In the latest podcast, Michael and Ann seem to confess that poetry intimidates them.

I like poetry, but I don't consider myself well read. I tend to gorge on a few poets. I dig Dylan Thomas, Pablo Neruda, Aphra Behn and recently discovered Alden Nowlan. I'm looking forward to reading more of him, trying to select a volume now.

I'm going to check out one of the anthologies recommended by Schiavo.

I subscribe to a daily newsletter from the Writer's Almanac. http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

**I write a bit, too. I posted one of my poems here:
http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/7855...

Summer, I really like your poem!

I'd love to hear what you think if you pick up any of the books recommended by Michael S. He's also promised to get a list up on his blog of the long list of poets he recommends in the very near future, so we'll put up a link to it when it's ready.

Thanks!

I enjoyed your poetry themed podcast this week. I'd add that hearing a poem read by the poet or by someone who loves the poem often makes it resonate more deeply for me. For this reason, I love Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac podcast!

Also, reading about the poet's life sometimes brings their work greater color and texture. Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall, Wendell Berry, T.S. Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Denise Levertov, and Emily Dickinson are poets whom I appreciate more since I've learned their stories and passions.

Back in high school and college I read (and wrote) lots of poetry, but at some point got away from it. I really don't know why. It's such a simple way to enjoy the play of words. So I've decided that this month I'll read a poem daily from one of the collections I already own.

Kate, that's a great resolution to make!

I love poetry, but would rather hear it read aloud than read it myself. Poetry seems to come alive when read aloud, in a way it does not on the printed page. Like Woolly1 I'm a fan of Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac.

Like Karen, I find poetry readings and poetry slams bring poetry to life especially when read from the writer of the poem as they bring with the reading the passion that came from their experiences. I have however discovered Roger Housden's series of poems that inspired me to read poetry more. Ten Poems to Change Your Life, Ten Poems to Open Your Heart, Ten Poems to Set You Free, Ten Poems to Last a Lifetime & Ten Poems of Love and Revelation. His commentary of why the poem touched him and what was going on in his life when he read it really made me feel a personal connection to him and also the desire to find other poems by some of the authors, particularly The Journey by Mary Oliver. That poem in particular came to me at a time when I was at a crossroads and it was either change my life situation to save my spirit or stay and kill my spirit. Poetry can be life changing if you let it.

Carla wrote: "Like Karen, I find poetry readings and poetry slams bring poetry to life especially when read from the writer of the poem as they bring with the reading the passion that came from their experiences..."

The series you mention sounds good, I'll have to check it out. I also find that how much I like a poem is often related to how it resonates with my life at time. Sometimes I will read a poem I loved in the past, but find I don't like it all that much anymore, because my circumstances/issues/emotions about the topic has changed.

Does anyone else love Billy Collin's work as much as I do? His poem Forgetfulness pretty much sums up my life these days.

Dottie M

Billy Collins is one of my faves!
His voice is so accessible...crisp and fresh!... also I find him pretty funny much of the time.
Here's one I like for the image it leaves...esp. for anyone who has ever written poetry themselves.

MADMEN
by Billy Collins

They say you can jinx a poem
if you talk about it before it is done.
If you let it out too early, they warn,
your poem will fly away,
and this time they are absolutely right.


Take the night I mentioned to you
I wanted to write about the madmen,
as the newspapers so blithely call them,
who attack art, not in reviews,
but with breadknives and hammers
in the quiet museums of Prague and Amsterdam.


Actually, they are the real artists,
you said, spinning the ice in your glass.
The screwdriver is their brush.
The real vandals are the restorers,
you went on, slowly turning me upside-down,
the ones in the white doctor's smocks
who close the wound in the landscape,
and thus ruin the true art of the mad.


I watched my poem fly down to the front
of the bar and hover there
until the next customer walked in—
then I watched it fly out the open door into the night
and sail away, I could only imagine,
over the dark tenements of the city.


All I had wished to say
was that art was also short,
as a razor can teach with a slash or two,
that it only seems long compared to life,
but that night, I drove home alone
with nothing swinging in the cage of my heart
except the faint hope that I might
catch a glimpse of the thing
in the fan of my headlights,
maybe perched on a road sign or a street lamp,
poor unwritten bird, its wings folded,
staring down at me with tiny illuminated eyes.

I am a fan of Billy Collins
He's inspired me
enough to even try E.D.

Introduction to Poetry
is about where I'm at
using Strunk & White
as the instrument of torture

And now I am
the poet at the window

Though not the painter
with the candles on the hat
and certainly not the cigarette
nor the dog put to sleep

Perhaps though I am
the unmentioned cat
out in the yard
watching back

I've only recently taken up poetry. I've found a few poets I like (Charles Simic, Charles Bukowski & Mary Jo Bang) and one that I didn't care for (Frank O'Hara).

The book of poetry I'm currently reading by Mary Jo Bang is entitled "Elegy" and was written in the year following the death of her son in the prime of his life. This collection is very powerful and moving.

Dennis, thanks. My husband was a big Bukowski fan, so I've read a bit. I have a copy of Selected (Collected? I always confuse them) Frank O'Hara on the way, so I will be interested to see how that compares.