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I definitely think some Hip Hop can be considered poetry, especially "conscious" Hip Hop. If you haven't already, check out Watsky. He used to be a spoken word guy before becoming a rapper.
Are you familiar with this book of translated love poetry? I've owned it for 20+years and never get tired of reading these masters of short-form verse. I think you might enjoy it.
I'd recommend The Essential Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks. I don't speak Persian and haven't read other translations, but I think this collection is great. I particularly like “The Reed Flute's Song” and “I Have Five Things to Say.”
Mother Tongue Apologize by Preeti Vangani, modern female Indian poet who'd be perfect for this.
https://www.amazon.com/Mother-Tongue-Apologize-Preeti-Vangani/dp/8193929535
/u/jeffreywinks added shopping link
Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon
hm... The only ones that I can think of are only slightly fitting here.
The first is Bukowski's "Mind and Heart" and is more about the naturality of death than the meaninglessness of life. http://bukowskiquotes.com/2012/08/charles-bukowski-poem-mind-and-heart/
The other one's e e cummings "since feeling is first", which hits the thematic more accuretly (but still not entirely) http://genius.com/E-e-cummings-since-feeling-is-first-annotated
Both of those are not really traditional poems, so maybe it's not exactly what you're looking for, but I think both have the meaninglessness of life as part of their themes.
I was in a similar situation to you a few years ago—wanting to “get in” to poetry, but not quite knowing where to start. I ended up buying an anthology—“Good Poems for Hard Times” by Garrison Keillor.
It’s an absolutely lovely collection. It’s divided into chapters by a common theme, or you can just open it to a random page and you’re sure to find a gem. It’s also a pretty good mix between typical canonical works and more obscure poems. Not to mention—Keillor’s introduction to the collection is absolutely beautiful and changed the way that I read poetry forever.
I’d definitely recommend starting with an anthology so you can decide what you’re particular “taste” is, and then you can grow your library from there. I’ve had my “Good Poems for Hard Times” for about four years now, and it’s introduced me to so many lovely poets and styles.
Here’s an Amazon link if you’re interested!
Awesome. Thanks for posting this and for preserving the poetry. The story here reminds me of Rebecca Harding Davis's "Life in the Iron Mills", which is about a genius artist who perishes away without fully developing his art due to having to work in the iron mills. It is a masterful critique of the perils of capitalist exploitation.
I just found it on another post of OP's.
edit: and if you look up the poet on facebook, he's got a bunch more poems in this style available publicly.
"Inclined to Speak" is a great book of contemporary Arab American poetry, and includes more work from Naomi Shehab Nye, along with a wealth of other writers like Joseph Lawrence and Suheir Hammad (one of my personal favorites).
As much as I hate Amazon, here's a link to pick up the book: https://www.amazon.com/Inclined-Speak-Anthology-Contemporary-American/dp/1557288674
My best advice is find a good anthology with a diverse representation of poets, styles and time periods. If you are unfamiliar with poetry, you could pick up a collection of a single author, but if you find you're not fond of that author, you run the risk of being discouraged in exploring more. A favorite anthology of mine is out of print, but you can get used on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Staying-Alive-Poems-Unreal-Times/dp/1401359264
Right?! That poem! I wanted to quote a line in response to your own enthusiasm for it, but there are too many places that are stunning, even from a quick poem like this one, that I can't choose.
As for books and money, sometimes abebooks is a better deal than amazon marketplace. (Not in this case, I'm afraid; don't want to get your hopes up!)
There seems to be four copies on amazon right now.
In fact I have that book in my apartment somewhere, but I'm on vacation. I could scan the pages when I come home, if you wish?
Buy the 2nd edition of Vendler's Poems, Poets, Poetry, and you'll get essentially the same great book for $50 cheaper. Not much has changed between the 2nd and current 3rd edition. I couldn't find it on amazon, but here's a link for Barnes and noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/poems-poets-poetry-helen-vendler/1117443631#productInfoTabs
I am not 100% certain of this, and I'd be happy to be corrected, but I think this is probably apocryphal. My evidence is:
- It does appear in other places as a generic American proverb (see, for example, this 1884 magazine)
-It is not easy to find by searching online, even though his works are in the public domain. If you pick any random line he did write, it should come up in a basic Google search pretty easily.
