Honestly a lot of poetry is hard to read and has all these layers which is awesome and makes poetry so cool but I donât have an English instructor on hand to go line-by-line with me (I mean I kind of do my husband is one but that would be annoying so I donât ask this of him). Anyway David Bermanâs poetry has this, but it is also just beautiful and evocative on its surface and you donât have to be that smart or good at reading poetry to like or understand it (though Iâm sure a smart person who is good at reading poetry would get even more out of it).
So anyway maybe starting with something like this and then rereading it and finding those layers and getting that dopamine hit from understanding poetry but also building those skills and positive association with poetry before reading more challenging stuff. Just my dummy 2¢!
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Poetry is often short and so we just skim over it and are left underwhelmed. Sometimes we need to make ourselves hear and feel it more, I find that reading the poem out loud really helps with this! Also maybe try to find videos of poets reading their own poems. (Iâve attached a Mary Oliver reading, Iâve never met anyone who didnât like Mary Oliver haha)
Also remember that âpoetryâ is such a huge and nebulous literary form and that you may well dislike a lot of it (I detest so much poetry that I find it a little embarrassing as a poet). Just because you donât like a poem, or a hell of a lot of poems, doesnât mean you donât like poetry, youâve just not found the poems you like. If you find one poem that you like, find more from that same poet. If you like a poet, look at who their fans like, or who the poet has cited as inspiration. Youâre allowed to find lines you love but not like other lines in the same poem. Itâs all worth it when you find one line that hits right through you. âyou do not have to be goodâŚyou just have to let the soft animal of your body love what it lovesâ.
Apr 1, 2024
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i switched out of the english major after 1 year, but i used to be super into reading and writing poetry for most of my teenage years
i am by no means an authority on this, but genuinely, i think itâs just about finding what you personally like. there are so many different styles of poetry and some might connect with you while others donât. i donât think that makes any style objectively bad, itâs just about what triggers an emotional response for you! and that might change at different stages of your life. for example, for a few seasons when i was an incredibly moody and pretentious teenager, i loved charles bukowski. now his stuff does not connect with me at all! and thatâs ok! it was still important to me at the time, and i can appreciate that regardless of how i feel now
tldr; i just think poetry is so subjective and itâs just about what makes you feel emotionally invested at any given time :)
⌠except for the rupi kaur brand of poetry, thatâs just bad
Mar 31, 2024
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The framing meta narrative as a biting critique of literary criticism makes it an interesting and funny read but the poetry itself is also beautiful and Nabokov has a way with words like none otherâŚ
âI was the shadow of the waxwing slain
By the false azure in the windowpane;
I was the smudge of ashen fluff -and I
Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky.
And from the inside, too, I'd duplicate
Myself, my lamp, an apple on a plate:
Uncurtaining the night, I'd let dark glass
Hang all the furniture above the grass,
And how delightful when a fall of snow
Covered my glimpse of lawn and reached up so
As to make chair and bed exactly stand
Upon that snow, out in that crystal land!â
Also recommend reading poetry out loud (to get a feel for its rhythmic nature) and subscribing to the poetry newsletter of The Paris Review they send you a poem every day!!
Apr 1, 2024
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it's fucking liberating
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sitting back on a couch with your cat on your tummy sitting like a little sphinx and youâre scratching their little cheeks and slow blinking at each other
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