Celebrating National Poetry Month

So far this year, I have read mostly poetry. I am wondering why I even read poems when I don’t understand most of them. Unlike novels and nonfiction, poems are short; therefore, I can read them whenever I have a few minutes here and there. I can pick up a poem whenever and I don’t have to try to remember what I have read already.

Reading poetry has replaced my endless scrolling on social media networks. I don’t spend time on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn anymore and I have no desire to check out TikTok, Instagram, or any new social media networks. I am becoming anti-social online and poetry keeps me company.

Without a doubt, I am still a novice poetry reader. I don’t have the technical skills to break down poems; therefore, I rely primarily on my own understanding of what I can pick up. My poetry book reviews are based on my own level of comprehension. I can’t tell if a poem is good or bad. I can only tell if a poem speaks to me or not.

When I first started to write about music, I wanted to communicate what I heard. Even though I had no formal music training, I could pick up music elements such as melodies, harmonies, rhythms, vocals, lyrics, arrangements, orchestrations, and improvisations. With poetry, I don’t have a clue. I can’t figure out the format such as the breaks, the spaces, and the flows. Sometimes poems with unique structures I couldn’t tell if I were supposed to read from left to right or top to bottom. I might audit a few classes to learn to appreciate poetry.

Then again, I am always excited when I come across a poem that I could understand. Even if I could find one poem from a collection I read, I am happy with that. Reading poetry books has become finding poems I could post on my blog. To celebrate the National Poetry Month, I will post a poem a day for the entire month of April. Subscribe to my RSS feed for poetry or bookmark my poetry category and enjoy.