I was looking for an audio file I downloaded recently of Anne Sexton reading a few poems. Couldn't find it, but did find this:
Check it out.
This is a song, but hey, Bob Dylan just won the Nobel Prize for literature.
Also, "Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Suess.
I first discovered how much I enjoyed words when I was fifteen and discovered Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick. Back in the days of the proto-internet, I stumbled upon somebody who basically wrote an online master's thesis discussing the intricacies of the ocean metaphors in the song and how they relate to society's views of puberty and sexuality. It blew my little fifteen-year-old mind how powerful words were.
I didn't start getting into page poetry until my first year of university when I took a Canadian literature class that I had been dreading ever since I'd signed up for it. I owe that professor everything because he absolutely changed my life--everything from my view of Canada to what even constitutes a poem. The poem that did it? Al Purdy's "Lament For the Dorsets".
I learned from Purdy that everything I had learned about poetry up to that point was false. It's not about grandiose, saccharine, flowery language to show off your vocabulary (sorry, Walter Scott, you know I love you!); it's about conveying your message as clearly and concisely as possible with what's said and what's unsaid. Sometimes it's better to speak at length to a mouse about your remorse for destroying her house (á la Burns); sometimes it's just better to say, "Oh, shit!" Purdy knew how to turn the working man's words into art.
Heavily religious poetry should be avoided. The passing reference to faith is alright, but when it's the focus of the poetry it tends to be annoying. It comes across as overly preachy and does not appeal to people who don't hold the same beliefs as you do.
With regards to traditional styles (rhyme/meter) they are amazing when done properly and cringe-inducing when done poorly. Poetry with end-rhyme often sounds forced without proper meter. Note that meter is not simply syllable count; it is the use of unstressed and stressed syllables in a particular pattern in order to create rhythm in poetry.
Here's a link to a poem that's also about time and whatnot I did a long time ago called Makeshift Midnight. You can download it or others through my artist page link The ScareCrow
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=7000673&q=hi&newref=1
I find Philip Levine’s work to be pretty unique - he lived in Detroit as the auto industry there collapsed, and writes about working class America.What Work Is is a favorite.
Wislawa Szymborska’s Poems New and Collected has some of per poems about WWII and the Holocaust - she lived through it in Poland.
Hello! I recently read this wonderful autobiography about Li Bai and enjoyed it so much.
https://www.amazon.com/Banished-Immortal-Life-Li-Bai/dp/1524747416
The author, Ha Jin, writes excellent fiction novels as well.
I am a huge fan of poetry and here is an app I developed that helps poets keep track of their work with lots of build-in features which are helpful. It visually helps you see your rhyming patterns, has built-in thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, etc. I think it would be really helpful for anyone getting into poetry. Give it a try. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=kmcilvai.perfectpoet
The first that comes to mind in John Keats's "On the Sonnet." You can see it here: http://genius.com/John-keats-on-the-sonnet-annotated
If you're looking for something more modern and easier to grasp, one of my favorite poems in the same vein of Ars Poetica is "Poetry" By Marianne Moore.
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/poetry
Both are very different from each other, of course, in both the speaker defends poetry against someone who presumably doesn't understand it. I hope you like them!
You might be interested in Coursera. The site offers a class from the University of Pennsylvania on Modern and Contemporary poetry, and it's completely free. The class starts in September -- I've taken it, and it's excellent. I highly recommend it. The in-depth lectures will help you understand both structured verse and free verse poems, and the complexities about them.
Also, I recommend reading The Making of a Poem, edited by the late great Mark Strand and Eavan Boland. It's actually a book on many poetic forms, which I know you said you didn't want, but the section on free verse and open forms is good. Also, Strand's opening essay "On Becoming a Poet" offers a detailed explanation of one of the first poems he liked. The way he explained the poem not only helped me understand that poem but many others.
And, of course, read, read, read!
Hope that helps!
maybe a bit more prose/stream of consciousness than the rest of what's been posted here, but ligotti's "i have a special plan for this world" immediately comes to mind. http://genius.com/Current-93-i-have-a-special-plan-for-this-world-lyrics
apologies that i could only find the whole text posted as lyrics, but if you want to hear an interpretation of this that will add another level of disturbed you can hear the "song" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZpEFJhO6k
Just to tease, the introduction goes:
Father, what is a Legislature?
