Does anyone read poetry these days?

I love a good novel but I thrive on good book of poetry. I've heard many 'writers' say since they write prose they don't bother reading poetry. That just seems too...limiting to me.

Are there prose writers out there who still love reading poetry?

I sure hope so! Otherwise the three years and many thousands of dollars that I'm spending on that MFA in poetry are going to be really depressing. ;-D

I love both poetry and prose, and write both. I do meet a lot of fiction writers who just don't like poetry, though. They don't think it's a waste of time (as if reading poetry won't help your prose!), they just aren't big fans of it.

I'm a fiction writer who has written a little poetry. I read a great deal of poety and also teach it at my university. Poetry really helps me to sharpen my prose. If you look at my library you'll see lots of books of poetry and books about poetry!

I have had two poems out in the ethers (online at Poets against War and Poetry Scotland) but poetry hasn't been in my cross-hairs for years. I have three or so poetry books in my library (Sandburg, Shelley, and Burns), but, for the lack of a better phrase, it just doesn't get my fires burning anymore.

In university . . . yes, but as I've gotten older I just don't care enough to make the effort to read poetry regularly. Apathy.

Poetry is definitely a niche market. I think it always has been. The 50's made poetry hip, but now it's just hip replacement.

I'm not all that much into poetry, but I do on occasion read or write poetry. It helps me focus on the actual words more, which increases my overall writing ability. I actually won VaderCast's sci-fi poetry contest "Dooko Haiku" with this little gem:

I will crush you both,
you pathetic Jedi fools!
...oops, where'd my hands go?

I rarely sit down with a book of poetry & read the whole thing, cover to cover. (Unless maybe a small chapbook). I have quite a few poetry books in my library, but I prefer to read a few poems at a time, usually by the same author & I'll have a novel or non-fiction book going at the same time. Poetry is nice for a break, sometimes a little break, sometimes longer. Often I'll read more than I intended. A group recently had a discussion about Emily Dickinson & I got out her "complete works" planning to look at some favorites, but ended up spending a lot of time with it, though not going through the whole book. Though I did re-read Ted Kooser's Weather Central when looking for poems about autumn, but that's a short book.

I keep a copy of The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock by t.s.eliot in my purse so that whenever I find myself bored or with a few spare minutes, I read his exquisite words. Although I tend to write prose, his marvelous descriptive voice sings to me.

As a rule, I read poems sporatically - sometimes on the web or in a dusty volume. Normally, I cringe. Once in awhile, I enjoy them. Rarely, I am astonished.

Oh, and Scaryguy - your posts tend to make coffee come out of my nose. Hip replacement, hmmm, maybe I'm older than I feel.

and the touchstones appear a wee faulty...

Though I read more prose than poetry, I certainly keep good volumes around my library and like to refer to them from time to time. I think it helps one write more melodically even in prose.

Crazy cat person alert: I like reading poems out loud to my cat, because for some reason she seems to like the sound of it and gets really relaxed and glazed - thus easing my day's tension as well.

Off-topic: ladygata, I used to read Le Petit Prince to my dog. He liked it. Maybe I'll start again.

On-topic: I wish I liked poetry more than I do. I consider it literary nutrition, like whole-wheat pasta, which I also consume sometimes. I know it's good for me and will help out my writing.

right now, in the middle of writing fiction, I find that reading poetry feeds my writer's creativity in a way that non-fiction doesn't. And I find it a little awkward to read novels or fiction when I am so obsessed with writing my own... just me perhaps.

i read poetry. Sometimes the flow of poetry helps me calm down

#10: Not just you: when I'm into a writing project, I can't read a novel. It takes me out of what I'm doing. But poetry feeds my creativity.

certainmente, i read poetry, but mostly the poets of structure and intricate meanings, i.e., robert frost, carl sandberg, shakespeare's sonnets, of course, and sylvia plath are some examples. something happened back in the 1950s and has been escalating since -- for want of better words, i shall call it psychobabble wordings. poetry, that language of song and style and meter, has simply disappeared at the graduate school level. If someone can explain what today's "poetry" is, please feel free to contact me and so so. i spent two years at grad school and have no idea what some of these modern "poets" are doing. I cannot set them to music in rality or in my heart.

