These are a few of my favorite things...

By now I think many of you have realized that I really do love poetry. I enjoy reading it, writing it, and listening to it. This does not mean, however, that I always understand every poem I read. Some of my favorite poems are not ones that I necessarily "get." Sometimes I just like poems because of the way they sound. That is why I enjoy poetry, I think, because it is a genre that appreciates how language sounds. In this short blog entry, it is impossible for me to list every single poem that I love. Instead, I will just share two with you and explain briefly how each poem has influenced me.

Song of Myself
When I was an undergraduate student (majoring in English literature and creative writing), I remember "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman as a poem that really influenced me. I loved how this poem is long, rambling, and expansive. It talks about minute details (such as blades of grass) and enormous cosmos (such as the universe). I like this poem because, as a writer, it gives me permission to discuss anything and everything in the pieces I write. When I read this poem, I feel large, all-powerful. When I read this poem, I feel inspired to become a creator of my own world, a world of language. My favorite stanza in this poem is this:

"Have you reckon'd a thousand acres much? have you reckon'd the
earth much?
Have you practis'd so long to learn to read?
Have you felt so proud to get at the meaning of poems?

Stop this day and night with me and you shall possess the origin of
all poems,
You shall possess the good of the earth and sun, (there are millions
of suns left,)
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look
through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in
books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self."

Zipper poems
When I was working on my MFA degree (in creative writing, poetry)I was always looking for poets to emulate. One writer who influenced me profoundly was Jorie Graham. In her book, Erosion, many of her poems are written to look like "zippers." I found this form of poetry inspiring and began to write poems shaped similarly to hers. For example, here is the opening stanza from the poem "Reading Plato"

This is a story
of a beautiful
lie, what slips
through my fingers,
your fingers. It is winter,
it’s far

I am looking forward to hearing what poems you find interesting and inspiring!