Where Would I Be Without Poetry

Any healthy man can go without food for two days - but not without poetry. ~ Charles Baudelaire

I need poetry, and I try to read at least one poem a day. My current favorite sources of poetry are Poetry 180 and More 180, edited by former U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.  Some of the poems from the books are included along with some that are not, on the Poetry 180 website. Click on “How To Read A Poem Out Loud.” Then pick a poem, perhaps #144, “Smell and Envy” by Douglas Goetsch or #180 “Break” by Dorianne Laux. Read it aloud. Read it again. Then ask yourself if you can go without poetry for two days.

Link to Poetry 180

On the Wings of Molly Fisk

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment. ~Hart Crane

I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself. My life is a bit too full of hepatitis C writing, with too little poetry. This week Molly Fisk spoke at Sierra Writers and I felt revived. A poet extraordinaire, even her voice is pure prose. Listening to her was like coming out of a coma and discovering I was in heaven all along. Inspired, I have been writing poetry—pseudo-poems, actually. (Kind of sounds like the bacteria, pseudomonas—oh my, does medical jargon stick to me?)

Regardless, writing prose and reading her poetry bring sweet respite.