"Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance".
Carl Sandburg
The older I get, the more I love poetry. It seems to me that poetry is good at getting to the essence of things; of saying much, with little.
A poet friend said to me recently that poem should be like a Tardis - that it should be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside; and I loved that. I really think that is what poems do and are.
But what delightful imagery Carl Sandberg creates - an echo asking a shadow to dance. Perhaps this goes to the succinctness of poems - that they are not full-bodied, dense tomes; more that they are small sprites flitting across pages? Perhaps the sparseness of poems compared to a novel suggests an echo, and a shadow...
However poems are described, I think they are such gentle companions.
A book of poems a friend recently gifted me, by Indigenous woman Ali Cobby Eckermann; they are remarkable.
I listen to a podcast called Book Riot and one of the presenters, Rebecca has taken to reading poetry for 10 minutes a day; as she prepares dinner or some such. So I have left this book on the kitchen bench and am finding a few moments each day to read poetry; which is a lovely addition to my days.
Carl Sandburg
The older I get, the more I love poetry. It seems to me that poetry is good at getting to the essence of things; of saying much, with little.
A poet friend said to me recently that poem should be like a Tardis - that it should be bigger on the inside than it is on the outside; and I loved that. I really think that is what poems do and are.
But what delightful imagery Carl Sandberg creates - an echo asking a shadow to dance. Perhaps this goes to the succinctness of poems - that they are not full-bodied, dense tomes; more that they are small sprites flitting across pages? Perhaps the sparseness of poems compared to a novel suggests an echo, and a shadow...
However poems are described, I think they are such gentle companions.
A book of poems a friend recently gifted me, by Indigenous woman Ali Cobby Eckermann; they are remarkable.
I listen to a podcast called Book Riot and one of the presenters, Rebecca has taken to reading poetry for 10 minutes a day; as she prepares dinner or some such. So I have left this book on the kitchen bench and am finding a few moments each day to read poetry; which is a lovely addition to my days.
I love poetry and to hear it spoken aloud in performance by the poet or someone else is a treat. I don't always understand the symbolism or the meaning but I don't mind that. For me, it is sometimes just about the language, the choice of words and the sound they make together. Last night I came across Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins and found some of the individual lines a joy. I wrote a couple down to work with. They are now out of context I suppose but they sound right as stand alone lines. How I wish I had poetry in my soul.
ReplyDeleteI think you do have it in your soul Lesley - you are such appreciator of it! So many wonderful ways with words...go well.
Deletemy favourite one line poem is by Grace Forrest-Maestas of Windthread written from her raft in the desert country of New Mexico as she prepares to move with her daughter's herd of 17 goats to a new life in California-
ReplyDeleteWe are burning Karma and it smells like incense..."
http://windthread.typepad.com/windthread/2017/03/a-day-of-its-own-beauty-full-self.html
oh my goodness Mo - that stopped me in my tracks. I kept repeating it as I wandered through the house...so so wonderful - thank you.
DeleteThis post prompted me to look on Amazon this weekend for books of Australian poetry and I downloaded the anthology of Best Australian Poems 2016 including a couple by Ali Cobby Eckermann. I foresee many last thing at night readings and much pleasure ahead ... Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret - I hope some of them are good! Another of Ali's books is a novel in verse which I am really looking forward to reading too. Poetry can cross countries I think - I love Mary Oliver and Lesley has introduced me to Alice Oswald - all speak so beautifully of universal things...go well.
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