Desperately Seeking Poetry
As I think I've mentioned earlier, before leaving for Japan I want to complete a poetry project. You see, when I look over any given poetry collection, I might like, at best, maybe 1/5 of the poems. That isn't a high enough portion for me to go gaga over. So, I'm making my own poetry publication. Over the course of my life (but primarily during the college years), I've kept track of impressive poems. The ones which have truly touched me, made me giggle, inspired a gasp of "aha! I finally get it!", granted me time to savor scrumptious irony, or simply left me in awe of our wonderous English tongue; they're all safely kept in what is becoming a better and better organized series.
I'm going to be printing off this collection and getting it bound, so I'll have a booklet full of poems which I absolutely know that I love while I'm in Japan. Besides being something pleasant to keep with me always, this should also help me keep my sanity when I am surrounded by people who understand largely broken English. Writing which has a flow to it, in my native speech, is something I plan to keep right by my bedside for the next year. I'll need it.
What I want from you, dear friends, any and all of you, even from any lurkers out there, are examples of *your* favorite poems. The subject matter, matters not. It just needs to have some special quality that, for you, makes it worth knowing, remembering, and sharing. If you have a favorite poet that you think I should look through, that'd be helpful info as well.
Ahem, wait. Let me rephrase this with the appropriate passion.
Please, please, contribute to my pleasure and sanity (not to mention, nostalgia). Give me you're favorite poetry! ... Please? ... Pretty please? ... Now I *know* you're not going to force me to add ice cream with a cherry on top, now are you? *Bats eyelashs.* Yummy new poetry = gimmie-gimmie-gimmie!
If you're curious about the kind of stuff I've collected so far, look through here and here. (Have I posted these links before? I forget.) There are tons more that I've been meaning to add, though, so its not what I'd consider a fully updated list at all.
What I have now includes these favorite poets (easily expandable):
Amichai, Yehuda
Bishop, Elizabeth
Catullus
Clifton, Lucille
Cope, Wendy
Crane, Steven
Creeley, Robert
cummings, e. e.
Dickinson, Emily
Donne, John
Frost, Robert
Jeffers, Robinson
Hein, Piet
Hughes, Langston
Millay, Edna St. Vincent
Moore, Marianne
Nash, Ogden
Parker, Dorothy
Philips, Katherine
Plath, Sylvia
Rich, Adrienne
Sexton, Anne
Shakespeare, William
Stafford, William
Whitman, Walt
... and these categories (which includes many other poets, most of whom only wrote one or two poems that I like. And yes, the categories can be easily expanded as well):
Aging
Ah, Intoxication
Angst & Bitterness
Atmosphere Poems
Fun Stuff
Language & Writing
Life vs. Death
Love Stuff
Math & Computers
Parents
Parodies & Replies
The Self/Being Human
The World/Society
Twistedly Humorous Stuff
Violence
War Poetry
and, by necessity, Defies Categorization Stuff
I'm going to be printing off this collection and getting it bound, so I'll have a booklet full of poems which I absolutely know that I love while I'm in Japan. Besides being something pleasant to keep with me always, this should also help me keep my sanity when I am surrounded by people who understand largely broken English. Writing which has a flow to it, in my native speech, is something I plan to keep right by my bedside for the next year. I'll need it.
What I want from you, dear friends, any and all of you, even from any lurkers out there, are examples of *your* favorite poems. The subject matter, matters not. It just needs to have some special quality that, for you, makes it worth knowing, remembering, and sharing. If you have a favorite poet that you think I should look through, that'd be helpful info as well.
Ahem, wait. Let me rephrase this with the appropriate passion.
Please, please, contribute to my pleasure and sanity (not to mention, nostalgia). Give me you're favorite poetry! ... Please? ... Pretty please? ... Now I *know* you're not going to force me to add ice cream with a cherry on top, now are you? *Bats eyelashs.* Yummy new poetry = gimmie-gimmie-gimmie!
If you're curious about the kind of stuff I've collected so far, look through here and here. (Have I posted these links before? I forget.) There are tons more that I've been meaning to add, though, so its not what I'd consider a fully updated list at all.
What I have now includes these favorite poets (easily expandable):
Amichai, Yehuda
Bishop, Elizabeth
Catullus
Clifton, Lucille
Cope, Wendy
Crane, Steven
Creeley, Robert
cummings, e. e.
Dickinson, Emily
Donne, John
Frost, Robert
Jeffers, Robinson
Hein, Piet
Hughes, Langston
Millay, Edna St. Vincent
Moore, Marianne
Nash, Ogden
Parker, Dorothy
Philips, Katherine
Plath, Sylvia
Rich, Adrienne
Sexton, Anne
Shakespeare, William
Stafford, William
Whitman, Walt
... and these categories (which includes many other poets, most of whom only wrote one or two poems that I like. And yes, the categories can be easily expanded as well):
Aging
Ah, Intoxication
Angst & Bitterness
Atmosphere Poems
Fun Stuff
Language & Writing
Life vs. Death
Love Stuff
Math & Computers
Parents
Parodies & Replies
The Self/Being Human
The World/Society
Twistedly Humorous Stuff
Violence
War Poetry
and, by necessity, Defies Categorization Stuff