Over here in Merrie Olde England, it is National Poetry Day. Why we need a single National Poetry Day has always been unclear to me because from my perspective there should be three hundred and sixty five national poetry days each year. Be glad for the poetry has no ending.
I guess it's about raising the profile of poetry - putting it in the spotlight here at the beginning of October which I have always found to be one of the more fertile months for poetic expression. Leaves fall in October - at least here in the northern hemisphere they do. Days shorten. Birds fly away. Sometimes the light outside is pure gold. These things are inspirational for poets and would-be poets alike.
I will write a poem today. I have already chosen its title: "In The Time of Corona". That is a deliberate echo of "Love in The Time of Cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez which I read last year..
The task may change but at the moment I want to make a poem that is set at some future time, as if looking back upon this pandemic to enlighten our descendants. We ourselves are largely ignorant about living through scarlet fever and typhoid epidemics and what do we really know of cholera? But this strange COVID thing, we have co-existed with it for months now and there are more months to come. It is part of our experience of life.
It is invisible but it is amongst us. We have felt the apprehension, the confusion, the melancholy that it has brought with it. Sweeping around the globe. Stalking the landscape like a mythical beast..
Yes. I shall write a poem for National Poetry Day but I haven't written it yet. The teabag is simply swirling in the water. Soon I will be out walking again just because it is a lovely morning. Hopefully, the steps I plod will aid creation. Watch this space.
Good luck, YP.
ReplyDeleteI believe that you can will yourself, nay FORCE yourself, to write that article, that essay, that short story, that novel. As Hemingway said all you need to do is park your bum and WRITE. And what a writer he was - regardless of whether you like his subject matter(s). Later he shot himself.
Poems come from a different well. I know this because you could nail me to the cross, hang me upside down and then some, and I wouldn't be able to write a poem to save my life. Which is pure speculation as I haven't found myself put to the test.
Writing poetry that actually engages the reader/listener is (a bit like painting) a gift of the gods. You can't commandeer it. That's my romantic point of view.
By way of anecdote: A few years ago, I was meandering around our vast local library, when I overheard another visitor asking the librarian whether she knew of any typing service. She was rather off hand, shrugging him off. Enter yours truly, never backward in coming forward. So I asked him what it was he wanted typing up and I'd do it for him (the library has almost as many comps as books). OH MY GOD. He was so sweet, his demeanour so hopeless, and his "poetry" was atrocious (he needed his handwritten notes typed up to enter some competition). My heart bled. Gave him a few pointers as to layout to which he agreed, then typed it up for him, showed him how the photocopier works. Did so again, another time. Some people are so forlorn in the world. I can't take them all under my wing but at least I can type up their cries to be heard.
U
What a sweet story. A lovely act of kindness. I have been writing poetry since I was six years old. On and off, off and on. Like a physical condition I can never shake off. It is part of me.
DeletePoetry always comes to me at poignant times. It's like an unburdening of my feelings.
ReplyDeleteI wrote several when our eldest son went into the RAF, I missed him so much. Then when my Mum died and lots of other emotional occasions.
I have them all in a little book.
Look forward to reading yours tomorrow.
Briony
x
Still working on it Briony. Would you share a couple of your poems on your blog?
DeleteStill waiting for the Simon Armitage poem as well today. Capturing the 'essence' for that is what poetry is about is difficult and I fail. Paul had a 'Megalithic Poems' blog in which he collected all manner of poetry relating to the stones. I think making a collection of poems for a book is much harder than writing a fiction book.
ReplyDeleteI heard Simon Armitage's poem on Radio 4.
DeleteNothing to do with poetry, but your recent post titled "sleepless" struck a chord with me, as you mentioned your daughter's flat maintenance nightmare. Last week on Channel 4's council housing programme, there was a similar story of home owners who had bought Southwark council flats only to be presented with an horrendous upgrade bill whereas council tenants were getting the work done for free. Here is the link (https://www.channel4.com/programmes/council-house-britain/on-demand/70223-004) and round about 17 minutes and 12 seconds in comes the start of the story. Some tenants decided to band together to fight the council. I wonder if that would be an option for your daughter?
