WomanWyrds

Your Turn

Amanda Earl "tagged" me with a poetry quiz this morning. I am sending it on to the poets I met at Glenairley.

Here are my responses:

The first poem I remember reading/hearing/reacting to was… probably a nursery rhyme, and later a 'classic' but the first time a poem really hit me was hearing Walt Whitman read aloud.

I was forced to memorize numerous poems in school and…well, no, I wasn't.

I read poetry because…it connects with some part of me that nothing else reaches.

A poem I’m likely to think about when asked about a favorite poem is…Song of Myself. No question. I have learned to read many, many poems since Whitman, but that was the first time I realized poetry was not a Hallmark card, and had real meaning.

I write poetry, but…I wonder if it's simply a therapy for me or if the words, when someone else reads them or hears them, have a meaning beyond the personal. I hope so.

My experience with reading poetry differs from my experience with reading other types of literature because…I hear it in my mind more clearly.

I find poetry…more compelling than most other forms of literature. I think it's form + emotion that does that...meaning in a small space.

The last time I heard poetry was…yesterday evening. Once a month, I attend a poetry evening at my cousin's home. He is an Ottawa poet and holds a group called "the Ottawa Creative Writers' Group" which is now about 12 years old. I have been attending for almost three of those years.

I think poetry is like …eating a beautiful gourmet meal. You don't feel sick and full afterwards but know that you have tasted something beautiful and that your heart, mind and soul have been fed all at the same time.

posted by Heather Cardin @ 8:12 AM