What does poetry mean to you?

[Debbie]

Dictionary definition of the word poetry,"Definitions of poetry:


noun: literature in metrical form
noun: any communication resembling poetry in beauty or the evocation of feeling"



"We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, 'O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless--of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?"
-- John Keating in Dead Poets Society (1989)


Poetry expresses the idea; song regulates the sounds; dance enlivens the attitudes; these three have their principal in man's heart, and it is only the later that musical instruments lend their help."
-- "Yo Ki" (Memorial of Music in Li Chi, Record of Rites), Chinese manuscript, c. 500 B.C.

To me poetry is a vessel. A way of communicating in a few words much meaning. I look at a beautiful flower and I see a poem form to express how that flower looks and makes me feel.

Poetry is a great way to share my inner most feelings that I often would not put into an every day conversation.

What does poetry mean to you?

What does your poetry share about you?

 

[WickedEve]

What does your poetry share about you?
Too much. I write and it all seeps out -- insecurities, unfullfilled desires. It shows what's happening with my marriage, love affairs, kinks. My poetry shares my past, my family, skeletons in the closets and the ones peeping out from under the bed. My poetry exposes me and shows how I preceive my world, my life, myself. My poetry is a big blabber mouth.

 

[Guest]

hm...

I'm not so sure that poetry "means" anything to me. In my case, I think it would be more accurate to say that poetry is something I experience. And while all experiences are eventually translated into meaning (in some way, shape, or form) I think that for me, the emphasis is more on what I feel or think while I'm reading poetry. It's highly sensory. I value the poems I read for the sensory experience that they create. Does this make any sense? Eh, probably not. Probably Lauren could put this into words better than I can.
--Xtaabay

 

[Angeline]

I'll bollux up this paraphrase, I know, but Joan Didion once said in an interview that she writes because it helps her understand how she perceives the world. Poetry has always been thus for me. I often don't recognize how I really feel about something until I've written a poem about it. I may be able to reason or intellectualize it, but not feel it.

And that to me is it in a nutshell--poetry, as opposed to most other types of writing, engages the senses and our feelings and our individual memories related to them. That, I think, is why great poetry can transport the reader.