I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
Psalm 49:4, The Bible
It's that time of the year again. April is National Poetry Writing Month (or NaPoWriMo) in America. The simple goal of the challenge is to write 30 poems in 30 days, kinda like a 30-day exercise challenge.
In this blog post, I would like to discuss my history with poetry and how I intend to partake in NaPoWriMo.
Isn't poetry dead?
No! Poetry might be buried, but it's definitely not dead. Ironic, I know. But it's true.
Poetry is really everywhere. Most songs we listen to, from hip-hop to country to pop, still adhere to the rules of poetry. They use rhyme, rhythm, metaphor, and many other poetic devices. This pretty much makes it poetry.
Sadly, in academia, a lot of the poems have been stripped of those devices leaving them lifeless, like a bowl of veggies with no dressing. They believe that poetry can exist without any of the poetic spices the audiences have grown to love. I strongly disagree with this take.
This is why I don't like a lot of modern poetry. I do believe there is a balance that can be struck. I see this balance all the time when I listen to battle rap poetry on YouTube for instance; they tell stories and make points all without leaving the tasty goods out.
If you are like me, fortunately there is hope. Classical poetry still exist in many circles. You can help keep the art alive by writing your own poems too. It really doesn't take a lot of effort, just more of getting used to.
Let's resurrect poetry together!
Poetry and I go way back...
The first poem I heard that got me real interested in poetry was a poem by Thad Langenberg called A Birthday Gift. I was uncertain what was so captivating about it. Here's the poem:
A Birthday Gift
She lived a life of solitude. She lived a life in vain. She lived a life in which there was A strong, ongoing pain. She had no friends on which to lean And cry her problems to. She had no friends to give her love And hope and kindness, too. She thought about it day and night; She lay upon her bed. Her mind made up, she grabbed a gun And put it to her head. Just then a ring came from the phone. She pulled the gun away. Her mom was on the other end And wanted just to say. "Happy Birthday, my dear girl. Today is just for you. I care for you with all my heart, I hope you know that's true." These words ran through her mind so much. The gun was down for good. She changed her mind about her life And then she changed her mood. She thought about this special day And what her mom had said. The gift her mm gave her that day Was the gift of life, again.
A real charmer, huh? I read this poem when I was about 10 years old. I wouldn't be reintroduced to poetry until 2021, when I was reading the Bible. It was interesting to me that over a third of the Bible was written in poetry. Reading the Psalms got me interested again. What can I say, David has a way with words!
From that point, I started doing a lot of research on poetry. I read poems from various poets, some of which have become my favorites like Emily Dickinson, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, William Shakespeare and Alison Chisolm. I also discovered poetry had been done dirty the same way the gospel had. People have redefined what poetry is, leaving it to have no meaning, just like they did the gospel.
Now, I don't say any of this to gatekeep; I'm not the one to say what is poetry and what is not. But to say that a poem with rhyme sounds the same as a poem without would be disingenous at best and delusional at worst. I'm not saying rhyme is necessary because it's not. What I am saying is that all formal poetry in English uses rhyme except blank verse and free verse 😐. I think that decision by English poets was intentional.
So, to reiterate, poetry is not dead, and it won't stop breathing till the world ends.
It's time to celebrate
This April, I intend to celebrate poetry by joining the challenge; I will be writing a poem everyday. Here are some arbitrary rules to govern my goal:
- The poems don't have to be formal.
- The poems can be of any length.
- It's a one-time challenge (i.e. I don't have to commit to doing the challenge yearly).
I guess you could say these are more of exceptions than rules lol.
I would also be posting some of my favorite poems from other poets along with mine.
Bottom line
Poetry should be celebrated; it is responsible for innovation in language. English wouldn't be where it is today without it (from Shakespeare to Dickinson to Eminem).
In summary, poetry is dead, long live poetry 👑!