I’ll confess and admit that I mainly got interested in poetry just over a year ago because I was infatuated with a young lady who is a poet. Further, once I began my awkward attempts at writing poetry, I was worried that doing so might turn me into a beret-sporting pomposity.I have since bettered my verse ( I hope ), have read a few poetry collections, and have not yet found a beret in my style. So I would like to take a stab at answering: of what use is poetry?
I like poetry for its use in conveying feeling. For instance, I could write a few sentences about how I like hanging out in record stores on lazy, rainy nights; and there’s a chance my mood might come across. But putting that feeling into a poem, as opposed to a short story or essay, liberates the feeling from having to function as part of a plot or as part of a point that is being made. The poem and its feeling hopefully become an insightful glimpse into my so-called life.
Part of the fascination in reading poetry is figuring out what scenario or feeling the poet might be describing. And if your interpretation differs from another reader’s or from the poet’s original intent, so what? In poetry class, some of the most interesting conversations I’ve been a part of are while workshopping poems and hearing the various interpretations of the students’ work. Everyone seems to be open to multiple interpretations. Great, because it never fails to bother me when someone studies any ambiguous piece of art and then declares that they have found its true meaning.
The poet has given you a sketch; a gift where the words flow, they come at you in waves, or maybe one at a time. Sometimes, your interpretation says as much about you as it does the poet. You could argue that art gains additional meanings as it enters the world and is received by an audience. Sometimes that’s when the real fun begins. It’s like Patti Smith declares on her latest album: Be a gathering.
- Spring, 1998
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