I'm in a poetry family. We all read and write poetry. Need to brag: My 14yo daughter recently won second place in a local poetry contest. We just got a copy of the poetry book that includes her poem. I'm proud but somewhat vexed that she published before me...

I've come to poetry in recent years. Some of my favorite collections include American Noise, Blue Hour, and You Are a Bit Happier Than I Am.

I read a lot of poetry -- but strictly small press poets. The academic variety bore me senseless ...

I love poetry. I go back and forth between poetry and prose for my reading. I find that there is a unique beauty to poetry, if it is well written, that other literary forms just don’t capture. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge prose fan and I do the majority of my writing in prose, but there is something about a well written verse of poetry that touches my soul in a way that prose can’t. I find that whenever I want to really express my feelings well, the most effective way is through my poetry. I’ve tried prose and it works, but not in the same way as poetry.

That said, we poetry lovers – or even those who use poetry because they see the usefulness of it – are in the minority of the readers out there. I think if you asked any library in the country how well their poetry collection circulated in comparison to popular fiction, or even classical fiction, you’d find a large gap in most of their numbers. And keep in mind that a lot of their poetry numbers will come from school kids who need a poem for school, but will never touch the stuff again. (This was my intro to poetry too, but I’m one of the few who kept going back for more.)

I think it’s sad, but fewer and fewer people in our society can easily understand what is said in poetic form, and not many people want to take the time to understand or reflect upon poetry. If I try to share a poem with people I’ll hear a lot of, “Well, I sure it’s good, but I don’t get it.” Or, “I’ll have to read it again,” - which they never do. Then there are those that do enjoy poetry or at least have an understanding of it. They take the time to read it, may have an immediate impression, then, upon reflection, will very likely have more to offer.

Once in a great while I’ll go through a library and see a lone young person sitting, and I mean really settled in, reading a book of poetry. Such a wonderful feeling passes over me when I see that. So to all poetry readers and writers, take heart. It’s not dying, just a bit under appreciated.

Poetry is still #1 for me, even though I read all sorts of other books. I blog about poetry and poets, too:

http://poetsmusings-muser.blogspot.com/

For poets and poetry-readers, "the state of publishing" has always been bad, so, ironically, they're pretty sanguine about the current crises in literary publishing. Dickinson published 1-2 poems in her lifetime, and the same goes for Hopkins; Blake had to self-publish. So it goes.

I both write and read poetry. Most of the poetry I read is either New Zealand poetry (that's where I live) or poetry from non-English languages in translation. I usually try to have a poetry book on hand to dip into & out of; I rarely read more than three or four poems at a sitting. Right now, that book is the Selected Poems of Jorge Luis Borges.

I write poems intermittently. I have barely written a poem in the last year, although I've edited a few older poems; my focus has been very much on prose. The poems in my collection All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens mostly date from 2003-2005, then I wrote another batch in 2006 - about 20 pages' worth. I expect I'll start writing poetry again before long, although one can never be sure. I find that reading poetry, especially from my favourite poets, is the best way to get my own poetry writing underway.

I write poetry. I've been writing in the style of Charles Bukowski. He just wrote all the time, volumes. It's just amazing and he had so much to say. I want to do that.

I also like Sharon Olds's poetry. And music too. Music lyrics are like poetry to me, I've thought about getting back into writing music again.

I also read poetry even though I primarily write prose. I find it more difficult to connect with contemporary poetry and this could just be because it's not as familiar and often there are references to fleeting pop culture icons (things that pass quickly through the headlines, on American TV, in politics, etc).

Like others on this thread, I pull out some favorite poets and read them often.

I think poetry is important to me as a writer. I enjoy poetry that uses language in a vivid way, but not so unique that I won't be able to access the meaning. And sadly, much of the new poetry I read seems to play with words and then that's about it--there isn't a level of substance I can reach or understand.

