One of the nice things about NaPoWriMo is that it sometimes makes poets out of ordinary civilians. I think it’s grand — I wish everyone would write poetry.
I had a funny conversation with a friend who is writing poems this month. She’s a short story writer. I’ve had this conversation many times before. It goes something like “man, I sure do like some poetry, but I don’t know anything about it, you know, I don’t get it at all.”
I was trying to decide where this idea started that poetry is something mystical and opaque. I pointed out to my friend that poems, not short stories or novels, are closest to the way we tell stories to each other. Most people when they tell a friend about something unusual will strip their story down to the most important and interesting details. They will not always use complete sentences, and they will speak in a casual and free tone with their particular voice. They’ll allow themselves unusual asides and digressions as they see fit. This is a poem.
I think I could teach anyone to write a passable poem in less than ninety minutes.
When I was thinking about poems and conversations, it occurred to me that when we exchange stories they might be metaphorically linked to each other. But that was hours ago in the shower, when everything was so much clearer. I’ll have to think about it some more.
To clarify, I didn’t say “I don’t get it at all” I said “I don’t really know what I’m doing.” That might sound picky, but I think there is a difference.
Going to PBQ meetings for 2 years now has actually been a great course in “getting” poetry. I’ve read more poetry than I ever had– or cared to read– before and I’ve learned a lot more about it by being around people who are great poets and teachers. So, despite never having a formal poetry class, I do understand some of the mechanics and certainly have a greater appreciation for the form than I used to. That said, I still don’t “get” every poem I read and I’m still not always sure if this is because I’m a bit dim or the poem just isn’t that good, although when we’re reading outside of the slush pile I’m pretty sure the answer is that I’m missing something.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to try to write poems and not really know what I’m doing. It’s a nice brain exercise if nothing else. But does this mean that anything I slap together on a page that is poem-like is a poem? I think that Shafer might say yes. I’m not always so sure. I think it probably should require a little more craft and care than I commit.
I feel like this could probably spawn a conversation about folk art (expression) vs. high art, but I’m at work, so I should probably get back to the important task of diligently Photoshopping hairs out of letters.