Sex for the Soul
Poetry is sex for the soul.
Let's consider sex: you can Make Love, and feel such a stirring of emotion and love that it makes you want to cry; you can just Have Sex, and it's just comforting and fun, and you can laugh and giggle while you are at it; you can Be Kinky and Wild, and experience things you have never experienced before, things that you secretly love but are ashamed to talk about; you can just Fuck - it's rough, it's fast, and it's purely in the moment; lastly, you can have the Worst Sex Ever - that's that drunken one night stand you just wish you could forget.
Now, let's draw parallels to poetry.
Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Tennyson, Alice Hoffman - they Make Love to your soul. Sometimes you cry, sometimes you are beaming with happiness, sometimes you are doing both at the same time, but you FEEL their words. You are in love with them.
e.e cummings (though, sometimes, arguably Making Love), Gelett Burgess, Roald Dahl - these are Sex. They make you laugh, there are no regrets for reading them, and you might even love them, but they don't stir your soul.
Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allen Poe, Dr. Seuss - they are the very definition of Kinky. They are weird, and normally fun; hard to keep up with, but enjoyable; sometimes just plain weird. Yet still, even here, you might still love them; at least a part of you.
The Beatles, I think, are a prime example of Fucking. They aren't deep, in their lyrics, but they make no attempt to be. They are enjoyable, but they don't mean much, and everyone gets them.
As for the Worst Sex Ever - a lot of modern day top 40 music falls into there. I'm a big believer that music is just poetry to a melody - lyrics can be poetry. Something like the Pussy Cat Dolls - there is no love, and there is a whole lot of shame the next morning.
Let's consider sex: you can Make Love, and feel such a stirring of emotion and love that it makes you want to cry; you can just Have Sex, and it's just comforting and fun, and you can laugh and giggle while you are at it; you can Be Kinky and Wild, and experience things you have never experienced before, things that you secretly love but are ashamed to talk about; you can just Fuck - it's rough, it's fast, and it's purely in the moment; lastly, you can have the Worst Sex Ever - that's that drunken one night stand you just wish you could forget.
Now, let's draw parallels to poetry.
Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Tennyson, Alice Hoffman - they Make Love to your soul. Sometimes you cry, sometimes you are beaming with happiness, sometimes you are doing both at the same time, but you FEEL their words. You are in love with them.
e.e cummings (though, sometimes, arguably Making Love), Gelett Burgess, Roald Dahl - these are Sex. They make you laugh, there are no regrets for reading them, and you might even love them, but they don't stir your soul.
Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allen Poe, Dr. Seuss - they are the very definition of Kinky. They are weird, and normally fun; hard to keep up with, but enjoyable; sometimes just plain weird. Yet still, even here, you might still love them; at least a part of you.
The Beatles, I think, are a prime example of Fucking. They aren't deep, in their lyrics, but they make no attempt to be. They are enjoyable, but they don't mean much, and everyone gets them.
As for the Worst Sex Ever - a lot of modern day top 40 music falls into there. I'm a big believer that music is just poetry to a melody - lyrics can be poetry. Something like the Pussy Cat Dolls - there is no love, and there is a whole lot of shame the next morning.