DEAR WORLD ❖ tips on reading poetry

tips and recommendations

John William Waterhouse, Saint Cecilia (1895) (detail)

I’ve gotten in the habit of reading more poetry. It’s all part of a balanced writer’s diet, I’d say, but I also like how it’s shorter to digest with amidst the busy-ness of day-to-day life. Reading poetry is like a teacup-sized dose of thoughtfulness.

At it’s most masterful, good poetry can really pierce the through the centre of your being. David Whyte puts it beautifully: “Poetry is the language against which we have no defense.” I really felt this way when I heard I grant you refuge at a workshop hosted by Bankstown Poetry Slam. If you haven’t been, I really recommend you drive down to Bankstown Arts Centre and check out their events. I can’t rate it highly enough.

I like that poetry is an unapologetically emotive medium; it is inherently soulful. You have to compose it with a level of sincerity and open-heartedness that is difficult to encounter in the trenches of daily living. I find this really refreshing. I’m not good at writing poetry, because emotional sincerity does not come easily to me, but encountering others’ deepest feelings expressed not only seriously but soulfully, with a total lack of self-deprecation and defensiveness, reminds me to take my own humanity seriously. Tracy K. Smith says: “Poetry reinforces the notion that your life is as important to you as mine is to me — and therefore that your life is as important to me as mine is to me.”

Most creative acts are great reflective tools — mirrors — but poetry in particular feels like a prism that fragments a beam of light into a fan of technicolor fascination. I’m always surprised by what I find within, when I actually engage (even if it’s not good or clear enough to share with others).

I personally also think it’s one of the most approachable forms of creative expression if you’re new to that kind of thing. All you need is pen and paper (or even your phone Notes app), a few minutes and just the slightest bit of openness.

Pointers for enjoying poetry

Here are some small tips that have helped me get more out of poetry:

• Read slowly and out loud (tips from J & A.) Read even the syllables of the words slowly, like the patient lapping of waves. Let the sounds take up more space than you would in a conversation or any other kind of writing. Rhythmic poetry can become almost like an extremely subtle state of hypnosis.

• Reading poetry is a sensory experience. I found poetry a bit confusing before I realised this. You don’t have to rush to make sense of it. You can just let the images flash in your mind, and even close your eyes. If nothing as clear as an image arrives you can just enjoy the colours, or the brightness, or the texture of it.

• Tune into yourself. By default many of us have hang-ups that there is a specific, correct way to interpret poetry. Actually, you don’t have to find the correct interpretation. Be uncritical and curious of your own reactions — don’t get too tangled up in “Am I getting this right?” or “What am I supposed to get out of this?”. Maybe some more productive questions are “How am I feeling about this?”, “What is confusing about this to me?”, “What is strange about this to me?”. These are good questions to ask about any kind of ambiguous experience or problem, really. Confusing and strange are useful emotions for pointing to conflicting information. Resolving conflict is where the really good stuff is at.

• Try writing your own poetry. A few blocks of stream of consciousness can help get you into the flow, and become less judgmental of your words.

• Similarly, have a go at privately responding to poems you read. Attempt to write back to the poet, whether you attempt a similar format/structure, attempt to continue their piece, or something altogether different. See what you find.

• Read simpler poetry. Poems are equally diverse in complexity as books are. Some are puzzles to chew on and others are easy after dinner mints. Really great ones are a mix of both; simple at a glance and richly layered over time. I really like Susie Anderson’s collection ‘the body country’ for easy reading poetry. Some of her poems touch on very down-to-earth, concrete experiences (I’m looking at you, poetry about astrology lesbians on dating apps).

If you’re one of the handful of poets who follow me I’d love to hear your tips, ideas, recommendations or more on what you love about it.

Recommendations

Here are some poems roughly ranked by in order of ease (top) to complexity/obscurity (bottom):

• I grant you refuge by Hiba Abu Nada

  I grant you refuge
  in invocation and prayer.
  I bless the neighborhood and the minaret
  to guard them
  from the rocket

• Want the Change by Rainier Maria Rilke

  Want the change. Be inspired by the flame

  where everything shines as it disappears.

• Everything is Waiting For You by David Whyte

  Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone. As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings.

• Howl by Allen Ginsberg

  I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,
  dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

• Ninth Elegy by Rainier Maria Rilke

  Here is the time for the unutterable, here, its country.
  Speak and acknowledge it.

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Sincerely,
Marlene

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