The cruelest month?

April has arrived and I know many of my pals are blogging ah to zed (ja, Buchstaben are way cooler auf Deutsch). I tip my hat to you all. But as fun as it sounds, I can't commit the time right now.

I've found a smaller bandwagon to hop aboard--National Poetry Month. The Academy of American Poets kicked off the annual celebration in 1996. Many schools and libraries participate. The goal is to introduce more people to the magic that is poetry. You can find out more about the celebration at www.poets.org.

What I hope to do this month is give a taste of the wide, wide world of poetry, which is nearly as diverse as fiction in terms of style and content. Because poetry is more than sentimental rhymes about daffodils or Emo angst-fests. Some poems tell stories, some sing, some pray, some paint pictures, some sweep your senses, some seduce you, some heal your wounds, some cut you to ribbons, some carry protest signs, some spit in your face.

I'll also introduce some helpful poetry lingo, with definitions.

In my post title, I allude to a poem you might have studied in school. [Allusion: a literary device that stimulates ideas, associations, and extra information in the reader's mind with only a word or two.] Here's the quote in context:

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

--T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"

This total downer of a piece is considered one of the masterpieces of modernism. Eliot's book smarts get more intimidating the further you read. The opening epigraph [introductory quote from another source used to set a theme] contain Latin and Greek. Parts of the poem are in German, Dutch and French. He uses allusion heavily, referring to history and mythology; pop songs and opera; Dante, Shakespeare and numerous other authors. Some scholars have spent their entire careers unpacking this one poem.

And yet....

His cleverness wasn't always so unapproachable. In fact, he wrote a wonderful collection of poems for children the you might have seen adapted for Broadway. Here's a stanza from one of my favorites in Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats:

You ought to know Mr. Mistoffelees!
The Original Conjuring Cat--
There can be no doubt about that).
Please listen to me and don't scoff. All his
Inventions are off his own bat.
There's no such Cat in the metropolis;
He holds all the patent monopolies
For performing surprising illusions
And creating eccentric confusions.
At prestidigitation
And at legerdemain
He'll defy examination
And deceive you again.
The greatest magicians have something to learn
From Mr. Mistoffelees' Conjuring Turn.
Presto!
Away we go!
And we all say: OH!
Well I never!
Was there ever
A Cat so clever
As Magical Mr. Mistoffelees!


Just as the genre of poetry is not one flavor but many, so it is with poets themselves. Brainy guys can be silly; silly gals can be profound.

Let's have a wild and wondrous month exploring the many styles and shades of poetry!

Do you read poetry? Why or why not?

Categories: National Poetry Month, poetry