litwindowpane

Friday, May 14, 2010

WTF is poetry?

If you want simple answers, poetry is not the place to look. If you like your language literal, poetry is not the place to look. If you like all your time to be productive, you may as well skip poetry. But if you want to be more present in the world and your body, if you want to rediscover your inner life, if you want to enjoy being alone or explore feelings our culture doesn't support, you may need poetry. If you are suffering from regret, unrelenting grief, love that threatens to crack you in two, you may need poetry. If you just want to remember why you are here on earth, rather than spending all the minutes of your day making money, cleaning, emailing, resenting your spouse, you absolutely need poetry, or art of some kind. Also, some folks wonder, what the hell IS poetry? And what is good poetry? Is poetry any nonsensical drivel you write down on a page and break-up into lines? (No, I'd answer.) There are even prose poems, and they don't have to be lineated, so really, WTF is poetry?
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Posted by Suzanne at 1:51 PM
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1 comment:

Distorteddogma said...

poetry is what poetry does,
it is what it is, but not what it was,
old poets would rhyme,
there stanzas keep time,
but now they don't just cuz.

Be Well.

6:27 PM

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About Me

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Suzanne
Author of four poetry books including Whipsaw (Anhinga Press 2024) and Fixed Star (JackLeg Press 2022), as well as five chapbooks.

My poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in Cincinnati Review, Denver Quarterly, North American Review, Salamander Magazine, South Dakota Review, Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, and elsewhere.

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Whipsaw

Whipsaw

Fixed Star

Fixed Star

Girl on a Bridge

Girl on a Bridge

Lit Windowpane

Lit Windowpane

Chapbooks

  • American Flamingo (2008)
  • Spring Tide (2005)
  • Red Paper Flower (2004)
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