On reading poetry
False
Student BMJ
On reading poetry
Meet and chat with medical students from around the world
On Friday I went on leave; an olive press squeezed dry of its oozing oil.
It is in poetry that I pour in bins of fruit fresh-picked.
It is my well of deep water drawn expectant with my long buc
0
Cat:7417b102-ba73-4133-a3c0-2c114097a6b6Forum:f8ab0029-2d33-4cd0-8b40-0a70916c088e
Cat:7417b102-ba73-4133-a3c0-2c114097a6b6Forum:f8ab0029-2d33-4cd0-8b40-0a70916c088eDiscussion:e017a24b-91af-4ac4-8ba9-4229b439051b
Forums » Medical Education & CPD » Student BMJ » On reading poetry
|
On reading poetry
posted at 23/12/2012 8:33 AM GMT
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 3005
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 19/6/2013 |
On Friday I went on leave; an olive press squeezed dry of its oozing oil. It is in poetry that I pour in bins of fruit fresh-picked. It is my well of deep water drawn expectant with my long bucket. It is my kitchen pantry of yeasts and spices. It is leaves on a tree seen by a myopic man with his first glasses. And as the house sleeps and my wife stirs in sleep I read; a bedroll of words to bear me on my long night's slumber. |
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 23/12/2012 12:16 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 1336
First: 13/4/2010 Last: 16/6/2013 |
Thanks for this Odysseus - I don't write poetry apart from the occasional hiku and the kind of poems that a15 year old could compose. |
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 23/12/2012 12:28 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 3005
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 19/6/2013 |
I have written poetry but connect with those who present to me innovative quantum leaps of consciousness . I have no connection with pomposity or pedantry under the guise of poetry. I currently find such wealth in W.C. Merwin in his book called Migration. Each to his own as each is on his own odyssey which changes with time and the next bend in the river. Odysseus |
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 23/12/2012 2:11 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 2135
First: 12/3/2010 Last: 18/6/2013 |
There is an excellent programme on BBC Radio 4, "Poetry Please". Presented by the poet Roger McGough, it includes his selections and listeners' requests, old, new and original. The only downside is that Roger often invites poets to read their own work. Poets seem to think that the words are all, and that a reading in a flat monotone is the right way to deliver it. What a difference when an actor does the reading! EG, here is Robert Frost himself, reafing "The road not taken" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie2Mspukx14 And read by Alan Bates: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hDljXa2s-I If you can, Listen Again at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/programmes/a-z/by/poetry%20please/current John |
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 24/12/2012 11:47 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 3005
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 19/6/2013 |
Thanks, John. There is a programme on ABC Radio called Poetica which is worth listening to. Poetry speaks to me differently at different times and needs. I find the rambling classical poems of the past few centuries poets passé and dated albeit it pleasant. If one wrote such now one would not get published. Paradise Lost would have been lost forever on an editors floor and Endymion would have been but a horse in the last race of the Stradbroke Handicap rather than "a thing of beauty is a joy forever." Poetry is to me intellectual short hand. It must evoke some new neural network in my brain to really connect. So much is dross and craftless and life too short... The most stunning poetry to me is like a tapestry where you do not see the knots behind. It seems uncrafted and this is the paradox. It is to me like a sculptor with words where the essence is revealed like a figure breaking out of stone. The broken rules of grammar and the sentence construction along with the distillation of words without the extraneous makes for me an exciting path with a new vista at every turn. I first felt this as a student when I read Gerard Manley Hopkins', Pied Beauty. I find this now with Merwin. Poetry is to me an astrolabe with which to navigate my own heavens. It gives me wings, perhaps with wax, to fly above the bleached marble quarry of medicine. Odysseus P.S. I am currently reading the bilingual (Spanish-English) Collected Poems by Frederico Garcia Lorca, arguably one of the poetic colossi of the 20th century. Even if you know little Spanish this edition by Chrisopher Maurer reveals to the anglophone the original form; diamonds uncut by English. Poetry for me must be read aloud as music must be played and not read. I think Merwin who published in Spanish must have been influenced by Lorca. I came across Lorca on day in my hospital in a brief exchange of greetings in Greek with a doctor of Greek heritage. He told me of Lorca.The rest is history. Keep your heart open to new things and you will find great treasures.
