Just Add Words

So now just wait a minute -a poem is coming. That's part stereotype of the poet -either intoxicated, crazed or at least not on the same plain of thought as the rest of us. Poetry has always had that link with experiencing life from an altered state, as the poet is both storyteller and explorer of the modified perspective that helps the reader see ordinary reality more clearly.

From the ancient Sumerians to the 20th century, poets were the rock stars of their day. In Victorian times one way of showing off how much of a libertine and social bad boy you were was to hang a print of Lord Byron on your wall. Since those heady days poetry has tumbled down in prestige and become the Rodney Dangerfield of arts and literature -poets just don't get any respect.



It's really loss, good poetry is thought provoking, good poetry is sensual, but good poetry isn't always easy to find. The market is flooded with over wrought emotional rants and cryptic verses of babble. Poetry needs to have veil of artistry, it needs to take poetic license, poetry can not be the flat prosaic statement of truth unless that flat statement is a tool to emphasize some other truth below the surface. It can take a lot time, effort and meditation to pick apart a poem and find the Cracker Jack prize inside. People don't have that kind of spare time. A society hooked on immediate gratification isn't as narcissistic as it is hurried and sleep deprived. Too often we are too busy to read a poem and reflect on the words.

One thing I miss from a classical education is the expectation that every student had to memorize a variety of key literary poems. I was impressed with some the old men in my childhood, when one would start to recite a line of Tennyson or Yeats and the rest of his classmates would join in unison. These men were bonded together by poetry they had learned a half century earlier.

How many of us have thought of the image of being with someone we love -a loaf bread, a jug of wine, and thou. To be out on a perfect spring day, enjoying a chardonnay that goes well with fresh strawberries and sharing the moment with that one special person. Leisurely reading poetry, trading metaphors about love and sex. We all think of moments like that but most of us never find the time.

In past posts I had written about Tom the Collector of Everything. He wasn't the only friend that collect things. Another collector was Schultz, Schultz at that time worked as a movie projectionist. He saved silent movies, surprisingly most of it was pornography but that's another story. Through Schultz I met Half Price Ron. Ron was one of those characters who believed there was a conspiracy behind everything. He worked for cash, refused to pay taxes and invested his money in antique books. Of course Ron was well read and claimed he could hide a million dollars in a bookshelf and only another expert collector would know which books to look at. Half Price Ron was cheap as sin but he got nick name from his standard sale pitch -"normally I would charge this much, but I'll sell it to you for half price".

Among the thousands of books Ron had for trade or sale, he took the time to show me his personal collection of compact hand size books. Most were from the early 1800's but many dated back to the 1600's and a couple to the 1400's. The earlier books tended to be prayers and sermons, the later books were poetry. These books were portable entertainment. Poetry filled a space that radio, on-line movies and video games now occupy. And poetry wasn't just personal entertainment, it was acceptable and even expected that a person would read poetry aloud for others -it was like owning a guitar because eventually someone would ask you to play a tune for them.

Somewhere in our busy day to day existence I would like to see a space set aside for the appreciation of aesthetic pleasures of life. If anything many cafes and independent books store support or sponsor poetry readings. They make a good cheap date and who knows you might actually be inspired by what you hear.

The time we have in life is short. The only way we can ignore that fact is by cutting ourselves off from the world at large and being bored to death. Be the hero of your own story and be willing to try almost anything at least once -even poetry. Think about what you feel and just add words.