<aside> 👋 Hi! Welcome to this toolkit/zine-as-document of resources, ideas, and FAQs about poetry I’ve collected over the past few years, distilled into bite-sized bits. Before you get started keep in mind that Poetry is an adventure and not a test. Kind of like life, hey?
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There are a lot of definitions and assertions of what a poem is, variations depending on who, where, and when the poem comes from.
After reading thousands of poems (not an expert, just an observer of patterns and agendas), I’ve deduced that:
Those 3 things define what a poem is today.
Those just describe what a poem is. But why is a poem those things?
It goes back to the point of a poem: to get you to feel.
Other forms of literature have a primary aim of conveying narrative (ie a novel) or information (ie nonfiction). And other art primarily uses visual or sensory materials like paint or sound, whereas a poem conjures up those things using words. I once heard poetry described as “literary art” and I think that makes a lot of sense.
So my non-technical definition of a poem is: a one-shot piece of art made with language.
A poem is art.
That’s like asking why art’s important, isn’t it?
It’s also a bit like saying the only people who should be allowed to make art are people using visual or sensory materials to do so.
So much happens with language in our everyday lives.
Language is material itself.
Also: poetry has always been with us throughout humanity, civilizations, and inventions. Seems to be important enough for us to sustain its practice over such a long period of time.
Because we all need art. We need to get and give it wherever we can.
Here are some more specific reasons people read poetry:
THE BENEFITS
THE FEATURES
A sampler of poetic wisdom to cleanse your palate.
ALI TO RUE, FROM “EUPHORIA” (2020)
CARL SANDBURG
TAYLOR SWIFT
LOUISE GLUCK
AUDRE LORDE
JOHN KEATING, FROM DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989)
SYLVIA PLATH
MARILYN MONROE
OCEAN VUONG
FROM JACQUES DERRIDA’S CHE COS’è LA POESIA? VIA POETRY LONDON’S WHAT IS POETRY?
A very brief instructional manual for getting the most nutrients from poetry.
For a longer version of this manual, check out my post on How to Read a Poem.
STEP 1) READ IT OUT LOUD.
Poetry was invented and practiced long before written language was invented. It was music before music. Think of a poem as…ASMR using words. Think of how you learned to read. Out loud. There’s a great book called The Enchanted Hour: The Miraculous Power of Reading Aloud in the Age of Distraction that goes into the science of reading out loud if you want to learn more about why it works. Think of it this way: is it the same to read the notes of a song rather than to hear it? I did not understand why certain poets were so popular until I heard them out loud. Sound gives poetry life. (See also: spoken word poetry. Then see also: rap music.)
STEP 2) READ IT SLOWLY.
People don’t read anymore! I find this statement funny because actually, for the vast majority of history, people could not and therefore did not read. Reading is not necessarily humanity’s natural state. Our natural state is to find the information we need as quickly as we can to survive. But I’d like to think we’ve evolved a bit beyond our natural state by now. Our instincts don’t determine our futures. Remember: a poem is art and though it’s very good at disguising itself as content when you see it pop up on your social media feed, it’s not. Art is only art because you’re paying attention to it.
STEP 3) DON’T TRY TO “GET IT”.
Think about how you experience other forms of art. The fact that language is a tool we use to communicate and a tool we use so often for very utilitarian purposes makes it hard to detach from the idea that writing is supposed to tell us something and if we can’t figure out what that something is, then we haven’t gotten the point of it. But the point of a poem is not the same as the point of a novel or a how-to article. The point of the poem is the moment. Think of it this way: do you understand life itself? Are you able to enjoy it anyway, mystery and all?
<aside> <img src="/icons/exclamation-mark_lightgray.svg" alt="/icons/exclamation-mark_lightgray.svg" width="40px" /> BONUS TIP: If something piques your interest, makes you feel something, look up the poet. Poetry is similar to music and art; part of the experience is our relationship and dialogue with the artist and finding more ways to continue to engage with their body of work.
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A SAMPLER: I’ve collected a few poems & excerpts I’ve enjoyed with **links and attribution. A gentle reminder that curation should always be the beginning, not taken as a declarative opinion of what’s “good”.
A SAMPLER OF POEMS COLLECTED BY ME
Some more starting points I’d recommend to beginners:
<aside> 🌸 STEP 1: UNDERSTAND WHAT MOVES YOU.
Start with other forms of art you enjoy and look for commonalities and patterns between them. / Think back to the ONE poem you loved that you still remember. What was it about that poem? / Go to Poetry Foundation and just browse. / Look at your saved folder on social media. Don’t discount anything; poetry often uses visual imagery and anyway, your affection for cat videos could signal a desire for humorous poetry, of which there is plenty (as well as poems about cats.) / HOW DO YOU WANT POEMS TO FEEL? / WHAT TOPICS STIR YOU?
🤖 Try this: Feed a list of your favourite movies, artists, albums, and books (whatever else you can think of) into ChatGPT and ask: what are some common patterns or themes?
You’re not creating a box, but rather, identifying starting points for things that move you.
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<aside> 🌼 STEP 2: GO POEM-HUNTING.
BOOKSTORES: Every bookstore has a poetry section but it’s usually tucked away in the back. Read the first poem; move on, no harm done if you’re not feeling it, pick up something else.
ONLINE SEARCH: I’ve found a lot of poems just by googling something like [topic] and “poems”.
THE “WEB”: No, not the world wide web but that too. I mean the web that connects art to art. I find so many poems and poets through the creative people I admire. Not just other poets but filmmakers, artists, and of course, other writers.
OTHER PLACES: Check out my list of recommended places to find poems below.
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