On Poetry

Honestly, I learned nothing from the writing about poetry assignment that I can use. When I was in grade school, poetry and drama were both still common subjects. I've been writing about poetry since I was a child. I enjoy it. The dissection of a poem appeals to my analytical side. I love puzzles and I love words. Poems are word puzzles. I love seeking out patterns and hidden meanings and, in the process thereof, learning something that I may not have known about the poet and/or myself.

I did learn something by the poetry writing assignments. I had never written a found poem. It was a lot of fun. Instead of using my own words, I got to twist other people's words to express my meaning. That being said, I hate having limits put on me when I'm creating. I spent many years after high school enjoying poetic license. If I'm creating something, I expect the form thereof to be entirely up to me. Being told exactly what or how to write is, for me, intellectually akin to being put in a cage.

As a teacher of students who will probably not be as friendly with creative writing, the exercises we did may prove to be quite useful. Children who are especially wary of writing poetry may feel empowered and encouraged by the idea of producing a found poem. It may prove to be a very helpful first step in getting them to write poetry.

As for the performances, they were great. Poetry is meant to be performed, or at least, read aloud. It relies greatly on rhythm, rhyme, and tone. No poem can be fully understood until heard. Concrete poems need to be seen in addition to, but not in lieu of, being heard. Even my own poem had more meaning for me once I heard it spoken aloud (as opposed to being spoken silently). A couple of the poems changed for me almost completely after having heard them being performed by the poets. My future students will probably prefer death to reading their own poetry in front of their classmates. Again, maybe the found poems will get the ball rolling.