Thoughts on Poetry
My friend Sonia and I attended a poetry reading this week in Cambridge. We went to listen to Mala, a candidate for a PhD in Chemistry from MIT who writes chemistry poems. She anthropomorphizes atoms, telling of the dramas of nuclear decay and nucleophilic backside attacks. The nerd that I am finds her poems hysterical.
Sonia and I didn't know what we were getting ourselves into with this poetry reading. Mala was hosted by a poetry group, all the members of which are amateur poets who were getting on in age and aspiring to be published. We had to sit through some very serious and not so impressive poetry. We were beginning to wonder if most poetry in general is mediocre and written by people who take themselves too seriously.
Then a published poet, also featured in addition to Mala by the group that evening, presented his poems. His poetry was leaps and bounds beyond those of the amateurs. His descriptions, his word play, and the way in which he was able to invoke emotion among members of the audience was unparalleled that evening, with the exception of Mala of course! Mala read last, after the other featured poet. Her poems seemed to be lost on this writer-type crowd, but Sonia and I managed to laugh out loud.
The man who introduced Mala said that only through her poetry he actually found chemistry fun; after Mala's reading, Sonia commented to Mala and me that only through Mala's use of chemistry in poetry did she actually find poetry fun. :)
After we it was over, Sonia and I both agreed that attending the reading was another interesting life experience that we weren't ready to experience again any time soon. We also discussed how, as the poetry reading proceeded, neither of us were sure if we could tell amateur poets from professional ones. After we heard the published poet, however, we both agreed that there was a big difference between amateurs and professionals. He restored my faith in good writers.
This poetry reading made me realize that true talent does exist (and can do so in many forms) and those who possess it can create beautiful things, whether it be poetry or the perfect football pass. It also made me realize, however, that those who have true talent are few and far between. Though a lot of people have passion, most of what is produced isn't close to noteworthy. As my friend Kristin, who used to work in an art gallery in Southern California, succinctly put it, "there's a lot of crap out there."
Sonia and I didn't know what we were getting ourselves into with this poetry reading. Mala was hosted by a poetry group, all the members of which are amateur poets who were getting on in age and aspiring to be published. We had to sit through some very serious and not so impressive poetry. We were beginning to wonder if most poetry in general is mediocre and written by people who take themselves too seriously.
Then a published poet, also featured in addition to Mala by the group that evening, presented his poems. His poetry was leaps and bounds beyond those of the amateurs. His descriptions, his word play, and the way in which he was able to invoke emotion among members of the audience was unparalleled that evening, with the exception of Mala of course! Mala read last, after the other featured poet. Her poems seemed to be lost on this writer-type crowd, but Sonia and I managed to laugh out loud.
The man who introduced Mala said that only through her poetry he actually found chemistry fun; after Mala's reading, Sonia commented to Mala and me that only through Mala's use of chemistry in poetry did she actually find poetry fun. :)
After we it was over, Sonia and I both agreed that attending the reading was another interesting life experience that we weren't ready to experience again any time soon. We also discussed how, as the poetry reading proceeded, neither of us were sure if we could tell amateur poets from professional ones. After we heard the published poet, however, we both agreed that there was a big difference between amateurs and professionals. He restored my faith in good writers.
This poetry reading made me realize that true talent does exist (and can do so in many forms) and those who possess it can create beautiful things, whether it be poetry or the perfect football pass. It also made me realize, however, that those who have true talent are few and far between. Though a lot of people have passion, most of what is produced isn't close to noteworthy. As my friend Kristin, who used to work in an art gallery in Southern California, succinctly put it, "there's a lot of crap out there."
posted by Christina at 11:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home