i still feel really new to poetry in general, but it is an important part of my life. so i decided to commit copyright infringement make a page about it
here is a collection of poems i have chosen to share on my site, written by poets whose work i really truly enjoy. if you were looking for poems i have written, go check out my posts page where i put some of those every once in a while.
ive tried to include poems that are important to me without too much overconsideration regarding if the poem is popular or not. in general i really tend to shy away from poems (or any type of creative media) that has garnered a ton of attention, because i want to bring more attention to things that have been passed over unfairly and left in the shadows instead. in this case, though, i want to include poems that have received wide acclaim as well as poems that most poem-enjoyers havent heard of before, as long as the poem means something special to me. yippee!
one of my favourite poetry books is haruko/love poems by June Jordan. i am sure there will be a few poems from that book on the site here as well!
if you want to learn more about poetry i recommend the book Poetry as Survival by Gregory Orr. whether youre brand new to poetry or youve enjoyed many a poem, its a valuable read (if you need help getting a copy let me know).
sure i do!! though there are already quite a few resources out there on that, i can still offer some personal thoughts on it.
this might not be possible for everybody (obviously not for anyone who is nonverbal) in which case i would recommend having it read to you and listening to it in some way. (also, if you are hard of hearing: i unfortunately havent done much research into ASL poetry or Deaf poetry but i know signed poetry is a beautiful part of deaf culture you can look into. it might be much more helpful to reach out to others more knowledgeable about the process of understanding poetry when deaf. i think having someone perform it in front of you or watching a performance of the poem live or with closed captions could be very helpful. hey, if anyone knows more about this, tell me please!)
with those possibilities addressed, reading the poem outloud is a really helpful way to process it. and try not to read it too quickly or rush through it. remember that every word is important in a poem, and the poet may have spent much deliberation on the specific individual word choice, phrasing, and rhythm, and consider how that adds to your experience reading it. if you feel like it, reading it over a second time is good too. i like to treat them like lyrics, because to me they are lyrics! a poem is a lot like a song without a melody. i like to imagine poems being performed with the backing of music hundreds of years ago.
it is incredibly normal to not know all of the words in a poem, and looking them up instead of not will help in further understanding. yay (i am very tired and writing this at 5:42 AM). i think a lot of times we just tend to assume what a word means or ignore what we dont totally know because it might be less effort? ive at least caught myself doing that plenty of times.. this also goes for analogies or references to something you might not be aware of at all. its worthwhile looking it up and gaining an enlightened understanding of what the poet was trying to communicate!
did you know its fun to talk about poetry with people? your friends? your loved ones? your pets? plants? whoever you like to talk to about creative things, you can certainly consider talking about poetry with. im always surprised by how someone will have a different interpretation than i did that i did not expect at all, and it ends up giving me a new way of seeing the poem and evolves my perspective on it. i really appreciate those experiences.
