thought some of you might appreciate this

i'm taking a poetry class this semester, and i just opened the book, and right away i found this intro, second paragraph in the book:

"The consequences of not having a language adequate to one's experience are severe, even though most readers will not realize this until late in life, when the importance of having such a language becomes apparent. People often, without being quite aware of it, go to psychiatrists and therapists because the language that they hear in their head, the soft voice that speaks to them when they are falling asleep, does not accurately or usefully reflect their experience. Popular magazines and the broadcasting media are full of language, but this language is quite often false: cliche-ridden, silly, unreal. It's quite easy to fall into a false sense of the world, a false view of oneself. Poetry brings us back to experience in lively, exhilarating, harsh and beautiful ways. It refreshes our sense of the spoken and written word. It brings us closer to ourselves and our communities. It reinvigorates our faith in ourself, in the greater powers of the universe, in the possibilities for humankind. Without poetry, we become very poor indeed, detached from those around us, separated from our truest selves. Poetry is, in the finest sense of that word, a cure for detachment, a way beyond the illness that seems to afflict the world at large, a relief from the buzzing, unreal, flashy, foolish noise of contemporary life."

Now how's THAT for an intro??

 

Well that was lovely, thank you kindly for sharing with us all.

I'm looking forward to reading your next poem now... no pressure,
just make sure to put it in the language of your secret heart

 

hehe, no problem... can you relate to what the author said? i've always struggled with reading poetry, so i'm a little nervous about this class..

 

Yes, I can. You will do fine, just by-pass convention and format and tap into your passion and changing experiences. Language is a circulation of love.

 

language is a primal part of us that gets lost in traslation so if it doesn't reflect the seas of feeling within then it may be just noise in an already noisy world.
i used to be a literature student myself and got more than my fair share of protest, but face up to the music and let go of all holds poetry reveals what prose prose discovers.