Thursday, September 9, 2010

I WISH I WERE A POET

poems Pictures, Images and Photos

Photobucket - Catifung

Poetry has infused my soul lately. I am hungry for it and jealous.

Often I see skies like the one pictured above - Masterfully painted, uniquely designed, intensely mesmerizing. For a moment hypnotized, I die. And I relish death, or is it really life?, and wish I could verbally express its captivating issness... with you.

A poet would know how.

And so while wallowing in the greenest envy, I wonder how a poet's mind works. I had heard that poets were dreamers. But as I read more poetry I am led to disagree. They are realists, they are fanatic perceivers who see the depth of the observed. Then they recount what they see.

I had also thought that poets wrote of love and beauty. Yet, now I see that is not true. Love- hate, beauty-ugliness, war-peace, sadness-joy are all the same to a poet. They are merely emissaries of truth.

Words, often without logical meaning, are scripted in a weave that titillates our mind, that sometimes shakes our souls. We all know words, so how do poets interlock them, juxtapose them to create something so often illogical, yet something that, like a homing device, can fly directly to pierce our hearts.

I used to think poetry was contrived, intricate, abstract. I didn't get it. Now I know. I was wrong. For if anything, it is uncomplicated and straightforward. True poets are not out to impress us, to trick us by their flare. They are reporters of the rudimentary - of guts and blood, sex and lust, of heaven and earth. They are inspired... in spirit. They report reality, which even if we try to complicate, is after all, really simple.

Poets are not self-conscious, they reveal themselves, unabashed by what others may judge. They are driven by the details of their moments and they reproduce, through words, life's ordinary magic.

I am excited at the prospect of reading more; actually I am passionate about it. For me a poem is like a meditation, guided by an enlightened soul.

Dare I dream of writing it someday? I do. I wish I were a poet.

~

O Me! O Life! by Walt Whitman

O ME! O life!... of the questions of these recurring;
Of the endless trains of the faithless—of cities fill’d with the foolish;
Of myself forever reproaching myself, (for who more foolish than I, and who more
faithless?)
Of eyes that vainly crave the light—of the objects mean—of the struggle
ever
renew’d;
Of the poor results of all—of the plodding and sordid crowds I see around me;
Of the empty and useless years of the rest—with the rest me intertwined;
The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.

16 comments:

  1. Beautiful, stirring Whitman poem, as all of his amazing writings are.

    A poet's task is very easy; they observe, they think and then they pour their soul into words. The poet sees the light behind the door just about to close...the poet's only love is language, for it is in language that a poet expresses a lie that makes us realise truth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Myrna ~
    I guess it depends on how you define poetry ~ to me it's whatever captures my attention in beauty & inspiration. I find poetry in my daughters' eyes, my husband's caress, storms, sunsets, waves crashing, a stranger's kindness...and your blog posts.

    (Sam - your comment reads like poetry as well)

    ReplyDelete
  3. @Sam: easy for you to say! you are a poet!! and a very good one I must add.
    I totally agree with Dawn - poetry is everywhere and in everything but just the gifted ones can put down in words what everyone with a sensitive heart can see. Myrna: your posts are beautiful and thought provoking...they are poetry as well; maybe not the language-rhyming kind, but the honest, soulful and inspiring one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. write it...
    i had not written any since courting my wife until just a year ago...i think you have the poets heart so i look forward to calling you poet...smiles.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Perfectly lovely post, my dear Myrna. The Whtiman poem is so beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whitman is amazing, but you must never forget that you are a writer and you have the same command of words and can use them with the same beauty, just in a different way. Be that as it may, Emily Dickenson enthralls me. She could take 3 words and make them mean everything. But we are writers, and we rock!

    xo Erin

    ReplyDelete
  7. You perfectly described a poet, and with your words you sound like one as well. =)

    I love poetry. I have a journal dedicated to writing poems. You're right they are not always just about love and beauty. My all time favorite is Pablo Neruda, if you haven't checked his poems out, you should!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your yearning is poetic!

    Warm Aloha from Waikiki

    Comfort Spiral

    ReplyDelete
  9. Myrna, this was a lovely post dwelling on poetry and poets. I also find poets captivating. But I know that I am quite comfortable with writing in prose. Brevity does not aid me! All of us are poets when it comes to love, nature and life. The difference is that we don't write and poets do. Myrna, just start writing and then you can slowly extinguish the green coloured monster. How about the next post???

    Joy always,
    Susan

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ah! but poetry is within each of us. Some write it down, some feel it, some show it in their actions. Poetry is what we and how we feel each and every emotions. How we choose to express it is an individual's choice.
    You have the ability within you to write. I look forward to reading one of your poems....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Myrna, your prose is more poetic than many poems I've read. You have the heart and voice of a poet and realizing that it's not intricate or abstract is a step toward realizing how accessible it is for anyone. Try writing a paragraph, then putting it into a column, so it "looks" like a poem. It's not different, you're just free from rules of grammar. You have such richness in your writing and such Majesty in your heart and the way you see the world, you write poetry all the time you just haven't called it that yet.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Myrna, I agree with OJ. Your posts are sometimes your own poetry! It all depends on how it is perceived. Just start calling yourself a writer, or a poet, or whatever you want to be...and then you ARE! As you know, I'm all about believing in yourself, and I'm an optimistic soul! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. u can write poems if u want to...

    everyone starts with first time, then another..
    love your bravery.

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are a poet. Your posts are poems.

    Beautiful post.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've only recently started writing poetry. Now I'm obsessed. Start writing!

    (looking forward to seeing you at the Willow Manor Ball!)

    ReplyDelete