Over the past year and a half I have grown to really enjoy poetry. It is something that takes me to another place, just like art, music, literature, and photography. I like the way words sound together and how a lot can be said in so few words. It's easy to think that if you start reading poetry, you have to start out with the poets of old, but that is such a misconceived notion. I'm still not at the point where I can fully grasp the "big" stuff, but it is a goal of mine.
I'm sharing this with you because I'm getting ready to read The Discovery of Poetry: A Field Guide to Reading and Writing Poems by Frances Mayes, and I thought it might be interesting to share some of my thoughts as I read through this book.
Here is the link to the book for those of you who might have an inkling:
The Discovery of Poetry .
On that note, let me share with you a poem. I think the reason I like it so much is that it references "still life" and "painting" - two things I can totally relate to. That, and the desires of the heart.
Not Touching
The valentine of desire is pasted over my heart
and still we are not touching, like things
in a poorly done still life
where the knife appears to be floating over the plate
which is itself hovering above the table somehow,
the entire arrangement of apple, pear, and wineglass
have forgotten the law of gravity,
refusing to be still,
as if the painter had caught them all
in a rare moment of slow flight
just before they drifted out of the room
through a window of perfectly realistic sunlight.
Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate 2001-2003)
I love Billy Collins. Let me know what you think about the poetry book. I'm looking for something new to start reading.
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