ReplyDeleteIn case the link doesnt work, it's in episode 4
DeleteThanks for this ADDY. We watched the section you indicated. Seems like all the chips are in the council's hands. So cruel. That poor fellow had to try to find £123,000! Perhaps the maintenance should have been continuous. In that way homeowners would not have been landed with such massive bills.
DeleteI like the title of this post so much better than the last one. Also the content.
ReplyDeleteFor every poet whose poems I enjoy (your Song For Lost Youth, for example, is delightful), I find one I cannot begin to understand, let alone decipher (like Sylvia Plath).
Do you mean all poems by Sylvia Plath? It's a long while since I read any of her poetry but I found most of it pretty accessible. I find that when we return to poems after a long time that they reveal themselves differently. I am still very honoured to have my poem in your sidebar.
DeleteI used to write poetry. Haven't done so in a long time.
ReplyDeleteThe world thanks me.
"The World Thanks Me" is a good title for a poem. So is "I Used To Write Poetry".
DeleteAs you know, I love language, be it written, spoken or sung. Strangely enough, though, I seem to have lost interest in poetry somewhere along the way.
ReplyDeleteI loved poems as a child, and some lines from Heinrich Heine's Belsatzar (sometimes spelled Belsazar), written in 1819 or 20 (sources differ on the exact year) can still send a shiver down my spine. Also, I do love our local hero, Friedrich Schiller. And there are certainly some modern poets whose works could touch me, if only I let them.
Still, I have never bought a single poetry book and possibly never will. What is wrong with me, I wonder.
Considering that you work in a library I dare say you don't need to "buy" a book of poems. You could just pull one off the shelf and open it.
DeleteAnyway, and I can't stress this enough: "That which we need will find us." And if poetry hasn't found you yet then you have something to look forward to. If it never finds you then it doesn't matter either. By the way, not all poetry is equal. What is one person's Jackson Pollock is another's cut off ear.
U
Ursula - I appreciated your response to Meike's comment.
DeleteMeike - There is nothing wrong with you. Enjoying poetry is different from enjoying stories.
My days of working in a library ended in autumn 1992. But, as my blog profile says, once a librarian, always a librarian.
DeleteAnd even without working at a library, poetry is instantly accessible whenever I want it - either on my own book shelves, or those of my parents and my sister, and last but not least, the internet :-)
I am useless at writing poetry - it is a gift that has eluded me. I did write one to be read at my Dad's funeral service but that was my only effort and it was a means for me to express my feelings at that particular moment.
ReplyDeleteAnyone with the gift to touch people with their poetry is fortunate indeed.
I know that your father was very special to you and your sister. Please consider sharing that poem on your blog. It was from the heart and that often adds a power to poetry that cannot be manufactured.
DeleteI look forward to reading your poem YP. I use to write poetry and a lot of prose. Now it's the blog. You inspired me today.
ReplyDeleteI challenge you Dave! Write a poem or two for your blog. I for one would love to read them.
DeleteI've always loved poetry yet I did not know this was National Poetry Day. I used to write quite a bit as I found it a good way of dealing with all kinds of feelings. I'm looking forward to what words are born from you on this special day.
ReplyDeleteI think it was only National Poetry Day in Great Britain Bonnie. I am still working on the poem.
DeleteWhat better than to write a poem om National Poetry day. What better topic to give yourself than covid? Do we have a poetry day in Canada?
ReplyDeleteSince 1998, National Poetry Month has been celebrated each April in Canada.
ReplyDeleteGet up Red!
The Micro Manager said
Or I'll hit you on the head
Then you'll be dead.
Thanks for the info on poetry day and I do like your poem!!!
ReplyDelete