THE POETRY PAGE

THE POETRY PAGE August 10, 2010 -- Poetry has always been a love of mine, and I have spent a good part of my life reading and writing it. My admiration for poetry began in grade school, when I was first given a description of what it was exactly. I had read poetry before then, of course, but had never recognized it as a “special” kind of writing until one of my teachers caused me to “see the light”, as it was. I didn’t recognize it right at that moment of course, but the revelation of poetry she gave me was to stand by me in all my years to come, as it still does now. The sad part is, I can’t even remember her name anymore, although I can still see the pink-tinged, cherubic, image of her face framed by her raven hair. Nonetheless, names don’t matter anyhow; she gave me an invaluable gift that added to the richness of my life. For that, I thank her; her gift to me cannot be replaced.

With that in mind, I would like to share with you some of the poetry and some of the poets I have known, in the hope that those things might make a difference in your life as well. This is no small task, however, and given space constraints, I will have to spoon-feed you this information a little at a time. I will start with this article, then, and give you my solemn promise to write more about it on a regular basis.

Tonight, let me share with you a poem written by one of my favorite authors. This poem follows none of the classical forms, nor is it intended to; rather, it is a pulsating, metaphorical image feast that somehow still manages to tell a story of love and longing. It was written just recently, and the poet’s pen name is ennovy.

She saw trees bending to engage

natures rumble, roars...

Darkened skies crying; as thunder

voiced panic in high fidelity.

Fire cutting weird angles of beauty;

lighting up our fatherland.

Be not fatuous to this enigma

so grand, resplendent.

Watch with thy heart; embrace

with thy soul... ‘tis love.

© T.Y. Maxwell 2010

There, you have it, and if that’s not beautiful, then I must be mistaken about the definition of the word beauty. For those of you who don’t know, this was written in what is known today as free verse. Free verse is a kind of freewheeling style of poetry that doesn’t have to rhyme or fit any forms; if you look for it, you can find many examples of this style of poetry writing in this age. I am a fan of rhyming poetry, and particularly some form poetry; but I thoroughly enjoy reading a well-done free verse poem, and this one is certainly excellent. Ms. ennovy is an expert at this genre, and several others as well. By the way, her poem is included here with her express permission, of course.

I’ll see you the next time we visit the poetry page, with more poets and more poems. Thank you for dropping by.