much and, as you say, you can find just about anything on the internet. The Library of Congress has a great website for poetry.

My favorites? So many, but I do enjoy reading Rudyard Kipling, Emily Dickinson (have you ever seen Julie Harris in her one-woman show, The Belle of Amherst? It's on DVD and I think you'd enjoy it), Robert Frost, Whitman, Millay, and on and on . . .

Richard Cory is one of my very favorites; I've memorized it but it's not exactly the poem to recite while walking along your backroads and trails - then my thoughts go, unfortunately, to "there once was a lad from Nantucket."

And I've enjoyed all the poems cited by others in reply to your initial post - keep 'em coming.

And Invictus. And If. Have you ever heard of this one, Lana Turner Died Today?

Ralph

Theomanic · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:38 am Post subject:

My favourite poet is Charles Bukowski, though by and large I don't read a lot of poetry. I really liked his "Septuagenarian Stew" collection.

Here is a pretty good little sample of his work:
"These Things"

these things that we support most well
have nothing to do with up,
and we do with them
out of boredom or fear or money
or cracked intelligence;
our circle and our candle of light
being small,
so small we cannot bear it,
we heave out with Idea
and lose the Center:
all wax without the wick,
and we see names that once meant
wisdom,
like signs into ghost towns,
and only the graves are real.

Saffron · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:33 pm Post subject:

'Separation'

Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.

-- W.S. Merwin

Indigo · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:05 pm Post subject: Re: Poetry?

Indigo · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:10 pm Post subject:

One more, because I can't help myself, and because I can't believe I forgot to include Frank O'Hara on my favorite poets list before. Very Happy

from "Why I Am Not a Painter," Frank O'Hara

But me? One day I am thinking of
a color: orange. I write a line
about orange. Pretty soon it is a
whole page of words, not lines.
Then another page. There should be
so much more, not of orange, of
words, of how terrible orange is
and life. Days go by. It is even in
prose, I am a real poet. My poem
is finished and I haven't mentioned
orange yet....

(the rest: http://plagiarist.com/poetry/?wid=850)

Saffron · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:16 pm Post subject:

Indigo:

DWill · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:52 pm Post subject:

.Saffron,
Are you saying that you posted a John Donne poem? I didn't see it.
Which one? The Post's Book World had a poetry issue last week, maybe you saw it. One by Mary Oliver was printed, "Self-Portrait."

I wish I was twenty and in love with life
and still full of beans.

Onward, old legs!
There are the long, pale dunes; on the other side
the roses are blooming and finding their labor
no adversity to the spirit

Upward, old legs! There are the roses, and there is the sea
shining like a song, like a body
I want to touch

Though I'm not twenty
and won't be again but ah! seventy! And still
in love with life. And still
full of beans.

Ralphalinos,
I don't guess I've seen all of "The Belle of Amherst," but that's a good idea; I like all these people you mention; do you recall the Simon & Garfunkle song based on "Richard Cory", and no, I haven't heard of "Lana Turner Died Today"--but it gives me an opportunity to test the 'net as a poem search engine. Ah, no, not this time. Do you have a copy?

The Charles Bukowski is a treat, Theomanic. There is a 70-something theme going on here. Last, but of course not least, is the rising star of haiku. Nothing he does surprises me.
DWill

Indigo · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:59 pm Post subject:

Saffron · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject:

Saffron · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:38 pm Post subject:

Ta dum! Here it is the first 6 lines:

To Hold

So we're dust. In the meantime, my wife and I

make the bed. Holding opposite edges of the sheet,

we raise it, billowing, then pull it tight,

measuring by eye as it falls into alignment

between us. We tug, fold, tuck. And if I'm lucky,

she'll remember a recent dream and tell me.

-- Li-Young Lee from "Behind My Eyes"

ralphinlaos · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:51 am Post subject:

DWill - I think many of us can relate to Ms, Oliver's "Self-Portrait." And those who can't now, someday will. A lovely poem.

No, I never knew about Simon and Garfunkle's "Richard Cory." But it sounds like the sort of thing they did so well; I'd love to hear it.

I thought I had a copy of "Lana Turner Died Today" but I can't find it. But I will and I'll post it here then.

Saffron, that poem you cite by Li-Young Lee is very moving. It's always the simplest of things which affect us most, don't you think?

Here's one of my all-time favorites by Yeats:

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet.
But I, being poor, have only my dreams.
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

How about that? You don't even have to enjoy poetry to appreciate Mr. Yeat's writing.

And Emily Dickinson's "I'm N
obody. Who are you?" And Ferlinghetti's "The World is a Beautiful Place." Next time.

Ralph
(Way past twenty but still in love with life and still full of beans)


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