Thursday, November 13, 2008

Poem Compilations

So I've begun to notice something about my preferences in poetry. For some reason, I've grown a taste for these compilations of short poems that we've been assigned to read. But I wonder why I feel this way. I'm sure I'm not basing this preference on subject matter that the poem entails, or deeper meanings, or poetic crafts and techniques.

Looking at it, I'm mainly basing this preference on the style of the poem. And I've come to this conclusion: I am a fan of the short poems.

In today's reading (11/13), we had to read the "Loraine Niedecker Collected Works" of which contained numerous short (and at times very short) poems. And I found this particularly pleasing to read. So I've decided to investigate...

When we eat food, we take it it in chunks. We take bites, small or large, but typically manageable bites. We go on to chew this food, where it is further broken down by enzymes within the saliva in our mouths. So by the time we swallow the food, we've converted it into components that is easy to digest.

I think this is a perfect analogy to my preference in poetry. I like my poetry in small, manageable chunks, that I can easily digest. When confronted with an entire watermelon ("Jerboa") and slices of watermelon ("Montage of a Dream Deferred") I would easily prefer the latter. It may just be a matter of taste, but I like my poems (and food) in comprehensible parts.

I find it helpful to have a pause in the text, with a point to stop and reflect on what I have just read. When the author gives us a point at which to separate ideas, we too are able to differentiate between ideas and information that we are given. We, as readers, are able to better analyze the text, and thus have a better understanding and experience of the poem as a whole.

I like slices, not whole pies :)

1 comment:

Shrada B said...

I agree with you about small pieces instead of the whole pie. I also like reading short poems that have meanings behind it because as you said, its easier to digest what they are trying to say. I like short poems because it i s not intimidating when you look at it.
Short and sweet is what i like, and since we are reading short poems lately, I have liked the recent poems more than the ones that we read a month or two ago.