A Pinch of Poetry

What is Poetry- Darlo O. Gemeinhardt

September 13, 2016

darlo

The term poetry comes from the medieval Latin poetia, from Latin  poeta ‘poet’. It usually refers to the written expression of feelings and ideas using distinctive styles and rhythms. Poetry has been enjoyed by millions of people through oral and written traditions. What makes it so popular? Poetry says more and says it more intensely than ordinarily language.

Poetry gives us information, clarifying our thoughts and emotions. It has been used for persuasion—advertisements, propaganda, sermons, and political speeches.

Poetry doesn’t just tell us about an experience but it allows us to participate in it through our imaginations. We fill in the blanks the poet leaves out. We build our own images based on the information in the poem.

 

For instance, you can be surrounded by a roomful of people but not a single one may really know you—the real you, inside where your true self is hidden. Maybe you observe the person sitting on the row next to you.What do you really know about them? Let’s say they are female, early twenties, brown hair, casual dress, etc. But what do you really know? Poetry can take you further. It can even show you things about yourself. Maybe this girl is like the person in the poem below.

On Being Invisible

With each line I write

I feel a little more of

myself is being grafted onto

the body of my soul.

Some of the grafts are rejected

but those few that do take

root grow and increase

my knowledge of myself.

Who knows, someday I may

recognize myself formed

in the words on a plain

sheet of paper.

 

Perhaps I am even now

hidden on this page.

I am here if only

you will look.

© 1976, Darlo Gemeinhardt

 

Poetry is a multidimensional language covering intellectual, sensuous, emotional, and imaginative areas of life. Try it.

Darlo Gemeinhardt  writes MG novels and the occasional poem.

She spends a good portion if each day taking care

of twenty-five dogs. That’s why she believes, “There’s

a Story in Every Dog.”

www.fromthedogpen.com

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