Wrestling with these theories and definitiions Listfolks have offered, I found myself just plain enjoying your lovely, lucid prose, Joanna. That bumped me into a test, if not a definition, of what poetry is: that which would make me giggle if a friend were talking it and I didn't know she was talking her poetry. The elegance, rhythms, symbols, images, heart-starting surprises, concision, hush of recognition-----these we tend not to "do" for the most part in "normal" speech. There're obvious, serious disclaimers to the little theory, of course. And if you were the poet speaking her poem, I'd soon be quiet, closed-eyed and raptured.
Best,
Judy
---- Joanna Boulter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I agree with Lynda, and with Kasper too, that there does seem to be a vogue
> for the anecdotal in much currently-published poetry. And a lot of people do
> seem to enjoy reading it, too -- they find it approachable and
> audience-friendly. But we don't have to do it ourselves if we don't think
> it's worth the effort. (On the other hand, look what Robert Frost could do
> with the anecdote.)
>
> There are serious poems on serious subjects being written and published,
> world-wide. But I'm not convinced that very many of them appear in small
> mags, in the UK at least. I've a friend who's an accomplished poet, now at
> work on her second collection. She bemoans the fact that the better she
> feels her work becomes, the fewer places there are that she cares to submit
> it to. Part of this is due to poetry's financial situation, which has meant
> the closure of some reputable and long-running magazines. And the really
> top-notch ones can take a bit of breaking into.
>
> This hasn't answered Lynda's question "what is poetry", with that very
> relevant rider "these days". Perhaps it varies from poet to poet and reader
> to reader? Kasper won't like that, I daresay, and I don't think I do either.
> But it's a question that's always being asked, and there's never really been
> a satisfactory answer, notwithstanding all those neat definitions people
> will probably come up with!
>
> joanna
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "kasper salonen" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2007 2:33 PM
> Subject: Re: What is poetry?
>
>
> > of course it's in question, I'm all about impressions because I don't
> > have the facts or the scope.
> > _I_ personally don't bury my head in tradition, as concerns my own
> > work. I haven't been active at all in searching out current poetry to
> > determine its state, but what I have seen in occasional small journals
> > & newspapers (the Independent for one) I have disliked more often than
> > liked. I get a _picture_ of a tendency for the unremarkable, is all
> > I'm saying.
> >
> > KS
> >
> > On 25/08/07, Bob Marcacci <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >> your lack of scope here is dangerous, kaspers... based on what i've read
> >> of
> >> your insights into poetry, your opinions on the quality with a capital
> >> queue
> >> of contemporary verse could be in question...
> >>
> >> i want to know what's working... it's relatively easy to see what's
> >> not...
> >> it's also easy to bury your head in the sands of tradition, but then
> >> what...
> >> perhaps, then, we write our way out from the great dunes that possibly
> >> bury
> >> some of us...
> >>
> >> --
> >> Bob Marcacci
> >>
> >> The tendency of an event to occur varies inversely with
> >> one's preparation for it.
> >> - David Searles
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> > From: kasper salonen <[log in to unmask]>
> >> > Reply-To: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics" <[log in to unmask]>
> >> > Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 12:13:15 +0300
> >> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> >> > Subject: Re: What is poetry?
> >> >
> >> > freeverse has
> >> > taken over & eroded Quality to the extent that now any even mildly
> >> > insightful-seeming prose cut into lines appears to gain accolades &
> >> > sales.
> >>
|