Sometimes I’m thinking about poetry itself, not reading a specific poem. On my last trip I found myself arguing against what I remember as a definition of poetry as “strong emotion recollected in tranquility.” Of course this argument was all…
I was journaling but felt like it could add up to more. I made notes about what I read, but didn’t fully flesh out what I’d learned. It was like leaving bread crumbs for myself. When I looked back over…
Often we think of poetry as focused on expressing the emotions and experiences of our individual lives, immediately, intensely, distilled to the essence of the experience we recall. Poetry can do that. But it can do other things as well.…
Lots of folks dismiss poetry out of hand. Obscure. Dense. Old-fashioned and boring. Poetry truly does have a poor public image. Unfortunately, Poetry has done a lot to earn that image, aided by schools and academics that try to instill…
