I have remarked here before about how little poetry I have read in my life. Most of it has been in the last few years, and most of that in the last year.
I wrote a couple of poems when I was an adolescent and/or teenager—when I use the word “poem” to refer to my own efforts I am using that word loosely—and I have written a few this year. Most of those written lately have been posted here but at least one has not but was given to its dedicatee. [Oops, reminded of the haiku, so two not here.]
I am currently reading Invitation to Poetry: The Pleasures of Studying Poetry and Poetics by Steinman (see below) and am about halfway through it. I get much of it but then some of it is escaping me. Not sure how much work I will put into “formal” poetics but I think that it is important to me as a powerful use of language, particularly one most aspects of which escapes linguistic science.
My most recent muse has gone her fleeting way, although leaving a permanent mark. Nonetheless, there are always things to try and put into words, powerful things like depression, for one, that generally escape more prosaic language. Thus, I may be posting a few more poems here, assuming I keep at it.
Feel free to skip them. I certainly am not claiming that they are any good. But perhaps they will be valuable to me as another way to use language, and to learn how language works.
I have no doubt that over the years I have read a few other poems and even perhaps books of poetry. I may well have read one or two other small ones this summer that I forgot to record. I certainly know I sampled a few score poems from a dozen or so books this summer that are not on this list. Anyway, here is the list of poetry books that I know I have read [in the order read]:
Jewel. 1998. A Night Without Armor: Poems. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins.
Paglia, Camille. 2006. Break, Blow, Burn. 1st ed. New York: Vintage Books.
Stone, Ruth. 2002. In the Next Galaxy. Port Townsend, Wash: Copper Canyon Press.
Neruda, Pablo. 1993. Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair. Penguin twentieth-century classics. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books.
Steinman, Lisa Malinowski. 2008. Invitation to Poetry: The Pleasures of Studying Poetry and Poetics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
My commentary on Paglia is in my Books Read in 2007 post. Haven’t commented on any of the others, although Stone is listed in my post about books read (mostly) in the 1st half of this year and I remember quite enjoying much of it. There was one poem in it I particularly liked entitled “Love.”
I enjoyed much in the Neruda and was recently able to buy myself a brand-new copy of this out of print paperback for $2.50 + $3.50 in shipping. One could complain about the higher cost of shipping than the book but I won’t as $6 for an out of print book in perfect shape is a steal. This is the same edition as I borrowed from a friend this summer and I wanted this one as it has the poems in Spanish and English on facing pages. I did not read all of the poems in Spanish but I did try translating the titles on my own before looking at the English versions, and when I found a particularly lovely turn of phrase in English I made sure to see how it was in Spanish.
For instance:
White bee, even when you are gone you buzz in my soul
You live again in time, slender and silent.
Ah you who are silent!
Abeja blanca, ausente, aún zumbas en mi alma.
Revives en el tiempo, delgado y silenciosa.
Ah silenciosa!
VIII “Abeja Blanca” / “White Bee”
Or:
Longing that sliced my breast into pieces,
it is time to take another road, on which she does not
smile.
Ansiedad que partiste mi pecho a cuchillazos,
es hora de seguir otro camino, donde ella no sonría.
XI “Casi Fuera Del Cielo” / “Almost Out Of The Sky”
This summers (public) poems:
No matter how far I proceed down this road with poetry, I have no doubt that my primary love of, and exposure to, poetry will be through song lyrcis. And in that regard I have “read” many thousands.
And on that note …
“es hora de seguir otro camino, donde ella no sonría.”
5 responses so far ↓
1 Helen L // Sep 21, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Sir, I will have to admit that I have given poetry a shot…even minored in it in undergrad…and I just cannot swallow it down. But, one has to go on the journey to discover that kind of thing. I did take a few poets out of it that I love, and few poems that just totally do it for me (you already mentioned Pablo Neruda). I think if you bother to look at them, you’ll find a common theme of general bluntness and lacking in floweriness that bespeaks my personal nature
Anyway, since you’re on this journey:
Lucille Clifton esp. Wishes for Sons ( http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15601 )
Dorothy Parker esp. Frustration ( http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/878.html )
Carl Sandburg esp. Fog ( http://www.bartleby.com/104/76.html )
As far as the ladies go, not all their poems are as acrid as those two…but that is the element I seem to enjoy the most, personally. That Dorothy Parker poems was the first poem I ever memorized. You can imagine how well it went down when we had to recite poems from memory in 9th grade English
2 Helen L // Sep 21, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Oh, also, yes to song lyrics…I often forget to include them as poetry. Thumbs enthusiastically up. And for grins I like to search both poets.org and bartleby.com for poems by author and subjects. It’s fun.
3 Mark // Sep 21, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Thanks, Helen, and welcome. No need to call me sir, though.
Thanks for the links; I shall have a look.
I doubt I will come to love poetry in general but will also pick a few dozen favorite poems and even fewer poets that I love. Some others I will probably tolerate and perhaps even enjoy. Most I will probably deplore.
I also imagine that I’ll go in more for the bluntness and plain-spokenness. Nonetheless, I think (and so I read) that there are some important things going on in “typical” poetic language use and form that is much reduced or absent in most other uses of language. And that is what I want to at least get my mind wrapped around, even if that kind of poetry and poem does not become my favorite or even appeal to me. Much is of value that is not appealing to the individual.
4 Kirsten // Sep 22, 2008 at 8:09 am
I love poetry–even the more flowery stuff. It’s the more modern, what-the-hell-are-they-talking-about stuff that drives me batty. There’s a faculty poet on campus who, it is claimed, advocates for randomly picking words from the dictionary to make poetry. *shudder*
Some of my favourites that you might enjoy:
Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf, which has the original Old English on the facing page. The prose versions of this poem leave much to be desired, but Heaney’s is the closest thing I’ve seen to the feel and spirit of the Old English.
Anything by Billy Collins. I loved his clear word pictures even before getting to see him speak them in person a few years ago. Very down-to-earth writing. And of course, there’s his Introduction to Poetry.
A few others: Nikki Giovanni, Sandra Cisneros, and Rainier Maria Rilke (especially his Book of Hours as translated by Barrows and Macy; it has the German on the facing page).
Most of all though, I hope you just enjoy yourself. Poetry shouldn’t be a torturous experience!
5 Mark // Sep 22, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Thanks, Kirsten. I agree, it should be enjoyable, and I am not trying to torture myself. Work hard maybe, but no torture.
Billy Collins is one of those I’ve sampled some this summer and I’ve heard several of his read on the radio locally. Some of it spoke to me and some didn’t. Need to take another look at him.
I think I’ll like some of the more flowery stuff and some of the plainer stuff but not much of the modern–or perhaps post-modern–stuff.
I’ve heard good things about Rilke and thanks for the heads up on the dual language edition. That’ll be nice, especially since German is probably my best 2nd language. But then seeing as I don’t have a 2nd language that isn’t saying much.
I did check out a goodly handful (two hands really) of books today, more on writing, reading and appreciation, though. Borges, This Craft of Verse, looks quite interesting and easy to read.
Leave a Comment