"Roses are Red,
Violets Are Blue
What follows next,
I’ll leave up to you"
These few words immediately demonstrate the power and innate familiarity with what we know as poetry. The opening lines are embedded in us before we are even aware, and the latter half an opportunity for either tasteful or bawdy demonstration of wit and rhyme (or lack thereof!)
The poetic art has been around in some form or another for about as long as any other indication of the power of the creative mind that can be attested. One only need to see that many of the oldest texts in history are often in the form of poems, regardless of which part of the world they come from or for what purposes they were being used for.
It has, in fact been used for a wide range of purposes. The imperial and personal, entertainments and celebrations, the daily rituals of dinner graces and then letters of appreciation.
Words undoubtedly have an immense effect over ourselves and society as a whole, and it is for this reason that poetry, be it improvised or meticulously prepared, can leave us either startled and invigorated.
There is a native draw to crafted words, especially when in controlled rhyme, and when they can uncover truths about ourselves and the world around us.
That this overall effect has hypnotized us long before the written word is felt, and it seems that it will continue to do so for as long as there are people to receive it.
So all in all, it seems at odds that today there is a mixed message of ‘poetry is dead’ being echoed in one tunnel, yet alongside that very idea; The words themselves, ‘poetry’ and ‘poetic’, are simultaneously being used to describe individuals who excel in their fields in ways that transcend apparent technique.
"When an activity has achieved a perfectly balanced execution between the spiritual and the material, one indicating the greater wholeness of ourselves. "
Though the tendency to read and seek poetry has waned, its respect and dignification is baked into our collective conscious, as we hold it for the most esteemed compliments and endeavors.
Where does the desire of poetry come from? As with any artisanal craft, it is the creative manifestation of ourselves and always has the potential to move us. When we recognize the human spirit has been woven into these forms we marvel at them. It almost seems beyond us to appreciate great works of art, and yet we do.
In the experience of exhibited craftsmanship, a conversation occurs, and in poetry it is most completed when it is written read, recited aloud, and listened upon.
From the author’s perspective, it is an expression of an individual’s inner world and what makes them unique. A moment where one can freely make from the realm of their imagination and embody the spirit of the craftsman.
Historically, varying degrees of constraints either self-imposed or established, and many times out of true and practical necessity, have been designed as to making a clear window into the elements of the art. It becomes an avenue for poets to showcase their mastery of forms and formation, while still managing to express singular ideas and works of magnificent attraction and endearment.
There is gratification for both the pen-holder and audience member alike, that distinguishes it from prose but oftentimes sharing elements with its kin-like art, music.
Heedlessly, when we come across a poem, particularly one that we like, it confirms that we are not ‘alone’ in this world. That there are others who struggle and celebrate same-esque experiences.
The rise of poetry during the pandemic exemplifies this fact wholeheartedly. Poetry connects us – our interdependent innerselves, meeting in the outer materialistic world – by way of word and performance.
'Poetry is introduced to us in a way that connect us to others, usually before we are able to explore and communicate with the world in consequential ways for ourselves.'
Most of us will guaranteedily have had poems and poetry to some degree in our earliest memories, with known nursery rhymes and games that have been passed down generationally speaking. – The lullabies and stories as recited by our parents or listened to on lps, cds and cassettes, or streaming services.
At one time a staple of education, if poetry is being introduced, it’s commonly prompted as a clear sense of self-expression and reflection -- Frequently framed from the seed of an experience, or a feeling about an experience.
There is the experience, and then there is the feeling about the experience
Poetic craft is greatly equalizing, binding the many, through any and all possible borders or variations – allowing us to see images of ourselves in the reflection of others.
Recognized as a craft, poetry is a skill that can be developed with discreet shades of adeptness that both distinguishes and guides its practitioners. It can be perpetually honed and studied and so entire schools and movements form with intermingling creative ideations.
When confronted with a poem –you are coming into contact with construction. Irregardless of style, the sonnet or the confessional free verse, the words themselves and the manner in which they are delivered, were at least somewhat prepared, even if on-the-fly.
And what has become of the mythos of the poet? While anyone can be a poet, or write a poem rather, it may seem that there are two leading sorts of identities or personas for our contemporary thoughts to consider when thinking of at least the idea of a poet, without any one specific poet in mind. It is understood that one’s own personal background will have shaped their thoughts on what the ‘idealized poet’ is or looks like.
Behind door number one, there is the academic poet. A promising youth who goes to university to study creative writing, poetry, of some other liberal arts degrees, and from a comfortable though sometimes struggling position, writes poetry in a well-decorated study.
They are surrounded by the romantics, and Shakespeare, and early 20thcentury verse that they will know by heart. They can describe a villanelle to you, and point to where there is the start of a sestet or a turn.
Their poems are often sparse, and reminiscent of distant memories no matter their age and a greater representation of the abstract and distantly conceived tend lie in this school.
Alternatively, there is the neighborhood poet. This poet writes mostly down-to-earth confessional verse, and is more immediate in commentary, and whose personal trajectory has been far less secure.
Social subjects and a raw bearing of emotions – very much a direct and continuous link from the slam and beat poetry. They tend to have a great stage presence as poets, and while their poems can readily tread any length, they are rarely brief.
Many of these poets will integrate highly repetitive phrases and be heavily dynamic and clear with its emotive effects, though frustration and anger is extremely common. A style favored by those not necessarily at the top of the social class
Backtracking myself a little bit, I’m adding a third typical poet – an uncanny baby blend of the first two as nurtured by social media. The social poet. This poet’s study is an unrecognizable bedroom, distinct from anyone else’s, and is surrounded by only a few poetry books of exclusively modern authors. Yet when they write, it is with the same real-time urgency as the neighborhood poet, even though these poets are likely to be extreme introverts. Their work is lauded on social media and whether wide or niche – the work of this poet is usually a few lines and unrevokingly introspective – confessional in and about love and social justice, it is a reckoning of its popularity today.
But they approach all this with a more self-built study where they have a sense of what poetry can be that is somewhere between customized and ‘spoon-fed’, perhaps from a galant or rococco window where things seem to be turning in on themselves.
Now these are three sweeping, more-than-slightly romanticized, generalizations concerning poets of today, and I wouldn’t recommend giving into possible temptations to categorize either yourself or others into any box, but rather to curiously see what the ideas of poetry means for us presently.
How it is something that exceeds the usual limits of class, race, gender, ideologies, and even time, etc. etc., even when built within these parameters culturally.
That the differences between these three ‘false-not so false’ poets is really an indication of universality.
As one thing is for sure, all three poets and the numberless poets in-between and around them, are using language and sound in making an effort to proving a point, expressing an idea, or encouraging an experience.
Poetry is something that can touch us deeply for both the good times and bad, and has a wonderful healing quality about its nature – when we read poetry, we relax and begin to breathe slower – a sense of security going over the words of the page and often away from the problems of the world that may be bothering us in our ‘day-to-day’ lives –
To inspire, poetry has been used to motivate armies and appease angry rulers – it has been used to ask for blessings, and to be a blessing. To commemorate and immortalize deeds and identities of people immemorial.
So recognized in its power and potential, is that there are state-mandated poets and national laureates, positions with rising numbers as more cities and municipalities are seeing the value of the poet within the framework of the people at large.
The general opinion is that poetry must go on, and that we will continue to see it, and see it flourish everywhere as people around the world take moments to put themselves into words, knowing that by doing so, they’ll leave open a door where a wandering reader may stumble in and perhaps discover something about themselves they hadn’t known before.