"Advice From the Experts"
I lay down in the empty street and parked
My feet against the gutter's curb while from
The building above a bunch of gawkers perched
Along its ledges urged me don't, don't jump.
--Bill Knott
I don't write a lot of poetry. Mainly because I'm not very good at it. And yet, I can't stop writing it.
Poetry is unappreciated in today's world. Not under. Un. Unappreciated to the point of obsolescence. That much is obvious. I get it. I do. But it's a shame, really. Poets used to be highly regarded citizens. The word of a poet could change the world. But that's all disappeared. Writers, in general, have loss their influence. Books, too. No one seems to want to learn anything anymore, not since we've been able to open up a Search engine and find what we're looking for within a few seconds. That's not knowledge. That's laziness. Here's the things: thanks to the Internet, there's so much information out there, more than we've ever had access to before. It's too bad all we use it for is porn and pictures of cats. The cats! The cats!
I'm not any better than anyone else when it comes to laziness (for example, abusing the Internet for a laugh when I really should be writing). But, dang it, there's so much potential at our fingertips.
With our increasingly short attention spans and our need for a quick fix (thanks, again, to the Internet), poetry as an art form should shine on the Internet. Got ten minutes? Pull up a poem. It's that simple. It's that complicated.
There are poetry phone apps out there. And that's good. But the only people who most likely know about them already read poetry to begin with.
Poetry, like comic books (whoa, where'd that come from?), needs better marketing. (Now that is a phrase I never thought I would say. But there it is.)
In the future, we will all wear sterile silver clothing. No, wait, that's not what I meant.
In the future, I plan to highlight some of my favorite modern(ish) poets who I feel are worth anyone's time and effort to read. And by modern I mean contemporary poets not modernist poets (although a few will more than likely creep in).
Like Bill Knott, for instance.
Poetry seems to be synonymous with "pretentious," with "boring." If people think about it at all. But it doesn't have to be boring. People seem to forget poetry can be funny. Granted, some might disagree with me there, having their own opinion of what "real" or "true" poetry is, but it's true. Poetry can by funny. And fun. Like a trip Cedar Point. Or the Moon. Fun!
And that's what I hope these future blog post will be. Fun.
Remember: a poem a day keeps Alzheimer's at bay.
