The place of poetry in Western culture is a tricky thing. Here in the States we are probably more hostile towards the genre(s) than anywhere else. Poetry is for sissies (or at least girls), poetry is boring or too hard to understand--these are so often the assumptions i come across when i mention poetry to non-writers (ok let's face it, also when talking with some strictly-prose writers too).
i think this is a bunch of regurgitated bullshit. Most people who say these sorts of things haven't read more than a few Shakespeare sonnets and some Robert*vomit*Frost...i'm sorry to all the Frost fans, it's not that he was without skill and importance, i just can't get on board...
i found this video on sexartandpolitics' tumblr.
football + poetry video
The moral of the story: real men read poetry. What dude isn't going to score by busting out with some Rilke or Rumi? C'mon...
And for your reading pleasure i offer you this small list of links to poems i dig.
The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator--Anne Sexton
Letter To the Woman Who Stopped Writing Me Back--Jeffrey McDaniel
The Quiet World--Jeffrey McDaniel
Book of the Things I Put Down My Bra--Elena Georgiou
After Rothko--Michelle Naka Pierce
A motley band of poetry missionaries...that's my next plan.
Friday, June 05, 2009
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