Hello Everyone, Thanks for the warm welcome on my introductory post. I Received alot of remarks regarding my love for Technology and not so much as regards my love for poetry. Forgive me as This is something i am quick to notice in the society at large. Why do people not enjoy poetry?
Asides from the scenes in romance books and movies where the main characters make a poetic declaration of love that leaves viewers swooning, poetry is one genre of art that isn't high in consumption in comparism to drama and prose. I say this from a personal point of view. Being a literature student in secondary school, we looked forward to reading novels like Amma Darko's Faceless and taking parts to play in dramas like She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith. But a completely opposite reaction is gotten in poetry classes. The classes lacked vim and it was obvious that we were just in the class to fulfill all righteousness.
It cannot be denied that a vast majority of people don't enjoy poetry. From popular opinions, the main reason is due to the fact that people don't always understand it. Back then in secondary school after we read the poem out loud, our teacher would ask us to explain it. This is usually followed by few minutes of silence and when we finally speak, we just make guesses. Poems don't consist of simple and straightforward lines like novels do. It makes use of complex sentences and vocabularies. As a result of this, it is also difficult to write. Whenever I take a shot at writing a piece of poetry, it often comes out like a short story instead, lacking the seamless flow and melody found in poems. Hence, it comes off as a piece of writing that should be consumed by certain people with a high level of IQ. I had a chat with a friend back then in school and he said in frustration that poetry should be cancelled as a form of art. I laughed and asked him why and he responded that poetry defeats the purpose of communication. "Communication is ensuring that the listener can comprehend the message I'm passing across, but I have no idea what this man (the poet) is talking about".
For the most part, I didn't like poems. But that changed one day in a literature class. We were asked to interpret a poem and everybody had different meanings to it. This is one thing I find so interesting about poems. A poem can tell a beautiful story, that is peculiar to just the poet and that same poem can pass multiple messages to different people. A single line can be interpreted in many ways and have different meanings.
Another reason why poetry is great is the fact that there's no rule that dictates the length of it. I've read poems with over 800 lines, some with 30 lines and others with just a single stanza consisting of just 5 lines. From a writer's perspective, this is great because it can be difficult sometimes to express your thoughts or tell stories in so many pages to form a novel. From a reader's perspective, instead of reading a romance novel with over 300 pages that takes the span of a week to finish, you could easily read a poem of 10 lines that can be finished in a couple of minutes. And guess what, the poem passes the same message as the novel.
It is important for me to mention my all-time favorite thing about poetry. Poems are written and read in a beautiful and delicate manner that would definitely arouse emotions in readers. Whether it is happiness, sadness, the feeling of love, anger; a poem is the best bet to create a deep connection between the readers and the story you're telling. Just like Robert Frost said, "Poetry is when emotions has found it's thoughts and thoughts has found words". I'd prefer my romantic partner to confess her love for me in a poetic way than the regular "I love you". There's something truly mesmerizing in the way a person can weave words together to form something deep and harmonious.
However, I don't expect everybody to enjoy poetry, that's not possible. What I wish is for more people to pay attention to it and give it a try instead of simply writing it off. Poetry isn't always intense. It can be amusing, interesting, and entertaining. As much as I love poetry, I'm not a good poet. But what better way to end this article than writing one for you, who knows maybe that might make you fall in love with poetry too. So enjoy my feeble shot at poetry.
"to love and to cherish
the feeling of a multitude butterflies erupting in my belly
hand holding, wet lips meeting, tongues tangled
easy like a Sunday morning
a whirlwind, an eternal flame, a wave of passion
here today, gone the next
and just like a tidal wave on a summer sea
my love becomes like a faucet."
- Micheal - Iammanythings