A representative body elected by the people of the state.
Are women people?
No, my son, criminals, lunatics and women are not people.
Do legislators legislate for nothing?
Oh, no; they are paid a salary.
By whom?
By the people.
Are women people?
Of course, my son, just as much as men are.
To the New York Tribune, in whose generous columns many of these verses first appeared, the author here wishes to express her gratitude.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11689/11689-h/11689-h.htm
Ooo, and my favorite cheeky poem in the lot (having a hard time choosing, actually, there're a lot of good ones):
("Our laws have not yet reached the point of holding that property which is the result of the husband's earnings and the wife's savings becomes their joint property.... In this most important of all partnerships there is no partnership property."—Recent decision of the New York Supreme Court.)
Lady, lovely lady, come and share
All my care;
Oh how gladly I will hurry
To confide my every worry
(And they're very dark and drear)
In your ear.
Lady, share the praise I obtain
Now and again;
Though I'm shy, it doesn't matter,
I will tell you how they flatter:
Every compliment I'll share
Fair and square.
Lady, I my toil will divide
At your side;
I outside the home, you within;
You shall wash and cook and spin,
I'll provide the flax and food,
If you're good.
Partners, lady, we shall be,
You and me,
Partners in the highest sense
Looking for no recompense,
For, the savings that we make,
I shall take.
Favourite pre-20th century poet for shorter poems is Donne - try any of his love poems or the Holy Sonnets to start with. A wonderful and understandable contemporary poet is Elizabeth Bishop, whose poem The Map I recently enjoyed greatly. If by contemporary you mean living, then check out the work of Derek Walcott who I never tire of recommending.
be sure to check out this online course : https://www.coursera.org/course/modernpoetry it uses the format of close reading of modern poets, it is quite interesting in it's interpretations. I wholeheartedly recommend this course for intro to modern poetry :)
"Howl", by Allen Ginsberg. Read it (or heard it, I should say) at the right time in life and was amazed by his unconventionality in form and subject matter, candor, and glowing imagery. To me, it was an exciting experience hearing him ramble on and on in this unrelenting way about weird stuff that was foreign to me. Highly recommend it.
Thank you for your kind words.
As to the subject, the other response to your comment is, more or less, correct.
Thanks again. In this subreddit particularly, a comment, of almost any sort, is worth a thousand upvotes.
http://trailers.apple.com/movies/summit/sourcecode/sourcecode-tlr1_1080p.mov
This poem is beautiful even without the visual.
(Hope I did that right!)
And, no offense to Hans, I was more moved by the poetry than the inspiration.
I don't like to read much poetry (I need to try to read more), but I found this poem recitation (song?) very... moving? Beautiful? I don't know, but I loved it. I think it's a combination of the spooky music in the background and Wait's amazing voice (sets the mood perfectly) growling out the poem.
I think Tom Waits is a pretty genius poet... check out his album "Rain Dogs" and "Nighthawks at the Diner". The former is a more musical album (that's the album that 9th and Hennepin is actually from) and Nighthawks is more spoken poetry with a jazz accompaniment. Very cool stuff.
is this the right thing? either way I really enjoyed that poem. I've never read a poem like that before. Can you recommend some more?
Sorry, didn't realise. Jar files can't damage computers as they actually don't have access to the whole PC, unlike exe's.
Is there a way I can prove it is legit? The source code is here.
I also have poems with no music, but I don't have them posted on the net. I like doing alt hip hop as well.....check this out...I was thinking about making a video for this but I don't know what I would do... http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=13257265&q=hi&newref=1
I guess I never gave it much thought, but I'm quite a disorganized writer. I'm forever bringing home scraps of paper from work with the lines that floated through my head that day or transfering bits and pieces from my phone (more rare as my company has a 'no cell phone' policy) to my laptop using Evernote.
I like the ideas here, but for me it doesn't feel so necessary. Probably because my life isn't as fast paced as the author's. If I can get a line jotted down so I don't forget it I usually have the time to work with it later.
