November 26, 2009
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Does Poetry Make You Feel Dumb?
Let me begin by saying that I do not dislike poetry. I am actually quite fond of a lot of it. I just cannot help but feel like an idiot sometimes while reading it. Let’s not even talk about how stupid I feel when I try to write it. I still struggle with the notion that all poems do not have to rhyme.
I liken some poetry to a great work of modern art. I like what I am looking at. It seems beautiful to me. However, when all is said and done, I have absolutely no clue what it is that I am looking at.
When I begin a poem I like I usually find myself captivated by the first line. I continue on, enjoying the rythym or structure the author created, but by the end I am usually completely lost.
Take this haiku for example:
nothing was not scene,
so no one was not disturbed -
never, never did
– Peach, @ HaikuToday.netThe words are nice to me and it seems deep enough, but really all I thought at the end of reading this was, “huh?” What makes it worse is that feeling that everyone else gets it besides me. Its like its some big huge joke that everyone is in on.
Am I alone here? Please tell me I am not the only idiot out there? Or, at the very least, be nice enough to lie to me.