But poetry is important, very important. I think we each have to find the poetry that speaks to us.

I love reading poetry. I love listening to music. I love reading prose. They are just different things I like at different times.

I spend a great deal more time writing poetry than fiction (and have more luck publishing, too). I agree with dizzydame too--tastes are so different that you just have to have patience to search out what you'll enjoy. I find I don't like a great deal of what I read when I'm browsing books and reading lit. journals. I keep going back to my favorites (current contemp. ones are A. Van Jordan and Adrienne Rich) and make sure to read. lit. journals all the way through whenever I have time so that poems and new authors I will find something in don't get missed.

Anyhow, I tend to tell my students it's just a different type of reading; it often takes more patience and rereading, but in the end you can get the same feeling and emotion that comes with a novel.

Yes, I read poetry all the time. Anthologies are a good place to start. . . .Emily Dickinson, Robinson Jeffers, Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Gary Snyder, A.E. Housman, Karl Shapiro, Randall Jarrell, Audre Lorde, Matsuo Basho, Pablo Neruda, John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Richard Brautigan, Gary Soto, Robert Bly, Irving Layton, Leonard Cohen, Rita Dove, Natasha Trethewey, Vassar Williams, Countee Cullen, W.C. Williams, and Stevie Smith are among my favorites. Poetry is where it's at. ;-)

I like poetry and would be interested in reading whatever is good in contemporary poetry, but it is so hard to know where to start. I don't suppose there are any big poetry movements going on right now that will define our generation?

Looking back from a previous generation, the big movement in poetry & other writing is the proliferation of Blogs & writing posted on the internet instead of waiting to be published by print media, writers now can be heard much earlier. {Perhaps, in some cases, too early - before they are ready)
But it is easy to read what is being written today, all you need is access to the internet.

21: I think we each have to find the poetry that speaks to us.

This may be the most important sentence in this thread. Poetry operates on a personal level, speaking directly to the emotions. But to me, it must also have structure, form, meter, and rhyme (a heresey in modern poetry). I don&rsqo;t get most modern poetry. Blank verse and free verse leave me cold. We already had a word for writing without a rhythmic structure, rhyme, or whatever. It was called prose. give me Emily Dickinson or Edgar Alan Poe any day—or better yet, one of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Hallelujah, Hermit! I couldn't agree with you more! Apart from the occasional fortuitous combination of words, I just don't get modern poetry. How can you be said to be crafting the words if you're making up the rules as you go along?

I think if you are in it for craft there are many post-modern poets who appeal appeal to your taste. Check out R.S. Gwynn, Dana Gioia (who is also the director for the NEA), Rafael Campo, Mary Jo Salter, or Phillip Levine--they are sometimes referred to as the "new formalists." And if you haven't read Mary Oliver, who could school Robert Frost on structure and form, you are surely missing out. And I have to laugh at Eurntane's comment : "how can you said to be crafting words if you're making-up the rules as you go along?" Who made the rules? Wasn't it Jimenez who said "if they give you lined paper, write the other way." Hasn't it been the breaking of convention or remolding old conventions that has given us many of the forms we love?

I think there is a big difference between, as you put it, 'remolding old convention' and throwing convention out of the window in favour of splurging words onto the page and assuming they have literary merit because they express a free spirit of creativity (or whatever.)

Jimenez is welcome to write the other way for all of me, but the lines were put there for a reason.

Clea, thanks for the recommendations. I’ll give them a try.

And I agree. Great poets break rules. My favorites were not shy about breaking rules when it served their purposes. But, to paraphrase Eruntane, there is a big difference between breaking rules and completely ignoring them. I have read some beautiful, moving free verse, but I still consider it prose.

Hm... I don't read much of anything when I am engrossed in writing, or attempting to write, my own book.

But in general, I love reading poetry... specifically, well written poetry. Most recently, I love the book Legitimate Dangers... there's a lot of young new talent out there...

