I was reading a book by a popular fiction writer and he had this to say about writing poems:
'Writing a good poem may be as hard as writing a good novel. It may even be harder. But any clown with a sharp pencil can write out a dozen lines of verse and call them a poem. Not just any clown can fill 200 pages with prose and call it a novel. Only the more determined clowns can get the job done.'
I entirely agree with him. There are a lot of people who go around calling themselves poets after having written a few rhyming lines. They go around with the sort of intense expressions that puts me off. Not that I don't like poetry or haven't written it. In fact I began with writing poems when I was quite young. Of course all of it was quite bad and I didn't write anymore after a few attempts. But one poem was published in a college magazine and not because it was any good but the editor happened to be my close friend.
But I love to read poetry. In fact, I began this second hand book collecting with a volume of poetry, my very first book, which was 'Twentieth Century American Poetry' which I bought in 1988 for thirty rupees. I still have it with me and dip into it now and then, especially when I am feeling low. It has some wonderful poems by poets whose names I cannot ever forget- David Wagoner (To My Friend Whose Parachute Did Not Open), John Ciardi (Elegy Just In Case), Theodore Roethke ( I knew a Woman, Lovely in Her Bones), Gene Derwood (Elegy on Gordon Barber) and so on.
'Elegy On Gordon Barber' is a haunting poem of a boy who drowns and here are a few lines of this beautiful poem:
What choke of terror filled you in the wet
What fierce surprise caught you when play turned fate
And all the rains you loved became your net,
Formlessly yielding, yet stronger than your breath?
Maraianne Moore had this line in her poem titled 'Poetry'
I, too, dislike it:there are things that are far important beyond all
this fiddle.
Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in
it after all, a place for the genuine.
It sums up most of what I feel about poetry. I love to read it but cannot however write a good poem. I am happy with my prose, good or bad, and don't ever want to call myself a poet.
'Writing a good poem may be as hard as writing a good novel. It may even be harder. But any clown with a sharp pencil can write out a dozen lines of verse and call them a poem. Not just any clown can fill 200 pages with prose and call it a novel. Only the more determined clowns can get the job done.'
I entirely agree with him. There are a lot of people who go around calling themselves poets after having written a few rhyming lines. They go around with the sort of intense expressions that puts me off. Not that I don't like poetry or haven't written it. In fact I began with writing poems when I was quite young. Of course all of it was quite bad and I didn't write anymore after a few attempts. But one poem was published in a college magazine and not because it was any good but the editor happened to be my close friend.
But I love to read poetry. In fact, I began this second hand book collecting with a volume of poetry, my very first book, which was 'Twentieth Century American Poetry' which I bought in 1988 for thirty rupees. I still have it with me and dip into it now and then, especially when I am feeling low. It has some wonderful poems by poets whose names I cannot ever forget- David Wagoner (To My Friend Whose Parachute Did Not Open), John Ciardi (Elegy Just In Case), Theodore Roethke ( I knew a Woman, Lovely in Her Bones), Gene Derwood (Elegy on Gordon Barber) and so on.
'Elegy On Gordon Barber' is a haunting poem of a boy who drowns and here are a few lines of this beautiful poem:
What choke of terror filled you in the wet
What fierce surprise caught you when play turned fate
And all the rains you loved became your net,
Formlessly yielding, yet stronger than your breath?
Maraianne Moore had this line in her poem titled 'Poetry'
I, too, dislike it:there are things that are far important beyond all
this fiddle.
Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in
it after all, a place for the genuine.
It sums up most of what I feel about poetry. I love to read it but cannot however write a good poem. I am happy with my prose, good or bad, and don't ever want to call myself a poet.
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