This week: Ring That Bell! (or not!) Edited by: Fyn  
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Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.~~Leonardo da Vinci
To be nobody but
yourself in a world
which is doing its best day and night to make you like
everybody else means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.~~E.E. Cummings
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things. ~~Mary Oliver
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I was reading an article about a recent 'important' poet who read an 'important' poem. The 'who' doesn't really matter. What does, is the word 'important' and my consequent wondering why or what defines an 'important' poem? The poem referenced was semi-rhyming, long, and concerned with a politically correct list of the 'what should be-s' and 'what could be-s' to make our world 'a better place.'
There was nothing new or fresh in the presentation. Nothing we all haven't heard before. So it makes me wonder what, exactly, makes it so important. Granted, it is a poem that translates well to spoken voice. Some do so better than others. Perhaps it was the poet speaking the words? I'm not sure. It was a perfectly fine poem, with its audience and timing well chosen. But important?
Merriam-Webster defines 'important' as: "marked by or indicative of significant worth or consequence: valuable in content or relationship." Okay, the significant worth might be true, but no more so than things I come across here on WDC every single day. Is the word itself perhaps becoming overused to the point that it is losing impact or meaning?
Connotations, denotations ... perhaps it is all in how each person/reader interprets it. How the poem resonates with a reader or even how it may connect (or speak) directly to said reader. But if that were the case, then wouldn't any poem that hits the mark with a reader then be considered 'important?' Is it considered 'important' because it was given the opportunity to be 'heard' by a large number of people?
What does this then mean for the plethora of poets scribing away? If a poem is read and it has a profound effect on that person, for example, perhaps it lets them get through another day or perhaps it turns them around and saves a life, or, perhaps, it simply makes them smile. Then that poem would, in my opinion, be deemed important.
But then, does that imply that a perfectly well-written poem that is sparked from a glorious view, an industrious spider, or a declaration of some sort is not important? Are those who pronounce something 'important' then negating other poetry that might not turn the world on its ear? Worse, is it sending a message to all up-and-coming poets that unless they are at the top of their field, in the right place at the right time, or have power behind them that they might as well give up? That, I think, is not a message to send out to the world at large.
I LOVE writing.com. I have read stellar poetry in here that has had a tremendous impact on me. I have read works that took extreme amounts of courage to write under a vast array of circumstances. I am the richer for it. As, I expect, a lot of people are or feel.
Someone may not be published in the conventional sense. Their writings may simply give them pleasure in the expression. We develop fans who enjoy our work. We read, experience, and remember. We applaud, condemn, argue, and celebrate with our work. And, it is my humble opinion that the vast majority of work produced here on WDC is every bit as important in the grand scheme of things!
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Jost some 'Important' poetry!
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#2254689 by Not Available. |
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My senior show for my BA had a lot of charcoal artworks, and I wanted to include poetry.
#2171221 by CMBaker  |
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👼intuey  writes: Great NL, Fyn. I also love collecting rocks and minerals. My favorite is a big blue celestite egg and smoky quartz. Looking at them always reminds me of that certain time period or experience in my life at the time of collection.  I think one needs to be a rock collector to truly understand the spiritual connection with collecting the beauty of mother nature. Thanks so much for sharing.
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Poetry: August 02, 2023 Issue [#12098]
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