My life as a writer did not start with the Zipless Fuck. It started with poetry--my passion for reading it and writing it. But poetry is a tough sell. Stephen King (also a great lover of poetry) once told me that he thought the critics had ruined poetry for the general reader by celebrating the most obscure, unreadable poetry. And I have come to agree.
Poetry is what we turn to in the most emotional moments of our life--when a beloved friend dies, when a baby is born or when we fall in love. Poetry is the language we speak in the most terrifying or ecstatic passages of our lives. But the very word poetry scares people. They think of their grade school teachers reciting "Hiawatha" and they groan.
So I made a video with two talented young video artists, Jessica Wolfson and Paul Lovelace. My hope was that people who were afraid of poetry might find in it what I found--balm for the soul, a way of confronting love and death with calm, with peace, with acceptance. The truth is we need poetry--even as we fight against it.
Here it is.
Pat Anderson
A Fitness Minute
And yes, ain't the internet grand?!
People think of poetry as a "thing"- they think of particular poems for particular ocassions- "The Prophet" has been mined for all ocassions from weddings to the birth of a child. I've always read and enjoyed poetry from Vallejo and Neruda to Robert Frost. Yet only in the last three years has poetry become a part of my life in a real and useful way.
As a caregiver for a parent entering late stage Alzheimer we've lost all ability to have conversations as the illness has replaced Mom's use of language with the nonsensical.Though she loves music it still keeps her in her world and doesn't really allow for a dialogue.
Enter Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass".
I discovered that she responds to words -stories yes, but especially poetry. Each week I read out loud to her for about a half hour or longer and I love it and she loves it. It's as if we are still talking. It's been a revelation and frankly you can't ever grow tired of Whitman,a fellow brooklynite. The language is accessible, musical and profound.
Maybe you're right and the internet will help save poetry. There are some wonderful YouTube videos of Collins reading his poems with animation and video bringing them further to life. There are also sites like http://FightingIrony.com working to redefine "modern" poetry.
Complicated, beautiful, desireble
And me and my dim wit
God.. made us that way
Know why ?
Cause He just can't get enough of it.
What some poetry
Tired of things just not ringing true
Then, spend a day lisening to your heart
Instead of having your head telling you what to do !!
blessings and light
I was struck at the Inauguration how spiritual and moving the poet's words were--and how they inspired me far more than either of the preachers reading their prayers. If you didn't care for Elizabeth Akexander's reading of her poem, try it in the written form:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-poem.html
Also, I have recently discovered the joy of writing poetry--a deeply profound experience whether you share them or not.
I appreciate your having paraphrased King's comment to you, "the critics had ruined poetry for the general reader by celebrating the most obscure, unreadable poetry." I am one of those general readers who tends to shy away from poetry. I do, however, enjoy when I come across poetry whose images and feelings I can relate to. I definately feel the Rapture.