poetry

[chronovore]

I think it's very strange that, as enamored as I am with language, I dislike poetry. This is not in the sense that I avoid bad LJ poetry; any sentient being with half-a-lobe devoted to self preservation will do that. I mean, I don't even like Robert Frost, Dylan Thomas, Yeats... I mean, I can't even get through The Wastelands, as much as I am of the impression that I'd "level up" culturally if I could navigate it. About the only poet I can deal with is Dorothy Parker. What the hell does that say about me?

Comments

[tim-x.livejournal.com]

There once was a man from Nantucket

PERFECTO.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

What a fucking awesome user-icon to go with that lead-in.

Between you and Red's comment below, I guess I can safely say that "poetry" is OK when it's structured humorously and without ostentatious or pretentious trappings.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about Ogden Nash? If you're cool with Ogden and Dorothy, you're cool with me.

I can't stand most poetry, either.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I guess when poetry takes itself seriously is when I can't stand it. I'm not enamored of Nash (having just nipped out to read a little), but I'm not furiously clicking away from it, either. Nash doesn't take himself overly seriously, but the verse seems overly intentionally colloquialized, but that's just an at-a-glance impression.

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

He was famous for making crazy rhymes that shouldn't exist. I think you need to rely on colloquialism and some forced cadence for that. And no, not serious at all.

In the blog, people come and go, posting of Michaelango, the Ninja Turtle

[jjgalahad.livejournal.com]

The Wastelands is painfully pretentious crap in my book. If you're going to try and read Eliot, read The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock and call it a day.

Pretentiousness can be a pretty heavy impediment to enjoying poetry. The fine line between "carefully chosen words" and "OOH, look at me, I'm so twee and clever" gets danced over pretty often. So, as a result, I don't read a lot of poetry but I still have my favorites. Dickinson, for instance. She wrote primarily for herself, which I find makes her stuff more honest. Shel Silverstein's a poet in my book as well.

And hooray for Limericks! I've actually been writing a lot of Limericks and Haikus lately. :P

Re: In the blog, people come and go, posting of Michaelango, the Ninja Turtle

[andrewv.livejournal.com]

I hate Dickinson.

Re: In the blog, people come and go, posting of Michaelango, the Ninja Turtle

[jjgalahad.livejournal.com]

She's only ever had kind things to say about you, you know.

Re: In the blog, people come and go, posting of Michaelango, the Ninja Turtle

[andrewv.livejournal.com]

you HAVE to read The Wasteland, man. COME ON.

Re: In the blog, people come and go, posting of Michaelango, the Ninja Turtle

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Someday I will; and afterward, if I am inspired to embark on an epic work, as so many others have been influenced to do by The Waste Lands, I will curb my enthusiasm and bust out a kazoo.

[captainblack.livejournal.com]

I love heavy portentious poetry like the "Ashbless poem segment" at the beginning of Tim Powers' "Anubis Gates"

When I spent six months looking and still couldn't find a poem cool enough to be read at redmomoko's and my wedding, I finally wrote an Ashbless poem, attributed it to him "circa 1806" and went with that.

Okay, that totally sounds like a challenge

[imlac.livejournal.com]

I post poetry (from actual poets, not my own) all the time, and I am seriously tempted to post some more and dare you not to love it.

Seriously, check out Lament by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Tell me you can't feel the grief.

And if you've never heard of Georg Trakl, you don't know what you're missing. He was a medic in World War I, and the carnage that he saw scared his consciousness so deeply that poetry was his only catharsis. De Profundis is gothier than any Joy Division song covered by The Smiths and remixed by The Cure.

Re: Okay, that totally sounds like a challenge

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Lament is pretty stellar. It resonates, is not pretentious; it's honest. I like it, thanks.