|
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 25/12/2012 9:40 AM GMT
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 619
First: 6/9/2012 Last: 18/6/2013 |
In Response to Re: On reading poetry: I am currently reading the bilingual (Spanish-English) Collected Poems by Frederico Garcia Lorca, arguably one of the poetic colossi of the 20th century. Even if you know little Spanish this edition by Chrisopher Maurer reveals to the anglophone the original form; diamonds uncut by English. Poetry for me must be read aloud as music must be played and not read. I think Merwin who published in Spanish must have been influenced by Lorca. I came across Lorca on day in my hospital in a brief exchange of greetings in Greek with a doctor of Greek heritage. He told me of Lorca. he rest is history. Keep your heart open to new things and you will find great treasures. Posted by Odysseus[/QUOTE] Spanish poetry is closer to music than English or German can ever be. With Lorca, you feel the heat of the sun, smell the hot coutryside and hear the crickets. It is just wonderful. However, talking of Lorca usually also means talking of his tragic death. You might also give JR Jiménez a try. Tú, lo grande, anda, descansa en honor de lo pequeno; que su mundo está en su hora y tu hora es el universo. Best wishes ! C. |
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 25/12/2012 9:25 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 3005
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 19/6/2013 |
In Response to Re: On reading poetry: In Response to Re: On reading poetry : I am currently reading the bilingual (Spanish-English) Collected Poems by Frederico Garcia Lorca, arguably one of the poetic colossi of the 20th century. Even if you know little Spanish this edition by Chrisopher Maurer reveals to the anglophone the original form; diamonds uncut by English. Poetry for me must be read aloud as music must be played and not read. I think Merwin who published in Spanish must have been influenced by Lorca. I came across Lorca on day in my hospital in a brief exchange of greetings in Greek with a doctor of Greek heritage. He told me of Lorca. he rest is history. Keep your heart open to new things and you will find great treasures. Posted by Odysseus Spanish poetry is closer to music than English or German can ever be. With Lorca, you feel the heat of the sun, smell the hot coutryside and hear the crickets. It is just wonderful. However, talking of Lorca usually also means talking of his tragic death. You might also give JR Jiménez a try. Tú, lo grande, anda, descansa en honor de lo pequeno; que su mundo está en su hora y tu hora es el universo. Best wishes ! C.Posted by Carolin Thanks, Carolin. You have led me to a new well. I have ordered some works of Jimenez whom I see suffered from depression. The sun is most dazzling as you exit a cave. Odysseus
|
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 26/12/2012 9:49 AM GMT
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 3005
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 19/6/2013 |
I asssume few read poetry. This afternoon I read selected pieces of a book called The Best Poems of the English Language Edited by Harold Bloom, HarperCollins, 2004 which does not include anyone born in the 20th century let alone any US, Canadian, Australian, NZ, Indian etc anglophonic would be poets. This work spans from Chaucer whom I quite like to Hart Crane. What strikes me is how poetry dates like literary classics which most of us have to read as part of our education but how few of the general populace really do read (I may be wrong here). I am bored by the sheer tedium of many past brilliant poets. Neoclassical epics, rewrites of Homer eg Pope, religious clap-trap under the guise of brilliance etc etc, It is no wonder people in general are put of by this genre. However, when you find someone who brings some novel observation about life it can be wonderful. I am tired of reading about the transience of life, the effect of aging, the imponderables about whether God or the Devil rules the cosmos or for that matter Richard Dawkins.... just something new and like thoughts of elfiin dust to add zest to this experience we call life. I found this in Merwin's poem called Foghorn and such a base topic with such a captivating allusion. I will never think of foghorns again in the same way. And this is the magic of poetry.
|
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 26/12/2012 12:06 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
Posts: 1828
First: 7/3/2009 Last: 18/6/2013 |
A poem by Yehuda Amihai(translated from Hebrew) God has pity on kindergarten children.
He has less pity on school children And on grownups he has no pity at all, he leaves them alone, and sometimes they must crawl on all fours in the burning sand to reach the first-aid station covered with blood. But perhaps he will watch over true lovers and have mercy on them and shelter them like a tree over the old man sleeping on a public beach. Perhaps we too will give them the last rare coins of compassion that Mother handed down to us, so that their happiness will protect us now and in other days. |
|
|
Re: On reading poetry
posted at 26/12/2012 11:13 PM GMT
on bmj.com
|
|
Posts: 3005
First: 10/3/2009 Last: 19/6/2013 |
In Response to Re: On reading poetry: A poem by Yehuda Amihai(translated from Hebrew) God has pity on kindergarten children. He has less pity on school children And on grownups he has no pity at all, he leaves them alone, and sometimes they must crawl on all fours in the burning sand to reach the first-aid station covered with blood. But perhaps he will watch over true lovers and have mercy on them and shelter them like a tree over the old man sleeping on a public beach. Perhaps we too will give them the last rare coins of compassion that Mother handed down to us, so that their happiness will protect us now and in other days. Posted by yoram chaiter But you have served us a dish and you have not told the hosts whether you find this dish to you liking or whether you can recommend more such by the same chef, Yoram as it is this which I find most interesting. Poets still tend to cater for the taste of the audience and the status quo in Poetland. It is a rare poet who ventures into uncharted waters. Imagine Tennyson or Wordsworth saying something to upset the well to do who read their verse under the spreading chestnut trees or by the willows with men in punts with their boaters or by sedges where once walked La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Poetry was once like opium for the middle and upper classes. It gave them a warm inner glow while Dr Johnson praised Pope as the new Homer. That has changed and for the better, I think although there is a pervasive conformity now. Dare anyone who writes conventional poetry. |
Forums » Medical Education & CPD » Student BMJ » On reading poetry
