Poetry Readings from Dead poets

I understand that there were some poets who were alive long enough, or at the right time period, to be recorded reading their poems, and that this can help us understand the poem in a way that reading it ourselves can't. On the other hand, I feel that there's a gap due to technology between the recordings that are helpful to us, and the ones that are annoying for us to listen to. For instance, the poets recorded at the beginning of the use of auditory recordings don't seem helpful at all. The tracks are crackly often drowning out the poet, the voice speaking is so quiet you have to crank the volume up (intensifying the annoying crackle), and you can barely understand the words being spoken, or their inflection. As years progressed and the technology got better I believe the use of this tool actually became helpful, but in its earlier years...Forget about it.

Music as a Muse

Using music as a muse is a double-edged sword for me. I love it, and I hate it. On the one hand, when I'm listening to music my mind seems to have no trouble being creative. On the other hand, it takes a while for me to draw anything subtantial from that creativity, and the music is usually over by that point. For example, when we did the exercise in class using music as a muse, there were points where the music changed, and the new tone of the music gave my thoughts a new feeling that I wanted to express. by the time words came to mind, however, the music had changed again, dashing the words from my mind as it now struggled to find words for the new section. I wrote a poem on my own time using music as a muse, and I had to play the song on loop at least five times before I had enough material on the page to work with, and had to continue listening to it when editing to be able to organize it in the way I had thought of while musing.

Connecting

Connecting to my muse has been one of my larger obstacles in writing poetry. Mainly, connecting in an unfiltered way. From the first day of class until the end of the year, I had trouble letting go of that self-editor in my head that would filter things coming from the muse into a structured rhyme scheme, or getting rid of things that it felt didn't make sense. I never really found a way to turn it off, and that frustrated me to no end. But beside my inability to let go of my mental filter, I’ve also had issues connecting to my muse at certain times of the day when I sit down to write. After a long shift at work, on my feet for hours, I find my need to sit and rest overpowers my desire to connect with my muse and write something, and so I sit there staring at the screen for an hour. Then again, there are times late at night that my mind seems oddly hyperactive, and being creative seems to be the easiest thing in the world. In any case, it’s a problem to work on.

Young People; Conversation

I came across this the other day and was mesmorized by it. I even wound up reading it like 10 other times. I wanted to share it on here because I think many of you would enjoy it as well. It is different and if there is something I really enjoy about reading poetry or free verse it is just that. A different way of hearing something or looking at something, or things being talked about so out of the box and maybe even unrealistic. That is what brings me joy and I think is why I really have learned to love reading and writiing my own poetry. It gives me an escape to a different world full of, well, whatever I want to fill it with really. I really liked how it had dialaug in it throughout the entire thing, but how it also included the inner thoughts. I also felt as though the whole things was really relateable, like I could have been the one to write this. Everything just clicked for me and I loved the way the writer went about describing the feelings that were occuring. Anyways, ENJOY!

P.S. Its supposed to have line breaks.. really good ones actually. But, I cant seem to get it to be in the right format. It kinda takes away from the piece of writing. If anyone knows how to fix this let me know!

Young People; Conversation.