This past spring I read Plath and Anne Sexton, my first true interest in poetry without a school assignment driving me.

This summer I'm interning in at a library, working on the papers of Jim Daniels, a Detroit-native poet who's been touted as the poet for "blue collar America". I think his stuff is fantastic! Not only am I more interested in reading poetry because of Daniels, but I'm also tempted to try my own hand at it!

I started reading poetry when I was in law school, about 10 years ago. I didn't have much time to read prose, so poetry became my quick escapist fix.

I carry around a pocket-sized copy of Leaves of Grass in one of my coats. I pick up anthologies to read, then track down the individual poets I like the best. My most recent read was Thirst by Mary Oliver.

Lately I've been introducing my kids to Ogden Nash.

"Belinda lived in a little red house
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon."

I started reading poetry when I was in second grade. There was this one poem that I have memerized years ago:
"'I have no name,
I am but two days old.'
What shall I call thee?
'I happy am,
Joy is my name.'
Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile...
I sing the while-
Sweet joy befall thee!"
Ever since that poem, I've read poetry ever since. Which that started years ago.

I've found that my taste in poetry is extremely selective, so it becomes a chore to read poetry when I like very little of it. That's not to say that I don't have a great deal of respect for those whom I think write it well, however, because I'm incapable of writing something nicely metered (which I enjoy) and rhymed (which I tend not to) and know how hard it is to even try to do so.

#17 --

"I go back and forth between poetry and prose for my reading."

I oscillate between law, on one hand, and on the other, poetry. At the moment it's poetry, but it could be law next week, or tomorrow.

It's bizarre: both require precision in usage, but one -- law -- is about power, and the other -- poetry -- about truth.

Truth and power -- never, as twain, do they meet.

I have much work in process -- but have been waiting for a strange inertia to end. Mostly I read nonfiction, as it is -- law -- but anticipate working on not only poetry but also on prose which is somewhat intermediate between prose and poetry, and between night and day. (As it dawns on me.)

I haven't read fiction in decades -- except that poetry is fiction. And I've only written poetry for some years now -- I'm about stringent use of ink so there's sufficient left for prose writers.

And if you believe all that -- and you should, 'cause it's true -- you'll thank me the next time you're pen doesn't run out of ink mid-sentence.

It's also that I love wide, wide margins, because they remind of expanse of snow. The only thing missing is the sparrows, but I can put them in when and where I want them to chatter and sing.

But reading is essential to writing. One encounters ways of doing things one hadn't thought of, or stumbled upon.

And one gets the courage to write about contents one before then didn't dare. I might, next tiime, add in a thin line of sparrow's footprints across that expanse. But not until winter.

Last but not least: always remember to structure in terms of beginning, middle, and end.

#20 --

"I've thought about getting back into writing music".

I finally got a guitar in September, 2007 -- hadn't had one since the mid-1970s.

I don't plan on making hit records (not immediately, anyway). But one should try more than one's main art. It gives one a different feel and perspective. (Mine was originally visual arts; then I tried writing . . . and switched: at the least it's more portable, vagabond.)

I've not written music since the 60s', but I do sorta write for the ear, even though during the writing it seems to be for the eye.

So whaddya want: I look like a Picasso painting in which eye and ear have merged. And dance around between my eyebrows.

-- careful what you say: I'll see you doing it at my ear.

#28 --

As long as one is crafting words differently than others, one is (re)making the rules as one goes along.

Try Denise Levertov -- a generous amount of her poetry is available online. And read whatever of her essays are online about the structure of her poems -- there are rules -- and you'll "get" that there's more to it than simply "making up the rules as you go along". It isn't prose.

Today, in the US, traditional forms -- meter and rhyme -- in poetry are either insisted upon by reactionary academics, or used strictly for humor.

#30 --

Shouldn't you read the poetics written by such poets before ruling them out? It's possible they know something you don't know, and are refusing to learn.

Yes: the lines were put there for a (predetermined) reason: to keep you in line.

