Ready to Read!

I started this year with the completion of reading Beowulf. Then I went straight into the Hobbit. I had never read the Hobbit, although I had read The Lord of The Rings. The Hobbit was such a joy to read, that you really can’t put the deep tension and anxiety of reading TLOTR. I literally had fun reading the Hobbit. Wow, what a great read. I like Bilbo better than Frodo; although Bilbo didn’t face what Frodo faced. But Smaug was no little thing to contend with either. Anyway, I highly recommend the Hobbit to anyone.

By reading these two books back to back, it is easy to see where the movie “The Thirteenth Warrior” came from. It is an amalgam of these two books, no question. I, as a writer, was completely inspired; which leads me to this next coming month. I am going to read nothing but poetry (maybe a little magazine action, Writers Digest, Poet & Writers, etc.). I am going to read and absorb. I am going to let myself be a sponge.

Poe, Keats, Yeats, Longfellow, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Thomas Hardy, Vachel Lindsay, Frost, William Carlos Williams, Robert Browning, E.B. Browning, Dickenson, plus various contemporary poets from West Virginia and Kentucky are all I am going to be reading. I would like to read some more contemporary poets, and my subscription to The American Poetry Review, The Three Penny Review, and Pegasus will help in those areas.

As of this post, I am tired of Rhyme. Some poets are quiet good at it, but I have been reading some local stuff and it seems that by making things rhyme, it’s a poem; which makes them a poet. Yikes, that is so not true. There is a minor form of poet called Rhymster. This is what is going on in this local area more so. But the point that anybody would like to express themselves through the written word is fabulous, and I support it completely. I just don’t want to read any anymore. I yearn to be surprised and highly impacted by a poet. To me, this is a rare occurrence. I have a book about the early writings of William Carlos Williams and HE has surprised me. I haven’t read much of his later in life poetry, but these writings of his young self are inspirational.

I have a tendency of wanting to know a poets biography before reading their poetry. Sometimes that brings quiet a bit of perspective to the poem, which makes it easier to understand. Truthfully, much of what I read I just don’t get. Someday I would like to take a poetry class on reading poetry. I did take Poetry 102 in college, but that was years ago, during my drunk chapter of my life. If you haven’t yet, go to the Pen Master link here on this site and check out my last report on a Persian Poet named Forough Farokhzad. Fascinating Person. If you are reading this on The Pen Master, then ignore what I just wrote.

Regardless, it’s poetry reading month in February. Also, my bestest buddy made the decision to draw an hour everyday, no matter what. I am also going to support him by doing the same. I used to draw and paint quiet often in my past, and have let that slip quiet a bit. I want to bring that skill back. In my heyday, I was somewhat of a decent illustrator, and I would like to not only get that back, but to improve on my abilities. So, in that spirit, I am going to end this blog, and sit down with a sketch book and go to town.

A New Poem and Small Article Review

I have completely recovered from having that creative block. Since the last time I posted, I have been laid up in bed from an extremely painful hip socket issue. It turns out that I have a ruptured disc in my lower spine, and that is what is causing my pain. Anyway, while in bed, I have been writing like a mad man. In fact, this month alone I have written 15 new poems that I am happy with. It has been great!

I have a subscription to American Poetry Review, and this most recent issue has an article about a Persian female poet that was pretty hot stuff in her day. Her name was Forough Farokhzad, and she was a liberal feminist in Iran during the sixties. At that time, Iran had a secular government, but was still somewhat conservative. The article is written, and the poems are translated by Meetra A. Sofia.

Forough lead a fascinating, and somewhat tragically short life. At the age of 32, she was cut down by a taxi cab in Tehran, right out of the movie studio in which she worked. She sold over a million copies of her poetry, which was a tremendous accomplishment in a male oriented culture. By this time she has become an Icon in Persian culture.

I think of what is going on now in Iran, and what would Forough have thought with this new president. Well, her poetry speaks for itself. It is fascinating. I won’t post any here because I have great respect for copyrighting. But you could see some if you go here - http://www.aprweb.org/issues/current/farokhzad.html. Her poetry really rings a bell with me. Some of it makes me uncomfortable, but really, I think that would be a response that any poet would like to have. It is solid to know that your poetry has an affect on its readers.

Here is a new poem:





Rage Against the Machine

Rage comes to me, back
Against the wall. 30,000 plus died so
The big wig can support the
Machine and its mission

The Man must make the
Machine happy and alive, it
Is hungry for satisfaction in
War and its evils and crimes

War births cannibalism of the soul, which
Is death for the spirit and
Our potential to love and leave a
Legacy of life over death

Our ancestors and our children leave their
Legacy and see ours. To look at the past
Is to look to the future. We must avoid
Destruction and take it upon ourselves for Peace