Prose, Cons and Poetry
I’ve been delving (more flirting) with poetry of late. Without giving too much away about an impending Christmas present for a certain someone, I’ve been persuaded into trying my hand at a rather more (for me at least) unexplored mode of writing.
I don’t feel I’m alone in feeling that poetry is somewhat butchered in the English school system. My own experience was met with boredom and frankly, irritability as the works of Carol Ann Duffy and others were thrust down my gullet with little care or attention.
Was I perhaps too young to appreciate the subtlety of poetry? Was I too easily swayed by the alternative prose? Or was I simply fed a diet of banal poetry that existed simply to give simple context to a syllabus? I tend to side with the latter, for either then I felt I was aware of the distinction between high quality and substandard works of art. I also have a lot to say on the state of modern institutional education, though, this will be left for a future piece. For now, I’ll simply sow the seeds of curiosity.
The cons of poetry, it seems, were there to see, and it wasn’t until early adulthood that I began to open myself up to a more bountiful side of poetry, that which had never been quoted or taught to me before.
I developed a taste for haikus initially, and this, in turn, led me to names like Robert Frost, Edgar Allen Poe and more. And then, sadly, but somewhat inevitably, I became unaware once more. The facts and realities of everyday life took form as further education, travel, personal relationships and the daily grind of work came into a more prominent mode of being.
Then, as our modern existence slowed down for an (as yet) undetermined amount of time, the opportunity for exploration came again. Now, with a new perspective, a more well-rounded appreciation for writing in all prose, and a supportive influence by my side, I’ve opened the door for poetry once again.
It’s funny how life tends to work out like that. I guess it just goes to show, curious reader, under certain circumstances, a con can quite easily become a pro. Just as any perceived hindrance can, eventually, become a gift.