What I’m Reading: Poetry
My reading of poetry is a little sporadic I admit, which is why I’ve decided to talk about it as a whole instead of focusing on a certain poet or poem (though I may do this down the track).
Poetry is often polarising. People either love it, or they think they don’t ‘get’ it, so they don’t go near it.
I used to be the latter. But then I studied a beginners poetry unit as part of my writing course last year, and it took only one poem to change that.
…frustratingly, I didn’t note the poem down, and have since tried hunting for it but with no success. I’ll explain it to you though.
It was a short poem, only two stanzas from memory. It described a man who had just emerged from the main entrance to a hospital. He looked tired, and a little lost as he stood there on the street, eyes rimmed red and looking up and down the road as though uncertain where to go. He was carrying a woman’s coat.
And that was it. That was all that was needed to suggest a story of this man who had just lost his wife, and was now lost and didn’t know what to do. It was heartbreaking.
And it managed to say all of that, without saying it at all, but just by painting a clear image of a poignant moment.
This is the beauty of poetry. It captures life in words, and spits it back out at you.
Well, not always. Sometimes it hits you, slams you, caresses you, or hugs you.
And so that’s why I read poetry — to take in as much life as possible during my single lifespan, and to live others’ moments as though they were my own.
Bookmark featuring Yeats' 'He Wishes For The Cloths of Heaven'
I’d like to share some of my favourite poems with you; these are the ones I love to read over and over again:
- He Wishes For The Cloths Of Heaven by William Butler Yeats
- I Want To Say by Natalie Goldberg
- Funeral Blues by W.H. Auden
- Masks by Shel Silverstein
I’m also going to include an unashamed plug to my Etsy shop here: I’ve designed some bookmarks with poems on them, which I think are quite lovely (though I may be biased :P). You can view them on the shop here.
If you have some favourite poems that you love reading over and over, please share them below :)
Happy reading!
