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Poetry readership is at a 16 year low: Is verse dying? / No, it is not. Let us show you why
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Not the fault of those who decline to read
Bastards, you say, and overpaid
But it's all a joke; you say so
Yourself. Kidding and useless
Fuck them.

as there's no better way
to tell us all just how little
we have learned so far,
and it's no joke at all.

Who took from her son his last doobie...

25 years ago I published a magazine called Alternative Fiction & Poetry and once got a letter that said: "Your magazine rules, except for the poems."
I haven't liked poetry since Where The Sidewalk Ends in grade school. I forced myself to read some Frost. I only managed by putting it on the back of the loo and forcing myself to read one every time I sat down (remember girls always sit). I know it's un-literary of me. I find it either boring, trite or often times, with the more modern stuff, I just don't get what they're on about. Maurice used to send me stuff he wrote and I would struggle with what to reply, because I really just didn't get it. End determination? I am poetically retarded.

Frost is one of my faves. What I find is that poetry packs an immense punch - I know it sounds cliched, and therefore reading poetry is mentally exhausting. You have to read a few short poems and then put the collection down and come back to it. (Actually Frost is one of the easier ones to read a bunch at a time, I think. Others are harder.) It's more mentally exhausting than reading a novel, or listening to modern, atonal music.

BunWat wrote: "I'm sorry that you are poetically retarded Melia. Poetry gets me high. It's awesome fun."
Me too, BW...me too. It's like a little piece of me is broken.
Me too, BW...me too. It's like a little piece of me is broken.

Pablo Neruda (my fave)
Kahlil Gibran
Maya Angelou
Edgar Lee Masters
Leonard Cohen
Rudyard Kipling
Walt Whitman
William Butler Yeats
Oscar Wilde
Charles Bukowski
Edgar Allen Poe
Dylan Thomas
Emily Dickinson
Shel Silverstein
EE Cummings
Ogden Nash
Lewis Carroll
Ikkyu
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Robert Browning (collectively, the two are inspiring and lovely)
Any suggestions? There are an awful lot to choose from on B&N.

Also, here is a one of his poems:
http://petermcwilliams.org/page79.html
Um, never mind. Thanks, though. It's a bit angsty teenagery for me. Sounds like something I would have written in my journal in the throes of an internal drama queen passion...mine were only ever internal...at about 16-25. Makes me cringe when I see it again later, not really something I want to read for enjoyment.
I love Poe, but I read the stories, not the poems...Same with Kipling. Kim is one of my all time favorite books.

Oh, I can listen to Maya Angelou reading her poetry all day long. She has such a soothing voice, and she reminds me of some of the women in my life who've been so encouraging and inspiring.


WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Hmmm, I have to honestly admit that I found BW's amusing and I actually quite enjoyed Evie's.
I once wrote a Hiku for Mini Am.

I was going to write a poem
I made a pie instead it took
about the same amount of time
of course the pie was a final
draft a poem would have some
distance to go days and weeks and
much crumpled paper
the pie already had a talking
tumbling audience among small
trucks and a fire engine on
the kitchen floor
everybody will like this pie
it will have apples and cranberries
dried apricots in it many friends
will say why in the world did you
make only one
this does not happen with poems
because of unreportable
sadnesses I decided to
settle this morning for a re-
sponsive eatership I do not
want to wait a week a year a
generation for the right
consumer to come along
Grace Paley

And BunWat whose knowledge is tops.
There's Heidi whose bear claws are scary,
There's Jim who appreciates hops.
The TC assortment of hims, hers and "others"
Is second to none, I admit.
We all get along just like sisters and brothers
(And we're all sometimes just full of shit).
So as we head into this holiday season,
I raise up my glass in a toast.
My friends, you've all given me plenty of reason
To speak of you highly in boast.
Happy Holidays, TC.
And NEW PAGE!
Phil wrote: "There's Felix, who used to be Larry,
And BunWat whose knowledge is tops.
There's Heidi whose bear claws are scary,
There's Jim who appreciates hops.
The TC assortment of hims, hers and "others"
Is..."
*applauds*
And BunWat whose knowledge is tops.
There's Heidi whose bear claws are scary,
There's Jim who appreciates hops.
The TC assortment of hims, hers and "others"
Is..."
*applauds*
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What do you think? Fascinating article...