The month is almost over, and we haven’t yet had a chance to talk about poems!
And that, dear bookwyrms, would be a travesty, if we let the opportunity slip by. Now, I’ll confess that I don’t read as much poetry as I should … and certainly not as much as I used to. That doesn’t mean I don’t love a good poem from time to time still.
Today’s Top Ten Tuesday is supposed to be titles that make good band names, but I couldn’t think of any, and I’ve been wanting to do a poetry post for weeks, so I seized the chance.
I know I’ve been making a really bad habit lately of not exactly following the TTT prompt. I’d like to say that’s part of my charm, but at some point, I have to actually, you know, do the thing. But we’ll save that for next time.
This week, let’s celebrate some of my favorite poems that I think everyone should read, shall we?
Essay on Terry Pratchett (A Corollary)
by Sam Cha
This poem is so unique in that it talks about the relationship between a reader and a writer: two souls that will never actually meet, yet reach out to each other every time someone opens a book. A writer gives up something with everything they write, and as both a writer and a reader, this one got me directly in the feels, plus made me really think about the relationship.
Read the full poem here.
Once dead, they will spend infinitely more time dead / than they did alive.
A living writer is therefore only infinitesimally alive.
In other words, they’re already / dead.
Since dead writers are dead / and living writers are also
dead / all writers are dead.
To write is therefore to die.
Elegy in Present Tense
by Nancy Krygowski
As someone who’s had several people I love diagnosed with cancer (and only one who beat it), this poem struck me right in the feels. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, in the twisting of a form poem usually reserved for the dead (an elegy) into something full of life. Indeed, a celebration of that life. And those final lines? Ooof. Perfect.
Read the full poem here.
me a tinfoil crown, saying you’re queen for the day.
He’s granting me three wishes. He’s refusing
to eat macrobiotically. He’s telling me his newest theory on sex,
his newest story about dogs. He’s telling me The Plan. It starts with—I
live.
Keeping Things Whole
by Mark Strand
Sooo … here’s the funny thing about poetry: it means something different to everyone. The relationship between writer and reader isn’t always an equivalent one. I had the privilege of meeting Mark Strand when he came to my college and gave a lecture to my Poetry Forms class, and during a Q&A afterwards, he talked about this poem. For him, it was an idea that struck him while he was playing cards (I think he said he jotted it down on a napkin, but it’s been a while so that might not be accurate). Either way, it was a passing thought that he didn’t assign much depth to. But for me? I loved how powerful the idea was of everything we impact just by the mere act of existing.
Read the full poem here.
I am the absence
of field.
This is
always the case.
Wherever I am
I am what is missing.
Invictus
by William Ernest Henley
I’ve always had a love for this poem. When I first made my home office, I actually bought a print of it and hung it on my wall. It’s so uplifting and beautiful, and for someone who suffers from depression a lot? Sometimes just reminding myself that “I am the master of my fate” can help immensely during dark times.
Read the full poem here.
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
Do Not Go Gentle Into The Good Night
by Dylan Thomas
Who hasn’t at least heard the last two lines of this poem by now? But have you read the whole thing? It’s really a beautiful poem about … well, okay, death. That may sound weird, at first, because death isn’t exactly a thing of beauty. But the whole point is not passively accepting death, as inevitable as it is, but fighting for life. Basically, it’s an entreaty for the author’s father to fight for the right to live, even if death is the inevitable outcome.
Read the full poem here.
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Moonlight
by Paul Verlaine
This one is here solely because my humanities teacher in college was amazing, and the discussion of this poem was so much fun that I remember it. Mostly because even in the Middle Ages, men were very horny. They just happened to also be way more articulate and likely to say flowery nothings. In essence, this is a love poem to Verlaine’s boyfriend.
Read the full poem here.
Where masks and Bergamasks, in charming wise,
Strum lutes and dance, just a bit sad to be
Hidden beneath their fanciful disguise.
A Riddle on the Letter H
Catherine M. Fanshawe
I stumbled across this poem (riddle?) as a teenager and actually ended up memorizing it. Unfortunately, I don’t have the whole thing memorized anymore, just bits and pieces of it. I just absolutely love the flow of the poem, and I’ve always been amazed at how clever it was!
Read the full poem here.
And echo caught faintly the sound as it fell;
On the confines of earth ’twas permitted to rest,
And the depths of the ocean its presence confess’d.
’Twill be found in the sphere when ’tis riven asunder,
Be seen in the lightning and heard in the thunder.
Summer, Somewhere
by Danez Smith
This is a long poem, but oh so worth it. Out of tragedy comes something beautiful. Smith writes about a heaven where black boys who die before their time can spend eternity, and it’s just so beautiful and poignant.