Check out OpenOffice or LibreOffice. I've only used the latter, a tool called LibreOffice Writer, and its similar to Microsoft Word. There are ways of getting Microsoft Word for free, such as pirating it, but I would never suggest doing such a thing because its illegal and definitely against the rules.
Or you could ditch the word processor all together. Pen and paper, or a typewriter, are just as effective if you still have poems to write and revise. I only start using a word processor when I have most of what I want to say, how I want to say it, on actual paper.
Very interesting short story you posted, is this the collected fictions book that you'd recommend? Looks to have good ratings.
https://smile.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-Luis-Borges/dp/0140286802/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=borges&qid=1626800458&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011&rnid=2470954011&rps=1&sr=8-1
LiethersLiethers is a local poet here and I follow them on social media. I really like their works and got the chance to grab an ARC of their upcoming book. Might be your cup of tea.
Some excellent advice on how to write poetry, which is, after all, what you asked about!
Here's something to put in the pile next to it, some thoughts on becoming a poet. I mean that in a very broad way, after all I am only occasionally a poet of sorts and barely even then, so I hardly speak with professional expertise. Anyway:
Some steps to becoming a poet:
- Stop, in all sorts of moments.
- Sip the world, inhale the world, gulp it down. All are important tastings.
- Sit your mind outside and high above it all. See how things connect, what separates them and what moves them together and apart.
- Practice letting your thoughts and your feelings sit in the palm of your hand, so you can gently turn them over and around and around, knowing them better from all sides
- Listen, a lot. Touch, and be touched. Watch without words.
- Learn endlessly about words, their insides (grammar and linguistics) and their outsides (how they connect)
- Spend time with visual art and music. Rhythm and space are particularly important in free verse.
- Write a lot of poems about things that don't matter to you, so that your craft is ready for the things that do.
- Ask for this: https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006 for your birthday, Christmas or other gift receiving occasion, if you're fortunate to have people who would get it for you.
- Have a life well suited and well lived.
Virgil Suarez is Cuban-American and really good, but for a younger person I definitely would go with David Hernandez's collection Always Danger.
Great poem, and such a tragedy. I frequently recommend Pancake's short fiction to people, he definitely left us far too soon, friggan 26...
https://www.amazon.com/Stories-Breece-DJ-Pancake/dp/0316715972
You’re so welcome. I highly recommend https://www.amazon.com/Cries-Spirit-Celebration-Womens-Spirituality/dp/B0026QZV64 and even https://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Spirit-Within-Sourcebook-Womens/dp/0807068616/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=claiming+the+spirit&qid=1605832692&sr=8-3 I wish you luck!
Also a college student here. I just bought one from Amazon for 12ish bucks and it’s pretty good (didn’t have ‘I, being a woman’ though, oddly) but you can buy it used for around $4.
Collected Poems https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062015273/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_nueNAbY7VTVZS
I haven’t been able to find the full poem but here is a link to Amazon India for a collection of the magazine it was in that includes the proper year. https://www.amazon.in/Left-Review-1934-1938-8-set/dp/0714621110
That is a loaded beast of a question. There is no fast or loose definition of "good" or "bad" poetry. Those of us who publish work are often surprised at what gets accepted, and I always bear in mind what Stephen King says in "On Writing": The writer is the worst judge of their own work. I personally am part of a workshop group comprised of other writer friends who share similar ambitions with me, whom I respect very much, and I only show work that I'm comfortable sharing. At the end of the day, it helps to be active and communicate with others. Read often, and write often.
Stephen Dunn's Walking Light, like a lot of poetry, is sort of about writing and sort of not. It's a book of essays that talks about poetry, writing, life, etc.
Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird is a great book on the writing process. She writes non-fiction books and maybe novels, but you might find it helpful. There's a lot to be had in it about discipline, the process, and all that.
> I am looking for a book that could show me the context of this revolution.
The Autobiography of Malcolm X is a good book and a good read, Black Like Me is a classic about Jim Crow.
For a quick (ha) overview, though, I would recommend the documentary series Eyes on the Prize. Full episodes are usually available on youtube. Here's the first one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFGgoE-uuUw
> Am I misinterpreting this lines? was the Black Panther Movement a real revolution or just a cultural fad?
I'm not actually familiar with that poem. But... I think it more likely he is talking about white protestors here.
