http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zqbt8Juo9tE
It is a video of Madsen reading his poem.
I like Madsen’s poem because it is blunt. I like things that are straightforward; I get the feeling that that’s a mid-west thing. He manages to convey emotion using lists of life experiences instead of describing the feeling itself. This causes the reader, or watcher, to force himself/herself to evaluate the information and find the emotion, rather than having the emotion provided for you. I also enjoy the poem because I can relate to some of the things he speaks about, as well as the overall tone of the poem. I think that being able to relate to a piece of poetry is the only way it can truly move you. If I read a poem about being a woman, being gay, or going through some life experience I haven’t been treated to, then the poem generally doesn’t speak to me, because there is none of me in it. Poems have a narrow audience, because they generally convey emotion rather than ideal or a story. It’s a lot like when a child in a community is lost. The people who feel most for the situation are people with children; it’s not that childless people don’t feel for the situation, they just can’t relate to it. Hearing the actual author read the poem also shows how being able to relate to the piece is key. Every word and phrase has meaning and emphasis to him, every number on the list is part of a larger story. A reader who has been to jail pictures themselves there when Madsen speaks of taking a shit in front of other men. You can imagine the setting and create a fictional account of how it would feel, but it is not as effective as it is for those who have experienced that actual feeling.
I have only ever found myself enjoying a poem when I can relate to it. I feel that is the most important part of poetry, relating to the emotion.
D. Ryan
I have to disagree with you Ryan on your assertion that, "Poems have a narrow audience...," etc.
ReplyDeleteThe best poems, the once that stick with us, the ones that stay, regardless of whether they cause joy or dismay, are those that speak to what is universal in the human experience.
For all our differences, culturally, religiously, politically, etc., we are more similar than not. The best poetry speaks to these similarities, and the best poets are empathic enough to be able to see beyond the pale of their ego-centrism and personal differences in order to address these similarities.
I agree with you that a poem will more powerfully effect a person if they can directly relate to it, but that is why many great works of poetry leave simile at the altar and court metaphor. The greatest, on the other hand, use simile to make their metaphors all the more powerful, Shakespeare's 18th Sonnet, for example.