#31 --

It isn't prose, because there is a thoroughly articulated reason for ending lines when/where they are ended. It isn't willy-nilly or arbitrary.

#36 --

Writing to meter is difficult. And for those who turn up their nose at the unrhymed: the absence of ryhme does not automatically imply absense of rhythm and meter. Most of the free-verse poets actually know the traditional forms. Problem is, life doesn't always cooperate with traditional forms.

I enjoy the poetry of Lawrence Durrell, Bernard Spencer, John Jarmain and Wilfred Owen in particular, and have collections by all four. I also have several collections of war poetry - especially those by the Oasis and Personal Landscape poets of WWII.

#41

It isn't prose, because there is a thoroughly articulated reason for ending lines when/where they are ended. It isn't willy-nilly or arbitrary.

Still, much of it (blank and free verse) seems so. Perhaps the fault is with this reader. I am not disparaging the creativity of such writing. Much prose is moving and filled with wonderful poetic language.

Neither do I insist on “traditional forms (#42),” although I prefer them. By “traditional forms,“ I assume you are talking about forms that rely on meter and rhyme such as the sonnets I mentioned (21). Older European poetry (Beowulf come to mind) was alliterative rather than rhymed. (Tolkien wrote some interesting pieces based on this form.) It was still strongly rhythmic.

I think you stated the problem very well when you said, “Writing to meter is difficult.” (42) Writing rhyme, especially in English, is also difficult. To me the power of poetry derives from overcoming those difficulties. But we must each find our own poetry.

#44 --

I'm constantly stunned at the rhyming done by bobby d. (aka Bob Dylan) -- as many as 6 in a row at times. So I'm not opposed to rhyming, and have done it myself. Problem is, today rhyming is treated as limited to humorous poetry -- if one writes a serious poem with rhyming it'll either be viewed as humorous, perhaps a parody of the form, or rejected by editors.

At the same time, one can write to meter, and with rhythm, without also rhyming. There is at least one essay online by Levertov about so-called "free verse," I think titled, "On the Function of the Line". Such isn't without discipline (depending on the writer: Levertov clearly had discipline, and she often enough spoke to the necessity of it); it's more at American: the line is as long as necessary for the line and context; perhaps it can be compared to jazz, in which there is a greater freedom than in other forms of music.

But, again, such "free verse"* is not prose: in such poetry the white space is equal as an element to the other "parts" of the poem. Unlike traditional forms, it is visual in how it is lain out on the page -- that also not being willy-nilly and arbitrary.
_____

*French "free verse" is a different animal from that in the US.
_____

It's "funny" how the "free verse" poets of the 20s-60s are slammed, with no reference to Walt Whitman, who is credited with initiating the move beyond traditional forms. (I'm not much for Whitman and his bombast.)

To me the power of poetry is not in the form -- or overcoming the difficulties of writing to meter and using rhyme; it is in the poem itself, those others serving that end.

Yes me too, I wouldn't survive without reading poetry, as Emily Dickinson once wrote or said ( I can't remember which, but it's quoted in the Sewell book,) how do people live without thinking, or something to that effect. Poetry can give you a grip on the world a line to it rather than away from it I think. It has truth in it, truth that most people choose to ignore. Or they perceive it as highbrow which is nonsense, children are taught to perceive it as out of touch or highbrow. It helps if you are experiencing pain. It helps if you feel happiness or sorrow. I couldn't live without it.

I've just published a book of poems about Bob Dylan, called "Tryin' To Get To Heaven".

You can check it out at http://www.lulu.com/content/4373487

I know I do. I write it sometimes, too.

Poetry is actually what got me started in the whole writing business. I will always enjoy an good poem and they always provide me a source of inspiration. Anything by Emily Dickinson or from Les Fleurs Du Mal kicks starts my brain for writing, both poetry and prose.

I write fiction but I still whip out the old poetry pen the odd time--especially when something major has happened in life, like the death of someone close, that seems only to be expressible in poetry. I also read it.

I remember reading that when John Steinbeck was stuck and couldn't write fiction, he would write poetry until he came unjammed. Seems like a good idea to me.

