03-27-2015, 10:15 AM
I find the issue of whether or not poems are a means of communication fascinating.
As a reader I think about the one of a hundred or more that might catch my interest, make me want to return again and again to experience that kernal of something that hangs above the poem, something that the poem inspires in me, communicates to me in a way past the words on the page. I believe, although I don't know, that the poet's aim was to somehow have that poem land where it does, and was deliciously successful. It doesn't really matter to me if the poet even meant to send the message, I still know what I received.
As a writer, I have options. If I write books of poems, keep them to myself and destroy them before my death, as I am sure plenty of writers do, I have not communicated. I've amused myself, or processed my thoughts, or passed the time of day. Once I have chosen to share a poem either privately or by publishing or posting I have opened the door to communicate with the reader, to know whether or not my scribblings have any effect all, if they lie flat or inspire some intangible sense of what the world looks and feels like from my perspective. Even a nonsense poem communicates, often a sense of joy in words and sound.
Poetry may not be the easiest or most direct form of communication, but I personally am grinning or having my heart broken by what to me is a successful poem.
As a reader I think about the one of a hundred or more that might catch my interest, make me want to return again and again to experience that kernal of something that hangs above the poem, something that the poem inspires in me, communicates to me in a way past the words on the page. I believe, although I don't know, that the poet's aim was to somehow have that poem land where it does, and was deliciously successful. It doesn't really matter to me if the poet even meant to send the message, I still know what I received.
As a writer, I have options. If I write books of poems, keep them to myself and destroy them before my death, as I am sure plenty of writers do, I have not communicated. I've amused myself, or processed my thoughts, or passed the time of day. Once I have chosen to share a poem either privately or by publishing or posting I have opened the door to communicate with the reader, to know whether or not my scribblings have any effect all, if they lie flat or inspire some intangible sense of what the world looks and feels like from my perspective. Even a nonsense poem communicates, often a sense of joy in words and sound.
Poetry may not be the easiest or most direct form of communication, but I personally am grinning or having my heart broken by what to me is a successful poem.
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