Who reads poetry???
Anthony Robinson has a good post today, in response to the fabulous interview-blog, Here Comes Everybody... Anthony asks, "Who reads poetry?" An interesting question.
It's interesting, because i've always assumed I was the only poet who read more fiction than poetry. At Iowa, it was the dirty secret I was trying to keep hidden. Like, I went home at night and ate novels voraciously , but then arranged slim poetry books on my coffee table.
Today's interviewee, Lisa Jarnot (whose blog I'd read more often if she'd leave Angelfire, becasue I hate the popups), says "I read a lot of poetry when I was learning to be a poet."
Huh!
I never thought about it like that, as though poetry is something you might read as a handbook, in the early stages of learning to write, and therefor something you return to when you feel ready to learn more...
Which makes it different from other reading.
I read poetry in much the way Lisa does (or at least describes). I read the poetry I already love. So I return to the poetry I loved in college, Salamun, Holub, Ritsos, Bishop, Wright. And with other stuff, I speed-read it.
Also, I read poetry when I'm blue, and when I've attended a really good reading, which kind of challenges me to read more. And I read online, magazines and blogs. And I read the poetry of people I know, first books by my friends.
But now I'm wondering how we can be bothered that nobody buys poetry, if we aren't reading it ourselves, the way we read fiction???
It's interesting, because i've always assumed I was the only poet who read more fiction than poetry. At Iowa, it was the dirty secret I was trying to keep hidden. Like, I went home at night and ate novels voraciously , but then arranged slim poetry books on my coffee table.
Today's interviewee, Lisa Jarnot (whose blog I'd read more often if she'd leave Angelfire, becasue I hate the popups), says "I read a lot of poetry when I was learning to be a poet."
Huh!
I never thought about it like that, as though poetry is something you might read as a handbook, in the early stages of learning to write, and therefor something you return to when you feel ready to learn more...
Which makes it different from other reading.
I read poetry in much the way Lisa does (or at least describes). I read the poetry I already love. So I return to the poetry I loved in college, Salamun, Holub, Ritsos, Bishop, Wright. And with other stuff, I speed-read it.
Also, I read poetry when I'm blue, and when I've attended a really good reading, which kind of challenges me to read more. And I read online, magazines and blogs. And I read the poetry of people I know, first books by my friends.
But now I'm wondering how we can be bothered that nobody buys poetry, if we aren't reading it ourselves, the way we read fiction???
1 Comments:
Laurel,
I'm the poet who rarely, if ever, reads fiction, & I'm secret about it as well, because it makes me less diverse.
I love poetry, I can't get enough, & I tend to gravitate toward non-fiction, if it's well-written, but fiction has always deterred me because of its length.
I like to think that poetry is a succinct fiction. My attention span is far too short for Joyce even, but I can read Pound in bits & pieces & glow ;).
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