Casey

"I am no longer young, but the wind and waters are. What falls away will fall. All things lead me to love." Theodore Roethke

Hi Alexa,
I have been writing poetry since I was 11 years old. Finally I am self-publishing my poetry book titled Someone Hungry IS Thinking. It consists of 88 poems. I am the kind of poet who has learned, the right side of the brain has to be relaxed and stimulated, then the flood gates open and the feelings pour out in shapes of words. Then in a day or 2 or 3, the left side of the brain comes in and edits.
Anyway, I love to write poetry, my style, free and rhyming in most cases. It just comes out that way. If you are interested my e-mail is NOLARD9999@aol.com. If you contact me, I will e-mail some of my work to read from my book. I'm from Ontario. A normal person who likes to share his poetry. I'm originally from Newfoundland. Land of the Irish,Scottish, English folk storytellers....God Bless..

Anthony

I love poetry. I try to read a poem and write a short poem every morning before I do anything else as a way to keep words alive in my mind.

Sometimes it seems that more people are writing poetry these days than reading it.

#53, Probably true, though it is quite the contradiction, isn't it.

#30 --

"I think there is a big difference between, as you put it, 'remolding old convention' and throwing convention out of the window in favour of splurging words onto the page and assuming they have literary merit because they express a free spirit of creativity (or whatever.)"

You know nothing about modern poetry, because that isn't true.

As for the lines being the way they are? They are intended to keep you in line. But as my high school art teacher used to say about the uptight (and untalented) when he told them to loosen up:

"But I've always been told to stay between the lines."

We have such as Emily Dickinson and Van Gogh because they refused to stay between the lies. And Dickinson is probably the US's greatest poet.

Emily Dickinson is one of my favorite poets. Her poems are simple and pretty.
I don't typically seek out poetry, but if I run into something I like I make an effort to memorize it like I would a song - poetry's best when it can be retold. :-) And it's such fun to read aloud - the words set together just right, with the really nice ones tossed in here and there like highlights and shadows.

I write poetry, but I never like it as well.

I love Dickinson, too, Josy. We differ though; I've never thought her poems were simple (nor pretty). For me, Dickinson is intense and dangerous, dangerous in the sense that she was willing to step into the white heat of ecstasy (the soul). She is also subversive.

I admire that you make an effort to memorize poems. I really need to do that.

With "simple" (and even "pretty," to a degree) I was referring more to the structure of the poems and her choice of words - the content itself is delightfully varied, and I haven't read quite enough of it to confidently assign a "quality" to the whole lot.
I have a whole book of her poetry, however (Poems by Emily Dickinson: first and second series), and now I feel inspired to take some time and read through it more thoroughly.

Ah, but the effort is not always successful - all but the last stanza of "Inversnaid" have eluded my memory so far. ;-)

I struggled with Dickinson a good many years before coming to terms with her. It's a good journey to go on.

I still remember poems I memorized in high school. I like knowing them and often wish I knew more. I'm lazy, though. :-)

Damn, this thread has added yet another book to the scores I would write!

John Hollander once wrote a fine short book of various forms of poetry (I tried and failed to get the touchstones to cough it up), but I am thinking we could use a book re. types of poetry bearing upon the subject matter and attitude, instead.

Me? I have read tens of thousands of Japanese kyoka, or "mad poems" and Englished thousands of them over the past year. I guess they are the closest thing Japan has to metaphysical poetry. Doing this, I came to realize that translation helps one to read poetry more completely than one otherwise would.

no.

David Fears' "no" made me realize i did not really answer the question. Besides reading haiku and kyoka every day, I am not done with Donne. He is next to Santoka (in jpse) by my john and you could not get two more different poets.

Let me recommend the "no" people to try Luminarium for metaphysical poets and David Lanoue's Issa site for haiku (or any of my books at Google Books) -- If neither type tickles your fancy, you either like modern poetry or no poetry (which, to my mind are similar).

#2 --

Those fiction writers need to be told that poetry is fiction.

