A lot of people ask what poetry is. What makes a poem? Is it rhyme, rhythm, something else? Two poets, one Chinese and one Spanish, attempt an answer. Hu Shih says: Dream and Poetry It’s all ordinary experience, All ordinary images. By chance they emerge in a dream, Turning out infinite new patterns. It’s all …
Category Archive: poetry
Apr 20 2009
Poem o’ the Day
Poems of a political prisoner today, my darlings. Seemed appropriate, considering the subject of the previous post. Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet spent over a decade in prison for his communist views. His poetry captures his experiences perfectly, and gives us a glimpse of what political dissidents must endure. POEMS FOR PIRAYE (9 TO 10 O’CLOCK …
Apr 19 2009
Poem o’ the Day
Music, my friends, is poetry. Some of it’s really bad poetry, but poetry it remains. Of course, most song lyrics don’t stand so well without the music that accompanies them. But there are some bands you can simply sit back and read. For me, Emperor’s like that. For instance, just go read Anthems to the …
Apr 18 2009
Poem o’ the Day
I think most of us know Carmina Burana in one form or another. There’s Carl Orff’s glorious classical music based on it, o’ course. Vampire: the Masquerade was terribly fond of quoting it. And Therion covered Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna,” bringing us full circle. The Middle Ages weren’t quite the cultural black hole the Renaissance …
Apr 17 2009
Poem o’ the Day
My heart-sister NP threw a gauntlet today. It’s sitting there at my feet, gleaming through the veil of dust it raised: One of the things I find myself thinking about when I’m stuck on a story is what else I could be writing. I know this is my brain procrastinating, but I’ve come up with …
Apr 16 2009
Poem o’ the Day
Emily Dickinson was one of the first poets I ever appreciated, possibly because she’s succinct. After all of the complicated, flowery shite we got buried under in class, it was a relief to meet a poet able to make her point in a few powerful lines. The woman had more insight into humanity than almost …
Apr 15 2009
Poem o’ the Day
I’ll never forget the shock upon learning that my dad loves Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven.” He’d never shown the slightest sign of appreciation for literature. The last time he’d read to me was when I was an infant. But there came a day when he spotted me with my American Lit textbook, asked what …
Apr 14 2009
Poem o’ the Day
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Fuck, no. I got served nothing but that stupid sonnet for years. A note to educators: children don’t appreciate love poetry as much as you think they do. And yes, they remember what they read last year. And the year before that. And two years ago, yes. …
Apr 14 2009
Poem o’ Yesterday
Um, oops. Got so steamed by shoddy science on the teevee that I forgot poetry. So, uh, yeah. Pretend this got posted yesterday, would ye? Poetry is usually quite serious business, but there’s nothing in the rules saying you can’t be silly. Sometimes, you’ve got to play with your poetry just like you play with …
Apr 12 2009
Poem o’ the Day
The Digital Cuttlefish may be on hiatus, but his poetry still abounds on the intertoobz. And he has a poem that perfectly compliments this week’s Sunday Sensational Science, so now’s the perfect time to highlight his virtuosity. Cuttlefish proves that poetry very much has a place in modern life: as commentary, as dialogue, as entertaining …
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