6.2.11

Life before emoticons.

I was going to write a little bit today about the new novel I'm writing, but a surprising e-mail I received yesterday changed my plans. Apparently, there's going to be a local poetry group starting up in the city, and I'm on the list read something at its opening night.

How was I accorded such an honour? Simple - I put my name down on the list of people willing to read something at its opening night. (Sometimes it's nice living in a smaller city.) Of course, this brings up a very important point - I haven't written a poem in years.

I do incorporate elements of poetry in my writing, even though they're not poems. I'm always trying to find the words which most effectively convey my perceptions, and part of being effective is sounding pleasant to the audience. I suppose that's actually rhetoric and not poetry, but my point is that I like paying attention to words, and poetry itself has evolved outside of its classical constraints to fit a wide variety of formats. I'm sure I'll be able to find something that fits my style, right?

But that brings up a much sadder point - I can flimsily defend my lack of writing poetry, but my lack of reading poetry is unconscionable. So, let's see if I can't find a poem (that wasn't written by Leonard Cohen) worth blogging about by next Sunday. And if anyone wants to suggest particular poems or poetry resources, I'd be glad to hear them.



1 comment:

Laina said...

The Office Tower Tales by Alice Major -- one of the most beautiful things I have ever read. It's a novel-poem.

I also love ee cummings, Neruda, TS Eliot (Particularly "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"). In terms of poems that are more hilarious than beautiful...Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear.

And for good Canadiana...rob mclennan. I have a crush on him.