Poetry Curious

A few, brief polls and tips for reading more verse.

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Happy National Poetry Month¹!

Have I ever celebrated this month before? Not that I can recall.

Am I doing so this year? Heck yes!

Why now? WHY NOT?!

If you’re like me, you can’t remember time before poetry.

Before words were bound together in metered meaning in the simple nursery rhymes of childhood in which rhyming was magic. Like calling forth like-matter, a natural progression of language that was at times silly and others, serious, but always purposed.

If you’re like me, you can’t recall when it was taken from you.

Not fully, perhaps, but in-part enough to have forgotten the innocence, the joy, the earnestness of letting a few words tell of greater things. Just because or for fun or for assignment. How’s reading a poem going to help when the baby won’t sleep, the bills must be paid, and the world is burning down?

I’ll reflect some on my return to verse in a later post, but what I’d really love to know is more about YOU — to get a feel for where you are in your life with poetry, starting with:

READING POETRY —

I could poll all day, but I’ll save you from my eagerness.

If you have thoughts not easily encapsulated by the options presented to you above, you can always reply to this email or leave a comment:

It goes without saying, I wouldn’t easily call myself a poet, these days, nor do I consider myself an expert on poetry, in the least. There are far more technically skilled and educated, true poets that exist in the world with a great deal to say on the gift and specifics of verse.

But I know something about finding my way back to it, slowly but surely.

If you’re like me, and would love to start reading poetry again:

Here are a few steps that might help you on your way.²

// For everyone’s sake, I’ll assume you’re starting from zero and don’t own a book of poetry. Often, even if at one point you read poetry prolifically, one can use a back to basics. //

1. Go to the library.

2. Ask the librarian (yes, talk to a human!) where the adult poetry section is if you do not already know. Then ask the librarian where the children’s poetry section is (I’ll explain why in a moment).

3. Visit said sections and browse. You may recognize names you loved as a child or heard quoted in your favorite Netflix show or movie. Grab whatever jumps out at you (even if it’s simply the color of the spine or the font used for the title), but limit yourself on this trip to maybe one or two books. Start slow.

4. Repeat step three in the children’s poetry section, knowing that often the most accessible collections are found here. These are often beautifully illustrated, thematic (on topic or author), and small enough to feel not overwhelming.³

5. Keep the books you’ve checked out on a surface you see often. Nightstand, kitchen counter, bathroom counter.

6. Read a poem.

7. Read it again, but slower this time.

8. Congratulations, YOU READ A POEM!

Now do it again and again, until it feels like a more obvious choice for a free moment.

Bonus steps for those with more time:

1. Ask yourself these questions: What’s going on in this poem? What do I see, read or hear that makes me say that? What more can I find? Maybe jot down your answers in a notebook.⁴

2. Copy the poem in your own hand onto a page. My new friend Jody just shared the newest edition of her lovely (and free) resource called PoetryScribe which includes “lighthearted and inspiring” poems and pages on which to write them down.

3. Lastly, if you stumble across a poem you really enjoy, read it every day that week. Maybe even memorize the poem (or part) and recite it: to your spouse, partner, child(ren), or a friend you know loves poetry (or at least won’t laugh at you).

A poem, as a manifestation of language and thus essentially dialogue, can be a message in a bottle, sent out in the—not always greatly hopeful—belief that somewhere and sometime it could wash up on land, on heartland perhaps. Poems in this sense, too, are under way: they are making toward something.

— Paul Celan

In the coming weeks, I’ll share some thoughts on my “poet’s journey” along with practices and habits to infuse your life with more poetry, including the writing of it.

I’d argue that poetry has heightened my awareness of and presence with not just the words I read and write, professionally, but too with my relationships, my spiritual growth, and my general regard for the human experience. I love sharing that with other people, knowing it might possibly come close to having the same impact on them.

If you read a poem this week, will you come back and tell me about it?

I’d love to hear about your “message in a bottle.”

Thanks for reading!

Photo by jules a. on Unsplash

1. Started in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets in order to crease awareness and appreciation for poetry in the United States.

2. Not an exhaustive list, by any means, but a start!

3. My favorites have been a collection we’ve procured since starting our homeschooling journey. These include Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman, Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson, Poetry for Kids: Robert Frost, and Poetry for Kids: William Shakespeare. I believe there’s a Carl Sandburg one, too, but we don’t have it!

4. The Poetry Foundation has uploaded the first chapter of Hirsch’s book How to Read a Poem in sixteen, fairly digestible sections. This is a great reference, but save for later if you’re just getting back into practice!