I am reading an old Harper's Magazine from 1999. There's an article in it where five well-established American poets talk about poetry.
According to these poets, (Donald Hall, Cynthia Huntington, Paul Muldoon, Heather McHugh and Charles Simic) a poem is considered great if, once you are finished reading it, you want to go back and read it again.
A good poem should be disappointing, or deflect one's expectations, says Huntington.
"If a poem has no obvious destination, there's a chance that we'll all be setting off on an interesting ride," said Muldoon.
"I think one of poetry's functions is not to give us what we want," said McHugh.
To me then, poetry is like Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are so many unexpected plot twists in that show, and characters you least expect die.
The trick is to be able to think differently than your audience. Become a mind reader and anticipate their thoughts. It's tough.
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4 comments:
I think poetry is all about heart and emotions and pretty ponies.
If I ever publish a book of poetry there will be a unicorn on the cover.
Unicorns, it's funny you should mention that. Do you know writer Steven Galloway? He's one of the instructors out at Sage Hill. He is the ultimate unicorn lover. He's one of my friends on MySpace. You should check out his profile if you want a good laugh... although you won't be able to think of unicorns the same way ever again.
I was joking. I am a dragon. I eat unicorns.
So I've heard.
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