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August 29, 2007
Some thoughts on poetry.
So, as I was trying very very hard to be a good student and read all the poetry I needed to read for my class this evening, I realized I have a weird view of poetry for someone named "poetfox".
Most of it I really don't like.
I just really can't read it, especially poems longer than a page. There are exceptions, of course, but I keep wondering what the hell the point is as they string together image after image with no reason why. I understand it's supposed to be subtle, but the LAST thing I want to do is have to work to find entertainment in something. So I don't.
Now, yes, every so often there comes a (usually short) poem that will grab me from the beginning with a comment and then leave me with a smile by the end. These poems usually are not obscuring the message with their imagry, like most poems. What they're saying is right out there, it's just that their images and metaphors help to flesh out the nuances of their feelings of the situation to make me relate to them more. That's the kind of poetry I like.
Unfortunately, there's very little that can be written about such poems in a scholarly sense, because everything is right there in front of you. So when you look at "classic" poetry, it's mostly the sorts with obscure messages behind deep words, because then you can debate what the hell the poet is trying to say. Which is really kinda stupid, I think, because I've written enough stuff to know that setting something like that up often involves not having a good point in mind when you start.
Anyway, I don't really expect people to like my poetry. It's all very personal most of the time. The thing that gets to me is I often write poetry trying to say a very specific thing, and I think I spell it out very well, but then I give it to someone else and they come up with a different interpretation. It's weird. I don't know if it's a "it can't be that simple" sort of situation or if I'm really a good poet for some crazy-ass reason. Who knows.
Anyway, I wrote two poems in my scratchbook since the start of school, so I'll type them up and put them on poetfox.com after I post this. One is pretty good and one is kinda shitty in my opinion. Feel free to tell me which is which, or if its hard to choose because they're both shitty. I don't mind. I like critical feedback when I create something and I feel like I never, ever get it.
Posted by poetfox at August 29, 2007 11:14 PM
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