‘what is that?’ a boat. ‘can it swim?’ yes. ‘with or against the current?’ either way i suppose, like most boats. ‘i like it. it looks nothing like other boats. did you make it?’ yes. ‘with your hands?’ and mind. ‘and heart?’ yes. and heart. ‘do you ever wish you could sleep forever? i mean, not in a morbid, i want to die sort of way. just sleep while you maintain your day to day life.’ do you? ‘sometimes, yes. its impossible i know.’ i guess it is, yes. ‘but i could be put in a coma for a year or two, let everything change around me and then i’d wake up and i’d be the same but you’d be different in some way.’ in a lot of ways. i might forget your name or not recognize your face. maybe you could finally grow a beard. ‘ha, yes. maybe i could. maybe in that time you’d meet someone else and he might influence you in such a way that i would no longer be attracted to you or we wouldn’t be able to have conversations like this because maybe he’d make you watch a lot of television and inhibit your imagination and conversation skills.’ what do you mean? ‘i mean, you’re exactly like you are now because you have me and vice versa. if we would have never met you would be different in every sort of way.’ not every sort of way. ‘well, a lot of ways. maybe you would have never started painting again or you wouldn’t of had that dream that made you stop eating meat.’ maybe, you’re right. ‘maybe, maybe not. but every interaction we have on a day to day basis changes on a smaller scale the rest of the day after and a larger scale the rest of our life after. like, if we wouldn’t have had breakfast this morning and you wouldn’t have told me about the fruit stand on broadway, i wouldn’t have went there and found the five dollar bill next to the sewer channel. maybe i would have had breakfast by myself or someone else in this or another apartment and maybe i would have walked to a fruit stand or a video store on the other side of town and got hit by a car or met some girl named lauren and we would start to date and get married and i wouldn’t ever wonder about sleeping the rest of my life or you with another guy while i was in a coma.’ you found a five dollar bill on the way to the fruit stand? ‘yes. i bought you this fish tank with it, for your boat.’ want to see if it swims? ‘more than anything.’ we can put little fish inside of it. ‘like noah’s ark.’ two of everything. ‘do you always think in pairs? or couples?’ yes, well, most of the time. ‘why is that?’ i don’t like to picture anyone or anything alone. everyone needs someone. ‘maybe that was noah’s rationale. maybe he didn’t talk to god.’ maybe there wasn’t any flood. ‘maybe he was the ancient world’s greatest matchmaker.’ maybe, but probably not. ‘do you ever wish that everyone you knew was the same as you?’ why would i wish that? ‘there wouldn’t ever be any awkward moments in conversation. i always know what to say to myself, but not other people. you could read everyone’s minds. like, when you move your eyebrows the way you are right now, i never know what that means. but if you were the same person as me and you moved your eyebrows like that, i would know what you are thinking because i know what im thinking when i move my eyebrows like that. make sense?’ sure, i guess. why do you think like that? ‘i don’t really, at least not all the time. sometimes you wonder though, you know?’ it floats! ‘hah, perfect!’ it is perfect. [perfect, perfect, perfect. but sometimes its not. when i wake up you might be gone. i put this in brackets so you couldn’t hear it. sometimes i feel you’re distant, not all the time, especially not right now, but sometimes. when you don’t answer my questions or when you fall asleep while im in the middle of a significant revelation. when you spoon your soup over and over and never eat it. but not right now. right now we’re fine, organically, metaphysically, politically, everything’s fine. i’m afraid though if i miss one word on a cue card or an accent on this bracketed section you might leave and i’ll miss your luggage and the way you carry it. but not right now, everything’s fine, emotionally, philosophically, theologically, everything’s perfect, perfect, perf- ect, per- fect.] ‘perfect.’ !

Parting Words

Sitting here putting the final touches on my portfolio and reflection, it occurred to me that i really have accomplished and achieved a lot by taking this course. looking back on the first poem we wrote in class, and the first muse exercise we did i really do see a lot of growth. and even though i was apprehensive at first to the idea of taking a poetry writing class, i'm really glad i did. now i can express myself on a whole different level and i can really appreciate the beauty of language. so aside from the knowledge i've gained in terms of understanding the fundamentals of poetry, i feel like i've grown a lot as a writer in general.

Free Association and Fiction

Free Association must have been the funnest thing I've learned to do in this class. Often enough I just look at something and try to devise a story from the object. A tree, A squirrel, A pen even can be objects to write about. Good muse tools are hard to come by. This particular one seems to help me when I am stuck in a block. In the same respect I suppose that I could say that "Lies" is one of my favorite tools to use as well. I've written a poem about a squirrel being severely angry with a pigeon who kept stealing his nuts. It was meant to be funny, but it was fun playing with a subjects emotions to see how realistic you can make them feel. Fictional writing can be one of the most imaginative tools a poet or author in general can use.

Reflection

Today I finished putting together my final portfolio and my personal reflection. While completing my reflection I really started thinking about the amount of writing I did in this class and what I thought about poetry before taking this class. Ill be honest I really only knew a handful of poets before taking this class. I took the class off of a recommendation from a friend who said it was a lot of fun. So initially I really knew next to nothing about poetry. Now I know so much more and with that knowledge have gained an appreciation for poetry as a whole. I understand how poetry can affect you when you read it, and what goes into writing a really good poem. The main thing I learned about poetry this semester would have to be that when you read a really good poem, it is almost like sharing a thought with another person. And that is really something amazing I think and makes me really appreciate it.