1. The first poem I remember reading/hearing/reacting to was ...Sylvia Plath's "Morning Song." For me, this poem was an awakening.
2. I was forced to memorize (Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe) in school and...it opened my eyes to literature. I attribute my love for the written word to Poe and Emily Dickinson. I just remember feeling very attached to this poem, even though as a fourth grader, I don't think I could have fully grasped the sadness in this piece.
3. I read/don’t read poetry because …it helps me breathe.
4. Poems I’m likely to think about when asked about my favorite poems are ...Sylvia Plath's "Morning Song," T.S. Eliot's "The WasteLand," Ezra Pound's "In a Station at the Metro," James Tate's "Never Again the Same" ... and so much more.
5. I write/don’t write poetry, but...I'm often guilty of writing poetry to improve my prose. It helps me focus on the details, the picture within the picture, the key moments in the plot, the intricacies of each character.
6. My experience with reading poetry differs from my experience with reading other types of literature ...in that when I read poetry, I tend to slow myself down. Although I like to read prose aloud as well, whenever I read poetry, I have to read every single word, pause at each caesura, hear each and every sound. Poetry is a very meticulous experience for me. I often feel like I'm in a maze, where I have to carefully filter my way through words to get to the end of all the twists and turns.
7. I find poetry …
in my mother's cooking
in the swing of my father's hammer as he's working on our home
in the tilt of my little brother's cap
in the brittleness of my nails
in the lone leaf still attached to the tree branch in the middle of winter
in a chipped tooth
in a confused memory
in a cold embrace
in uncontrolled laughter
in cradled tears
in whispers
in ice and how it forms
in the car when i drive you home at night
in the squareness of this cubicle
in the waning gibbous
in earthquakes
in birth
in death
in each and every inhale and exhale
8. The last time I heard poetry … was last year, at a Verbal Mayhem meeting where a group of poets from my university (Rutgers - go Knights!) come together once a week to read their finished pieces or works in progress. That night was the first time I read my own work after a four year silence.
9. I think poetry is like … how we store memory. It is selective in its process, but this selection is unexpected and can be triggered by anything in our sensory and emotional landscape. Poetry does not need a plot or a sense of completion to invoke a thought, a feeling... the same way memories do not need the complete string of events to invoke nostalgia.
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Find more responses at Poetry Thursday.
Labels: Poetry, Writing Prompts
19 Comments:
I especially enjoyed your answers to no. 7
Plath, of course Sylvia Plath. There are so many talented people that choosing a favourite sb or a favourite poem is hardly an easy task. Thanks for sharing.
i agree with catherine. i also enjoyed how you answered no. 9
I loved your list on 7. That was wonderful.
You write well. There's a lot inside there. I'll have to explore your blog more carefully. I'm sorry you've got a crush on someone who's off limits. Makes your answers even more fragile. BB
Really like the last line...you're right, it's not a linear thing at all.
Michelle,
"5. I write/don’t write poetry, but …I'm often guilty of writing poetry to improve my prose. It helps me focus on the details, the picture within the picture, the key moments in the plot, the intricacies of each character."
What a "novel" idea! Thanks, I'm going to try that.
Btw. Brian Leonard (Rutgers football) grew up just 30 miles from me. Go Knights!
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Michelle – As always, your posts are beautiful and your words lovingly selected. I absolutely love your description of poetry being like the way we store memory – selective. Great description. Love your thoughts and words. Take care.
Thanks, Michelle, for visiting me!
As for #6, I agree. It's a must for me to read poetry out loud or I just don't get it sometimes...
I like to read in the bathroom where I can hear my voice echo a tiny bit, like the words on the page are deeper somehow than just my fragile voice can handle. I look forward to visiting you again for PT!
Poetry is my latest love and I've fallen hard ... this can be taken more ways than one..
I had to memorize "In a Station At The Metro" for my last lit exam :)
Hi Michelle,
Go Knights!!! I'm a UConn fan, but I root for Big East teams. What is wrong with Stringer's team this year? They were supposed to be good.
Love the meme and the poem for #7. Have a great weekend.
Three cheers for Plath. I wonder if she could ever have imagined how many people would be intimately, deeply, personally affected by her poems.
Thank you for your inadvertant list poem as well!
Wonderful, Michelle! Your answer to #7 is a poem unto itself, each item worthy of a pause. I'm flattered to share our enjoyment of "Morning Song" and "Annabel Lee" - and I love your description in #9. I hadn't thought of it myself but three cheers to you for wording such an essential part of poetry so well.
This is all just lovely. You've made poetry out of speaking of poetry.
I'm loving reading all of the different answers to #9. It's as telling as the way we all twist and knead the prompts each week.
i loved reading your responses. your words fill me up this evening. i have noticed some people talking about how they do not like talking about poetry, they would rather write it. well, you have made your answers into their own poems. love that.
Chelle..so very well done..I know you love to write, and you do it well, however this says so much as to why you love it so much..and I too love #7..thanks sweetie..for sharing so much of yourself..m
Man, I love this meme. I got chills reading your answer to question number 4. And I am happy to have found another sloooooow reader of poetry.
*smiles*
I sometimes write poetry to improve my prose, too. I find the instinctive, freefall nature of poetry can help bring life and feeling into a scene.
I love your answer to #7; a poem in itself!
That's interesting that you sometimes write poetry to improve your prose. I'm hoping it'll help my prose, too.
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