dumbfoundry

People like to quote Frost [US]:
Nature provides meaning, inspiration in new poetry book by Jonathan Stull

CEDAR FALLS --- Poetry is a way of "taking life by the throat," Robert Frost believed.

Jonathan Stull appreciates the imagery because he believes poetry "gives something you can't get from any other art form. I'm under no illusions about why people avoid reading poetry because it is challenging. But it also gives solace, creates a human connection. I write, read and listen to poems to hear the music of the words, something that has meaning --- that's the meat and potatoes of poetry. I can feel the emotion and be transported."

In his new poetry book, "Kyrie," the Cedar Falls poet explores understanding by exploring his own back yard. [...]

Di Piero poem engages subject's life, integrity

I've always loved Robert Frost's comment: "I'm only a poet when I'm writing a poem."

First, it emasculates the pretentious concept of the Life of the Poet, where the poet is considered a species apart from everyone else. But it also describes the act of writing poems: how a poet lets his imagination get seized by an idea, image, sound or word and then fashions that experience into a new shape, what we call a poem. The serious poet, I hear Frost saying, commits equally to both the act and the result of making poems.

To borrow a phrase from this week's poem, the poet's job is to "look to see" in order to remake experiences afresh. And not just that, but also to invent a real music with that language. In this way a poet documents ("I'm only a poet when I'm writing a poem"). If things go well, the poet says through his poem, "I'm alive, I'm human, and this is the meaning of it." [...]

This entry was posted by eeksypeeksy on Sunday, November 07, 2004 at 5:29 PM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.