Read the full poem here.
bad dog. bad blood. bad day to be a boy
color of a July well spent. but here, not earth
not heaven, boys can’t recall their white shirt
turned a ruby gown. here, there is no language
for officer or law, no color to call white.
if snow fell, it’d fall black. please, don’t call
us dead, call us alive someplace better.
[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]
by e.e. cummings
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with e.e. cummings. My inner editor and punctuation enthusiast dies a slow and painful death when I read his poems. If I can lock her in a closet, though, cummings has quite a few poems that are deep and pretty and enjoyable to read. This one has always been one of my favorites.
Read the full poem here.
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
Do Not Stand at my Grave and Weep
by Mary Frye
I mean … what is there really to say about this? Except that Leah set this to Celtic-inspired music and turned it into a kickass song that everybody should listen to and love. We actually used this as a poem for … someone’s funeral. It should probably be a bad sign that I can’t remember whose? It was either my great-grandmother’s or my grandmother’s best friend’s. Anyway, the who isn’t so important. This is a traditional funerary poem, and it’s easy to see why, with how beautiful it is. We actually played the song at my grandmother’s funeral (which had a bagpiper and everything).
Read the full poem here.
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
What a lovely post. Yeah, TTT definitely needs more poetry entries for it.
My TTT .
Lydia recently posted…Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge: Characters I’d Invite to a Dinner Party
It would’ve been the perfect month for it, that’s for sure! Maybe I’ll suggest it for next year. 😉
I did a different topic today, too. I just couldn’t come up with any band names!
I’m not big on poetry, mostly because I feel like I never really understand what they’re trying to say. Poetry makes me feel dumb, truth be told. My favorite poet is Longfellow because his poems rhyme and I can understand them. LOL.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I’m glad I’m not the only one who took a different route!
I struggle with contemporary poetry, especially, to try to understand it. It seems like I have an easier time with a lot of classic poets, where their poetry may be a bit more straightforward. There are some really good contemporary poets who are pretty easy to understand, though. I just try to seek those out, in particular. xD
Okay, call me crazy, but I love the Invictus poem so much that I got those last two lines tattooed on me. I remember the first time reading it several years ago. I was in a really dark place with my mental health and feeling so alone. Then I came across this poem and when I read those last two lines it was like BOOM! It made me so emotional because I just felt so… Connected and like it was going to be okay because I’m in charge. ANYWAY haha I also really love the last two poems by Mary Frye and E.E. Cummings. Favourites as well! Awesome post, Sammie 🥰
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That is not the least bit crazy. I mean, okay, look, I’m not saying you’re NOT crazy. But this isn’t proof of it, at least, so there’s that. xD It really is a powerful, uplifting poem, and I recommend it to anyone who’s going through a hard time. Funny how meaningful just reading a poem can be, but it really is!
Oh, that’s nice. I have to say, I haven’t read too many English poems but I’m quite in love with Shel Silverstein – I mean, who could not love poems about hugs and pancakes and ending sidewalks. 🙂 And also Richard Siken. Have you ever read “Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed out”? It also features a dragon. Metaphorically, I think. Then again. Who can say they really understand poetry?
Oh my gosh, yes! I didn’t include any Shel Silverstein, but he was my first love when it came to poetry. I had his books when I was young. :3 I actually still have one, and my daughter loves it.
I haven’t read it, but I’m going to look it up now! You had me at dragon.
Very nice Poetry Month post! I know some of these (studied the Dylan Thomas one in school) but not all of them. And I have the same love/hate relationship with e.e. cummings. Really neat work (sometimes) if I can get my inner editor to shut up. Actually, I usually need my inner editor to shut up with all poetry. But cummings makes it harder than most. 😉
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Somehow, we never studied Dylan Thomas in school? We focused mostly on contemporary poems in my Poetry Forms class, which was disappointing for me because I prefer older poems.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who struggles with them! xD
Thanks for shining a light on poetry. I was an avid writer of poetry in my teens and I’ve always enjoyed reading the classic ones.
Me, too! I feel like a lot of teens are predispositioned to writing poetry (and why not? It’s a wonderful outlet and way to express emotions). I’ve always preferred the classics to contemporary, but I’ve been trying to give contemporary more of a chance lately.
Do Not Go Gentle has always been one of my favorite poems. I’m one of those that doesn’t really read poems honestly, but there are some that are really good. I probably got turned off by them because of the whole “what is the author trying to say with this poem” question in high school and I was like “idk I’m not educated enough to know that” lol. Great post! I like this take for T10T
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Me, too! Ever since I read it as a kid. That may be why I stopped reading them, too. I took a Poetry Forms class in college and was a little disillusioned with it. xD And from high school on, I was always told I was interpreting them “wrong,” and I’m like … how, when an interpretation is your opinion?!