The Civil Rights Movement went from ~1955-1975. This overlapped with hippies and anti-Vietnam protests. There were several different groups protesting different things. Not all (mostly white) Vietnam protestors were particularly invested in civil rights for black people.
The Black Panther Party was, I think, a real revolutionary movement. But it was quickly and brutally crushed--most BPP leaders and many black radicals ended up dead, in prison, or in exile. Google Fred Hampton, as an example.
First of all, don't preface your poem with 'this is bad.'
The first thing you need to figure out is who you're addressing with this poem. You say "every time I fall from your grace" and "I barely know who you are." This seems contradictory.
The next thing you need to work out is the meter. Measure the number of syllables in each line and then learn how to determine which are accented and which are not. Since you haven't mastered form yet, you should be sticking to simple forms. Look up poetic forms online for more information. A sonnet might be a good one for this poem.
You'll also want to read up on grammar. Strunk and White's The Elements of Style is a short book with pretty much all you need to know.
Other than that, it's not a terrible poem, but it's not remarkable either. You're saying something that's been said a million times before, so ask yourself, "Can I write this subject better than a million other people? Would anybody want to read this?"
You have a bit of wit, so rhyming actually kind of works here. Generally, free verse is way easier than rhyming poetry, but you should stick to what you like.
I know this is a lot to consider, but if you're serious about writing better, consider it. In the end, you have to do what makes you happy.
Looks to me like no one ever posted it online -- not surprising, considering it's a poem from 1973.
It's in this book, though, if you want to buy it: http://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Passion-Terry-Stokes/dp/0394482514
I agree with the other comments here. terpichor, Zooga_Boy, and cloudLITE all agree that reading poetry is the best way to write it.
If you've got a smart phone a great way to discover new poets and poems is the Poetry Foundation app (http://www.poetryfoundation.org/mobile/). It's kind of like a roulette wheel. You pick a theme and it comes up with a bunch of random poems. Kind of cool.
Personally I find memorising poems I like and then reciting them in everyday situations, like if you're walking somewhere, to be useful. Have found rhythmic activities like walking, jogging, or swimming really help with the flow of things.
Listening to poetry a lot is great too. You could try Poetry on Record (http://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Record-Poets-Their-1888-2006/dp/B000EU1PGO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424320501&sr=8-1&keywords=poetry+on+record). Put it on your iPhone or whatever, listen to your favourite poems on the go.
Occasionally I play minecraft and listen to my favourite poets, something about being absorbed in the game while the poets are reading lets the poems slip in. Haven't tried it during other games, so I'd be interested to know if you do.
Get the faerie handbook or the unicorn handbook they are full of poems about such creatures, and pretty tales too.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Faerie-Handbook-Enchanting-Compendium-Literature/dp/0062668110
https://www.amazon.com.au/Unicorn-Handbook-Spellbinding-Collection-Literature/dp/0062905252/
Salty indeed! Let’s bring this from a ten to a five.
I took the liberty of creeping your profile and I noticed that you are really into comic books. That’s awesome! Not my thing, but I’m glad that you have found an art form that speaks to you.
My question to you is: when was the last time a book of poetry grabbed you as much as a comic book did? I can name the last one that did off the top of my head (it was <em>Eunoia</em> by Christian Bök). That book came out in 2000–that was 22 years ago. Why haven’t I been excited about poetry published since then? Because it’s bad!
I haven’t heard anyone getting excited about a book inside or outside of the poetry sphere forever because it’s a lot of it is either dull, obscure, meaningless, or just straight-up lazy. All those examples of artists you gave (Elvis, Marylin Manson, Pablo Picasso) were controversial because they shook up the establishment; but controversy doesn’t necessarily translate into objective goodness. Limp Bizkit was controversial but I don’t think anyone would say they were “good”. (I should also point out that “popular” also doesn’t translate into “good”). Limp Bizkit’s riffs were derivative, their lyrics were puerile and vapid, their fan base was overtly misogynistic, and Fred Durst spent pretty much all his time in the public eye spouting off stupid, ill-informed, faux-deep opinions. Is Limp Bizkit objectively bad art? You bet it is! Because it’s a crass and shallow product.
I guarantee that you have similar opinions about certain comic book creations. Just because something is a comic book doesn’t make it automatically good—it can be simultaneously a comic book AND objectively bad.
