I have been reading lots of poetry recently. For two reasons I think - firstly because I have little time and poetry is easy to read when time is limited and secondly because I keep thinking about how I wish I had been able to understand and grasp poetry at Uni. I often think in a kind of poetry, although I just call it words but in class I often sat there with a complete lack of understanding of what was being said and even worse why? And then I was told that my words weren't poetry and that stuck. I went to Uni with no background in poetry and no understanding just a little fear and anticipation. I left Uni with no understanding of poetry and lots of fear.
But at least I now read poetry regularly, buy lots of second hand poetry books from charity shops and enjoy what I enjoy. So maybe it did some good.
I found this quote by Spike Milligan in his book 'Hidden Words' and thought it summed up how I feel about poetry -
'I don't understand poetry. I read quite a bit of it and I enjoy it, sometimes; some of it goes down easily, some is totally baffling. I am not an intellectual, I have struggled with Ezra Pound'.
Not sure I have read any Exra Pound but I struggle with George S and Andrea, and Tim C and many others from Uni. But some poetry is just wonderful, it says so much in such a small space.
I like this poem by Spike Milligan - I understand it too well.
MANIC DEPRESSION
The pain is too much
A thousand grim winters
grow in my head.
In my ears
the sound of the
coming dead.
All seasons
All sane
All living
All pain.
No opiate to lock still
my senses
Only left,
the body locked tenses.
By Spike Milligan
St Luke's Hospital
Psychiatric Wing
1953/4
I don't think I am manic depressive, and I have never been in a psychiatric hospital but this feeling of absolute pain still fits and as for opiates locking away senses - medication locks away so much, the sense, the imagination, the core of me. Anyway back to poetry, just these few words fill me with emotion and also a thankfulness that I am not alone. Guess it is all a bit cliche but it makes me glad as well as sad.
D
2 comments:
Hi. I was wandering through blogs and found yours. I like your honesty.
I don't get Ezra Pound either, and I was a literature major. Here's a quotation I saw once on a library desk and loved: "Never apologize for your reading tastes."
Cheers. I enjoyed visiting your blog.
I haven't read very much poetry recently or literature since finishing college. As much as I like reading 'the poets' from our course, if I pick up a poetry book now it tends to be Wendy Cope. Simply because she captures painful experiences in a frank and funny way. Spike Milligan was an amazing man, I shall have to do some more reading now...
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