#62 --

"modern poetry or no poetry (which, to my mind are similar)"

By which standard?

>Are there prose writers out there who still love reading poetry?

Me! So much so that I'm including a poet in my new novel, so I have an excuse to read poetry in the afternoon and call it "work." I delivered a draft to my editor endish of the year, and she loves the poetry in it. (Not written by me, lucky for my readers!)

I am currently in the process of falling in love and maintaining a healthy relationship with poetry. I read The Top 500 Poems for an introductory poetry class and I fell in love with many poems and authors. My professor helped me to appreciate the sonic qualities of poetry, not only the subject matter or underlying "messages". Recitation will build a fondness for poetry in anyone and by that method I fell in love with great poems like Lochinvar, Jabberwocky, and Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. Also, Philip Larkin left a lasting impression on me.

Recently bought a copy of Good Poems for hard times selected by Garrison Keillor. I like to just open the book at random & know whatever I read will be good. A lot of the poems are by modern, still-living poets. So it's a good way to discover new poets & find more of their work.

Marianne Moore is delightful.

I both read and write poetry. I started writing poetry when I was a kid, and wrote feverishly in high school for for class assignments. I don't have anything published yet, but I'm hoping to publish my poems that I have written in the past. I love reading the works of some of the "Beat Poets" like Jack Kerouac and the wacky Allen Ginsberg. I also like reading the Norton Anthology of Poetry books for inspiration too.

I don't write poetry at all, but I do like to read it - classic poetry, for the most part

I was looking at a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem the other night in I.A.Richards's Practical Criticism. It got a low mark from his test group, but I liked it ... then again I knew who the author was and they were (I think) not given the author's names.
www.poemtree.com/poems/SpringAndFall.htm

You can visit us, and poetry, on the nature thread, where often begin the day with a poem. The threads latest iteration, Nature III is at:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/88286

It's previous version, nature: the sequel, was:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/86448

I'll write a poem now and then just to do something short to offset the long term effort writing the novels, it's like giving myself a "treat" to finish something when a novel seems to be endless, usually the poem is about something in the novel. I've actually started writing a novel based on a poem. I find it satisfying to bring a book of poetry to read at work during the lunch hour or while in the doctor's office waiting room. I tend to skip around between the covers of a book of poems rather than reading one right after another...makes them last a little longer. My novel Dusty Waters is about a folksinger, and I included 'song lyrics' along with the prose...and in my not yet published novel, "Drinking from the Fishbowl", the main character, Georgia Sullivan is a poet, so there will be lines of poetry included in there as well...

I'm currently reading DaDaDa by Catherine Daly.

YES, YES, YES. I am an avid reader of both. Novels and memoirs for that deep sinking into feeling...when I am on a plane or resting up from a hard week's work. Poetry is for feeding my soul. Weekend mornings with birdsong and coffee are sublimely restorative.

And, for all of you publishing poets - I am more likely to buy a new book of poetry to hold onto indefinitely rather than a new novel. There is hope for poets!

Poe Try? What's that? Not Edgar? ;-)

I posted way back at Message 19:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/22801#395784

Nice to see this thread still going!

>74 Lcwilson45:, Lcwilson45: I buy books that I think I will re-read, so that means I too am more likely to buy poetry than fiction.

New Zealand author Mary McCallum, who is best known as a novelist, has set up an excellent initiative called the Tuesday Poem. Poets who have blogs - including NZ, US and Irish poets at the moment - post a poem on their blogs each Tuesday, and they are all linked from a central "hub blog" which Mary set up. It's a good way to keep up with some contemporary poetry!

The central blog with all the links is

http://tuesdaypoem.blogspot.com

Now through night's caressing grip
Earth and all her oceans slip

Brought a tear to the eye the other night; partly, perhaps, Auden's fault.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqm3E1EPr-8

For anyone wanting read about how book published poets got started writing and/or publishing, I hosted a poet every Tuesday for National Poetry Month on 1st Books: Stories of How Writers Get Started.