The same can be applied to art more broadly and especially to poetry more specifically.
Poetry 180 has a print anthology, though, at 10 it might be too high a level, it's aimed at high school students.
I'm going to suggest something a little unorthodox, but here are three possibilities:
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Stevenson
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (a coming of age novel in poetry)
Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (a young adult novel in poetry)
Ooooooor, and this may be a better suggestion, get some of Rattle's Young Poets Anthologies. All written by kids, curated by the editors of Rattle to appeal both to kids and the average lit mag reader.
If you want to go on the journey with her as a short of guide using a guide, I highly recommend Kenneth Koch's *Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?: Teaching Great Poetry to Children"
I'm a huge fan of concision—just this year I've had a microfiction and a poem under 25 words published already, but there is certainly time for meandering, for listing, for exuberant and woeful stylistics. Paring language to the bone is a perfectly fine way to write, but it's not the only way.
What would be a contemporary poet that you recommend reading that does more in 2 lines? By contemporary, I mean, someone more recent than the 1950s. But I'll take a few if you wanna include people like WCW... though to warn you, I've been digging through a lot of public domain writing lately, Frost, Cummings, Millay, WCW, Sandburg... there's a whoooooole lotta mediocre stuff filling out their books. I'm a new big fan of Iris Tree, so I'm always looking for new awesome poetry to read.
Written by Thomas as his father lay dying. If you can read this without a tear in your eye you are a stronger person than I.
And for a special treat - this is the poem recited by Thomas himself: http://www.openculture.com/2012/08/dylan_thomas_recites_do_not_go_gentle_into_that_good_night_and_other_poems.html
If you're interested in Borges, you might like this --
Don't know if this helps, but according to Amazon, it's in this book: Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel.
https://www.amazon.com/Devotions-Emergent-Occasions-Graphyco-Editions/dp/B089TWSBWZ
Can't figure out how to get reddit's text editor to give me the proper breaks, so you can hit this link to read it as written: https://docs.google.com/document/d/10X6EG7iSURZPyOYWXgf8xe0drMmz9x0o9s2e_8wi6R0/edit
This is all I can find: https://www.amazon.com/All-That-Glitters-Robyn-Solis-ebook/dp/B0B2MYXW6G/
Looks self-published, on June 3rd, 22 days ago. And funnily enough, the person posting all these made their account 21 days ago. I smell self-promotion. It's backfiring a bit, eh?
I had this same problem once upon a time, to pretty much the same extent as you describe. It scared the living shit out of me and felt like death.
This is the "Resistance" Steven Pressfield describes in his book . The more important something is for your spiritual development, the more painful it is. The fear attacks you to the same extent as the passion does.
As for how I personally got over it: I don't really know. It was so long ago I can't really put my finger on what changed. But read the aforementioned book. It'll help you understand it and get through it.
You're welcome! I'm very passionate about this problem. I'm also a poet who has read many poems in this vein - that mental health services and the people who provide them are cold, distant, unsympathetic and lacking in understanding - and I'm really torn about them.
Because on one hand, it is a real problem and it's important that writers acknowledge those truths. But on the other hand, I also know the root causes of this uncaring face that is presented to clients/patients and I recognize that the ways in which the nature of our inquiry - the scientific nature that we believe in within clinical fields because it grounds so much of our understanding of other parts of our world - make it incredibly difficult to fix these problems. It would require a radical rethinking of how to balance the application of universal and specific knowledge towards clinical work. I've been trying to think about this problem philosophically, and I've been reading philosophers like Hans-Georg Gadamer who do an excellent job of explaining the nature of the problem.
Poems about this don't often acknowledge the nuances of the problem - and it's not their responsibility to do so. But if all you read about mental health services are poems about them, you end up with a skewed picture of them and the people that work within them as just straight up bad. And I just don't think that's true.
Yeah it’s a book on Amazon called “The River Has Eyes: Poetry Collection for Wisdom” I posted the link if you want to copy and paste
The River Has Eyes: Poetry Collection for Wisdom https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09S5X9DWW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_1MTEP94HE81H09EY1BBX
https://www.amazon.com/Disjunctive-Dragonfly-Approach-English-Language-Haiku/dp/1533612404
​
A book by Richard Gilbert. He's quite a poet if you haven't read his work before. Take care!
