Have you always loved poetry?

[WriterDom]

I found some mildly interesting when I went back to college. But I really can't say I liked it until I started writing some. I had a poet to poet love affair about 12 years ago. She was married. We met at the beach once but we didn't have sex. I got a room planning to, but as I was checking in she drove away. I was too upset. Figured it was for the best that we didn't. This was 12 years ago and I still think about her at times.

 

[unpredictablebijou]

I developed my initial attraction to Poetry at an unnaturally early age, when I was accidentally exposed to a copy of Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers and began hiding stained copies of Whitman and Eliot under my mattress. By age nine I was secretly subscribing to the New Yorker under an assumed name.

I lost my virginity to Poetry when I was 13, but he never called me back. There was a pregnancy scare, and I was sent to the first of many mental hospitals, where I was encouraged to control my fetish so that I could have normal adult relationships. Obviously, the aversion therapy didn't work.

I asked Poetry to be my date to prom but he turned me down. I kept pictures of him in my locker. When we graduated, he signed my yearbook. "Hey, stay kool, P." I don't think he knew my name.

In college I wrote impassioned letters to him, and often called him in the middle of the night, but always hung up right after he answered. "Who is this? What do you want? Stop calling me."

Poetry got a restraining order against me in the 90's, after I camped outside his house in a cardboard box for three weeks, hoping to get him to appear on the Jerry Springer show with me so I could propose.

I've tried to give Poetry up. I've had other relationships, and struggled in therapy for many years. I can't say I really have it under control. In the middle of the night, I think about Poetry, even now.

 

[champagne1982]

I transferred my fascination with poetry to food; it may be fattening and doesn't kiss me either but it leaves a good taste in my mouth at least.

 

[Angeline]

Yes. I grew up about fifty miles west of NYC. My father grew up in Manhattan, and his family was all still there. We went into Manhattan (or Queens or Brooklyn) at least every few weeks. I spent portions of my summers there mainly with my dad's sister and her family. That meant that from very early on I went to the theater, to the ballet, to see symphonies. When I was 8 or 9 I saw Leonard Bernstein conduct a "young people's symphony." It was Peter and the Wolf, and Danny Kaye narrated it. It was all magical and filled with poetry--and if anyone has wondered why my poems are often filled with traffic sounds and city music, this is why. We read poetry on the sides of buildings and on statues in Central Park. My father read me Damon Runyun for bedtime stories. We went to Shakespeare in the Park. By the time I was 13, I had discovered Greenwich Village and that whole Dylanesque musical poetic scene. I loved it, still do. I feel that poetry is my birthright.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

The poetry of words has always been my passion I could read before I was 5 goodness knows who taught me. Perhaps I absorbed it! After that there was no stopping me I read anything and everything I wasn't discerning about it ....... if it was words I read it although I did find the animal kingdom the most enjoyable. At school when we were given poems to learn I was in my element swept away into a world of my own. The written word has always been my refuge.

 

[EroticOrogeny]

Poetry was one of my passions back in college, but then faded towards the end of my BS.
Later, working on my MS, I found programming, which is a different form of creativity.
I like seeing something that wasn't there before (and my programs are much better than my poetry).
I've recently returned to poetry, after finishing my PhD.

 

[annaswirls]

Yes.

Love-Hate relationship.

I always wrote silly poems to amuse myself.

My mother bought me a huge book of poetry "The Family Album of Favorite Poems" when I was ten. It has a range of poetry from ancient ballads to inspirational verse, classical to downright goofy.

I found this one, and was drawn, first by the name (which was mine as well)


Jenny Kissed Me

Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

-- James Leigh Hunt


And I thought to myself, how to capture these important things? How to live a life that allows one, when old, to be able to make such a declaration? How to be a woman whose kiss is remembered!

I read the book over and over, enamored by the power of poetry to communicate across time and culture, the transformative magic. I wanted in. I still do.

 

[Angeline]

Yes.

Love-Hate relationship.

I always wrote silly poems to amuse myself.

My mother bought me a huge book of poetry "The Family Album of Favorite Poems" when I was ten. It has a range of poetry from ancient ballads to inspirational verse, classical to downright goofy.

I found this one, and was drawn, first by the name (which was mine as well)


Jenny Kissed Me

Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.

-- James Leigh Hunt


And I thought to myself, how to capture these important things? How to live a life that allows one, when old, to be able to make such a declaration? How to be a woman whose kiss is remembered!

I read the book over and over, enamored by the power of poetry to communicate across time and culture, the transformative magic. I wanted in. I still do.

Hey Swirly, I always loved that poem, too, thought it was so sweet and really captures the carefree impulsiveness of youth. And here's a piece of trivia I learned about it in college: the "Jenny" in the poem was a lovely, vivacious young American woman, who went on to marry and English man and bear him a son: Winston Churchhill. Interesting, huh?

 

[annaswirls]

Hey Swirly, I always loved that poem, too, thought it was so sweet and really captures the carefree impulsiveness of youth. And here's a piece of trivia I learned about it in college: the "Jenny" in the poem was a lovely, vivacious young American woman, who went on to marry and English man and bear him a son: Winston Churchhill. Interesting, huh?

Hey, I did not know that!
Another interesting thing: His full name Spencer-Churchill, so he shares a name with my son.

Hmm. Maybe he will grow up to be um.... prime minister of, the Sinnoh region or something.

http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w246/maxwell23k/dp_map_480.jpg

 

[Xelebes]

I like poetry. It's a song I can read and that is probably the most important part.

