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The Pen Master ©

There is a fine balance between expression and control. Poetry in an excellent way to find that balance. Mastered meter and possibly rhyme, to avant-garde free verse is bent and willed as the poet's great message finds freedom on the page. My goal, to find this balance... Everything on this blog is copyright © by P. Allan Frederick and permission must be granted in order to copy or use any content!

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Location: Eastern Kentucky, United States

I am a passionate and compassionate Biblican who is also deeply into the arts. I can defend doctrines and bring people to God, but I also am a fine art painter and creator and have published poetry in several magazines including Pegasus, Envoi, and a hand full of times in the local paper. I also have a POD Poetry Book which can be bought on Amazon.com called "September Blue" by P. Allan Frederick.

Monday, January 30, 2006

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.

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