I'm a bit of a hypocrite when it comes to poetry. I write it, I perform my own, I've been paid relatively large amounts for individual poems written on request -- and I hate reading other people's.
It's terrible. But I think the secret is in the "I perform my own", I prefer my poetry to be read aloud, I think it works best that way. And I am perfectly happy listening to poetry.
I may have mentioned that I love Joni Mitchell's songs, and one reason is that they are pure poetry, you can read them out loud without the music and they work.
How about this from "Old Furry Sings the Blues":
Pawn shops glitter like gold-tooth caps in the grey decay,
They chew the last few dollars off old Biele Street's carcass.
The images that invokes for me ... perhaps you too. Or from "Harry's House":
He takes a taxi into town
Yellow schools of taxi fishes
Jonah in a ticking whale
Caught up at the light in the fishnet windows
Of Bloomingdales
Watching those high fashion girls
Skinny black models with raven curls
Beauty parlor blondes with credit card eyes
Looking for the chic and the fancy
To buy.
Or from "My Old Man":
But when he's gone
The bed's too big
The frying pan too wide
Can you feel the rhythm of the words just reading it? I don't know, I've lived with these songs for decades and I never tire of them.
Just wanted to tell you.
By the way, want one of my poems? Possibly the shortest poem ever written. Four words including the title, with double meanings and a pointed message?
Contracted
Desire
Deal
Disease
Have a nice time.
What's on the turntable? "California" by Joni Mitchell (of course) from "Blue"
3 comments:
Like it. I used to write and read poetry, but no one paid me squat. So, I switched to the lucrative screenwriting arena. Ahem.
Not paid much recently, I admit. But I went to shows, wrote poetry to order and then said "Pay me what you think it's worth" and on a person to person basis, what could they do?
Definitely something that's not going to work in the commercial world. But it ought to.
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