 

[Gi_Venus]

I have a love hate relationship with poetry. Some types of poetry I abhor, others enthrall me. I think whether if it sounds contrived or from the heart that makes a difference. Musically I am strong in rhythm, my guitar playing is the same.
Anyone familiar with me knows my theory of music and life. Poetry is much like music. The music and rhythm of words is intimately tied to us as if the fetus surrounded by the pulse of her/his mother's heart. Rhythm and cadence are an innate part of all of us whether we recognize it consciously or not.

Poetry is the music of meaning and feelings to me, a dance of consciousness.

 

[vrosej10]

I was not really interested at all till I went back to high school and read that howl of pain, Ariel by Sylvia Plath. It blew me away. And then I discovered haiku. I love the stuff, especially Basho. I have only been writing poetry for about six months. I originally started as a writing exercise, you know, keeping the hand in whilst I am bogged down with my degree.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

You should speak to Senna he's into Haiku in a big way

 

[LaRocha]

My initiation into poetry was Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss when I was in the First Grade exactly. I read Marvin K. Mooney every night and thought about "I will not go to school today, said little peggy ann McKay, I have the measels and the mumps, a gash, a rash, and purple bumps" incessantly, or obsessively. Maybe I had slight OCD or something like it, since I'd silently repeat certain word combinations from the few poetry sources I had over and over. "The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, the worms play pinocle on your snout." was from a scary stories book that I loved, along with "Have you seen the ghost of John, long white bones and his flesh all gone..."

 

[EroticOrogeny]

The earliest I remember is Lear - Owl and the Pussycat.
Later, Ogden Nash grabbed me for with his stretched rhymes.
He had verses to accompany Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals which I haven't heard in ages, just the music. A pity, was really fun.

 

[WickedEve]

I was writing poetry as a child, so I've loved poetry for as long as I can remember.
Speaking of writing poetry, I need to get started on that again!

 

[bflagsst]

I didn't like poetry until I was an adult. I wrote songs in high school and after, but I only started reading poetry after I thought I'd read all the best novels. I read dante, pushkin, and goethe when I was young, but I didn't really think about them in terms of poetry.

 

[Angeline]

I watched Tony Bourdain's No Reservations last night (I love him; he's like a Lou Reedish/gastronome/journalist all rolled into one cynical New Yorker). Anyway he was in Montana and interviewed the wonderful writer Jim Harrison and this painter (whose name I forget). But essentially what they both said was that they didn't so much choose their life--artists in Montana where, as Harrison said, "everyone is a rancher and they ask what do you do and you say "I write stories" or "I draw pictures." Lol. But they do it because they need to--to write, to paint, to make art. And I totally get that. I can't remember a time when I didn't feel like I needed to write stuff. And it also helps me understand writers who stop for a while (or forever) and explain that "I didn't need to anymore." So it's not about liking or loving poetry, though I do, but that I need to write. If I don't I think I implode or spontaneously combust or something.

 

[bflagsst]

I watched Tony Bourdain's No Reservations last night (I love him; he's like a Lou Reedish/gastronome/journalist all rolled into one cynical New Yorker). Anyway he was in Montana and interviewed the wonderful writer Jim Harrison and this painter (whose name I forget). But essentially what they both said was that they didn't so much choose their life--artists in Montana where, as Harrison said, "everyone is a rancher and they ask what do you do and you say "I write stories" or "I draw pictures." Lol. But they do it because they need to--to write, to paint, to make art. And I totally get that. I can't remember a time when I didn't feel like I needed to write stuff. And it also helps me understand writers who stop for a while (or forever) and explain that "I didn't need to anymore." So it's not about liking or loving poetry, though I do, but that I need to write. If I don't I think I implode or spontaneously combust or something.

No Reservations is my favorite show. I've always played music and drawn pictures, but I don't think I've ever felt like I needed to do some form or art. I've only ever started doing artistic things because I saw someone else doing them and thought I could too. Music, drawing, painting, poetry, writing stories(Paul Mccartney, my sister, Jackson Pollock, a friend, Jack Kerouac.) I'd say I'm sh*t at all of them except poetry.

 

[Angeline]

No Reservations is my favorite show. I've always played music and drawn pictures, but I don't think I've ever felt like I needed to do some form or art. I've only ever started doing artistic things because I saw someone else doing them and thought I could too. Music, drawing, painting, poetry, writing stories(Paul Mccartney, my sister, Jackson Pollock, a friend, Jack Kerouac.) I'd say I'm sh*t at all of them except poetry.

Me too. I can write but not much else. I think I could draw and paint if I studied a bit. But I'm not ready to try that yet.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I see it as your own individual voice (for want of a better word) it's like reading different peoples posts on here. I find different people more 'attractive' from the way they post than from their poetry. I'm not explaining myself very well here!!

 

[Angeline]

I see it as your own individual voice (for want of a better word) it's like reading different peoples posts on here. I find different people more 'attractive' from the way they post than from their poetry. I'm not explaining myself very well here!!

As long as you find me attractive I don't care if you don't make sense.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

As long as you find me attractive I don't care if you don't make sense.

Well yes dear but not quite in the same way as I had in mind

 

[EroticOrogeny]

I see it as your own individual voice (for want of a better word) it's like reading different peoples posts on here. I find different people more 'attractive' from the way they post than from their poetry. I'm not explaining myself very well here!!

Posts tend to be done quickly, without a lot of elaboration (unless there's a poem in it). Think the most time I spent on a non-poem post was figuring out how that regifting thing with the number worked.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

What regifting thing?