Byron's "Don Juan" comes to mind as an outstanding illustrative example of consistently uncompromising meter (and rhyme). Also with a bit of period research, its cheek is absolutely delightful. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21700/21700-h/21700-h.htm
OK, so I'm even later, but here are two more that I just remembered, also by Coleridge: The Homeric Hexameter Described and Exemplifed, and The Ovidian Elegaic Meter Described and Exemplified.
This is my recommendation too. I really enjoyed my poetry classes in high school, although sadly it was only in my Sophomore and Senior years. Whether is music or spoken word or written poetry I think we all have something to hear, and something to say.
If you cannot find anything local, or are not ready to be in front of others reading your thoughts and feelings, then try some online resources. Coursera does not have anything starting until at least August, but they are high quality free courses that are much like an online college course. https://www.coursera.org/courses?query=poetry
I am sure others around here know of online forums as well, although obviously you are kind of in the right place as well.
I couldn't find the urdu version, I had to work with this
I am trying , so that we can have a better translation, because confusion persists around jahazranoo, sehra etc.
David Kirby and his wife Barbara Hamby, aside from writing humorous poems themselves, have a great anthology called Seriously Funny which are humorous but not light poetry. Also check out Charles Harper Webb, Dorianne Laux, Jynne Dilling Martin, Emma Bolden, and definitely Denise Duhamel, one example would be The Difference Between Pepsi and Pope is a good one. Her book Kinky is all about the lives of very specific types of original Barbies.
One possibility is to create a poetry Meetup (meetup.com). You as the organizer can set rules on who is admitted to the group - such as requiring an engaging poetry sample or having a great conversation.
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As far as people stealing your stuff - you should be so lucky! Once you've written it, the copyright belongs to you, just as much as if you not only wrote it but also sold a million copies. If someone else publishes it their "work" belongs to you. And if they "steal" fragments of your poem and make a better poem out of it, you should ask yourself why you didn't see the in your own work the possibilities that they saw.
If you don't own Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology, with that opinion, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Hoagland belongs to a rough 'school' that is very influential among many poets of the 'current' era. 1950s-2000s is. Lots of amazing poets in that book you'll enjoy.
Maybe Nick Flynn's Some Ether? Or anthologies are a good route too. With your preferences I'd highly recommend Charles Harper Webb's anthology Stand Up Poetry: An Expanded Anthology
What is "the Atticus Poetry book"?
Abe books has a few issues of the Atticus Review? Here is the link: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=Atticus+Review Is this it, or is there another book?
Formatted poem is here.
I'm not sure if this is the kind of answer you're looking for, but when I send people gifts I like to include excerpts from poems I think they might like on a little card, say, hanging around the neck of a bottle. Last month when I sent my father a bottle of scotch for his birthday I included, in my finest Google Fonts handwriting, the last part of Oscar Wilde's "A Lament."
>But well for him whose feet hath trod
>
>The weary road of toil and strife,
>
>Yet from the sorrows of his life
>
>Builds ladders to be nearer God.
As you suspected, this is hardly one of my favourite poems, writers, or collections, though it is very good. That matters, because if you're totally wrong about what's going on in someone's head your poem's being good is your only safeguard.
I was fortunate, he loved it.
Here's another performer's version (Tomer Damsky) with another mode of performance. That mode strips it off the rhythm and focus more on the repetition of vocabulary. I like it for different reasons, but I'm trying to get more at the internal rhythms of syllable alterations/line length.
It would have less of an impact with music. Music relies only on the auditory qualities, so the number of letters plays even less of a role than it does in written poetry. Some languages place more emphasis on individual sounds in words such as Japanese poetry, but I really don't think this is a particularly impactful quality of the English language. It's an interesting aesthetic to play with, but not something that is particularly useful in the scheme of things.
I looked over this class a year or two ago
https://www.coursera.org/course/modernpoetry
and while it does not directly address how to write better poems, it does cover a lot of what many modern poets have been thinking about.
