When introduced to the medium of poetry as a child I couldn’t stand it, I had thought I made peace with poetry a few years ago. Even a mild sort of liking…
Well, our peace settlement has met a giant loophole in the form of experimental poetry. I can’t stand this form of poetry.
Yes, I think it qualifies as art, perhaps the abstract expressionism of the literary realm. While A child throwing paint on a canvas or streaking it with fingers and a child writing what he hears on the radio wouldn’t be considered art. We dismiss acts such as these as children being children, doodling and wasting time.
However, when an adult brings a canvas full of these streaks of paint to a gallery it’s considered art. And, when an author writes a piece of words that seem repetitive rather than sending him to time out this poem gets published.
I don’t think that I’m the type of person that can write experimental poetry. Yes, I could throw words together in an attempt to imitate the art, but would I be able to show the thought and precision that makes the absurd art?
Being an artist, no matter the medium, calls for one to recognize the beauty in the work of other’s as well as one’s self. So what if I’m not the experimental poetry type? I’ll tell myself the same thing as I did when studying traditional poetry “You don’t have to like it to respect it.”
Well, what is the difference between the work of a child and that of an artist? Thought, precision, and choice. There must be some kind of idea behind the work that one releases, right? Whether to mock society’s obliviousness or to show the wonder of a painting sans picture there is usually an idea or inspiration behind the work.
Why do adults get to call something art when preschoolers have something that barely qualifies for the refrigerator?
I think experimental forms are ridiculous when that's all someone is capable of doing, since it means that the "strangeness" of the art itself derives not from intention and meaning, but simply out of ineptitude. That said, art, poetry included, can be intentionally obtuse and strange while still making its meaning very clear through it all. I'm not particularly a fan of experimental poetry, but I understand it has an underlying purpose behind it.
ReplyDelete-Tomas F.
I really like all forms of poetry. They have different things to offer. Nitesh, I love your example of the introducing of poetry to children as a medium. We are told the good things they offer without fully understaning them.
ReplyDeleteLewis Carroll and Shakespeare invented words and had a blast with word play and rhyme and sounds. Then of course ee cummings was just totally nuts (he not traditional I know but he is a classic).
Modern poetry has word play too (i.e. Ogden Nash is great example), but it has the ability to make images that are so astounding it is like seeing something for the first time. So I tend to lean more toward modern poetry but not abstract stuff that uses only punctuation or other experimental tactics.
I do not have favorite authors because I like certain works by certain people not whole volumes of one person.
Craig Fontenot