Also, I write a column called "POEMHACK" for Queen Mob's Tea House that investigates poems that get rejected from journals. The hope is it's educational for more than just that particular poet:
the archive: http://queenmobs.com/author/donald-dunbar/
I mean, sure, but haiku are so short they are often more confusing to new writers. They require a lot of inference. I think just doing close reads with a guide, like a textbook/essays, but much more preferably, with a teacher who can actually answer questions, is the best way to go about it. Classes really are awesome, though of course, YMMV. All teachers are not equal, and sometimes your favorite writers are terrible at explaining things. I always recommend Dorianne Laux and Kim Addonizio's book The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry and Steve Kowit's book In the Palm of Your Hand: A Poet's Portable Workshop to young writers. They use good poems as models and help the writers utilize the craft and technique in their own writing.
You guys would probably find Hold-Outs: The Los Angeles Poetry Renaissance, 1948-1992 interesting. LA poetry is its own beast and the book is very enlightening.
You are arrogant, because you choose to denigrate my work without even reading it. My work is most definitely NOT a scam, in fact the previous edition has sold thousands of copies and received excellent independent reviews. Educate yourself. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533212430
Maybe not exactly what you're looking for, but Pome is an email list- one poem shows up in your inbox every day. I've really enjoyed it so far. You can check it out / subscribe here: http://tinyletter.com/pome
A word processing program isn't really meant for designing a purposefully complex layout, or any kind of layout that's intended to convey a meaning. You'll probably be better off using Adobe InDesign or Photoshop. Those programs can be expensive, so you could also try GIMP as a free alternative. Or even go old school and break out the scissors and glue.
Lucky you! It's interesting you would mention this because I just listened to a podcast made by one of her former students. In the last episode, she reads "Door" and discusses the impact Dana had on her life. You should listen to it! https://www.buzzsprout.com/204621/851133-014-door?fbclid=IwAR3gkBfrI5-M230PfBJxhBgennHOuLarw_KuLUXk8x8CZaHihDw17MJP7xg
Here you go. I put it up with my other music. I'll probably take it down later, so let me know if you have listened to it. All the other songs there with it are from me/my group. The one you are looking for says "All Alon" Yea, I made a typo on it, but since I'm removing it, I left it that way. Feel free to jam the better stuff that you will find with it, though!
Interesting. Thank you :)
I wrote it a few years ago so I can't really remember exactly what was going through my head at the time. I do know that I was listening to Dead Skies in Old Blurry Photos (number six). I sort of wrote what I felt from what I pictured.
What do you think:
Cold beads of future glass
stick to flesh
sloughing it off
Sinking in.
Hugging tight against the whirlwind
Blowing straight through cotton and silk
Needles dance across nerves,
stinging like a slap in the face.
Scattered cries of gulls
perforate the din.
The grey blue black
wants to swallow you whole.
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/lives-and-works-of-the-english-romantic-poets.html
My public library provides free access to The Great Courses. It like listening to lectures. I didn't listen to this one yet, but the two I listened to on storytelling I enjoyed.
Agree with Rimbaud82. I'm lazy to google it, but I think the dude himself said something along the lines of that poetry must firts appeal to you through it's music and only after having been intrigued by the way it sounds, do you descend to pick apart the meaning. I think this is true of poetry in general, and a comforter to dumbasses like me.
On a more practical note, this site: http://genius.com/Ts-eliot-ash-wednesday-annotated/ was sometimes helpful, though some of the comments are stooped.
have-at the English history of Western Poetry ~ mercury mer_cy -- perhaps a MOOC, free and interesting, ModPo, Modern American Poetry which has its roots in this last victim in a long forgotten war, language is a lie and there's always so much more ... https://www.coursera.org/course/modernpoetry
Well here it is my attempt at something a little more chaotic. Not sure if it worked or not. Will have to compare to a previous work but I liked it none-the-less. Since it was your idea I figured I'd share.
I wrote this piece for my gf. As I had just finished the poetry unit in my lit. class and told her I'd started writing some poetry (a few of the contests done on this sub), she asked me to write one for her. Now, this was a couple weeks ago. I thought about it a little but nothing came to mind and I didn't want to force it... until Monday morning, when it just gushed out of me with little effort after a lovely weekend. So it is specifically for her, and I plan to read it to her tomorrow or Friday.
I have revised it a little since posting it here... mostly the end few lines:
Probably because it’s from a recently published book