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Random Acts of Poetry: What Poem Do You Come From?
I read, and tweet, a lot of poetry online. Last weekend, a poet I follow posted William Butler Yeats’ “Second Coming” as his poem of the day, and I tweeted it. It’s a famous poem by one of the most famous poets of the 20th century.
Someone I don't follow and who doesn't follow me on Twitter posted a reply, taking me to the woodshed for tweeting old dead poets (she called them “dead iambs”) because “there’s so much exciting stuff in contemporary American verse.” Well, yes, and there’s a lot of contemporary rudeness on Twitter, too.
I responded with this: “If you know where you came from you have a better idea of where you are.”
The exchange set me to thinking about poems and poets I remember from high school and college: Poe, Whitman, Tennyson, Dickinson, Teadsale, Eliot, Edgar Lee Masters, Longfellow, Milton, Gerald Manley Hopkins, Coleridge, Shelley, Wordsworth, Keats, Stevens, Dylan Thomas. Yes, mostly English and American. Collectively they were my first teachers of how one could use words.
So where do you come from?
For next Friday’s Random Act of Poetry (I’m subbing for the inestimable L.L. Barkat), select a poem you first read in high school or college that had an impact on you, that you remember or that you enjoyed, and write a poem about it.
Drop a comment with your link in my comment box by Wednesday the 22nd at noon to be included in the list and possible feature. If you'd like to explain why you selected that poem, that’s fine, too.
As for me, I'm thinking about Annabel Lee and that lovely tomb by the sea. Or Spoon River. Or that albatross. Perhaps the Grecian urn. Or a tree there’s nothing lovelier than. Those hollow men…
"a mad poet" by Alex Glickman (Rundadar). Used with permission. Prompt written by Glynn Young.
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Editor's note: If you enjoy reading and writing and might be curious about "playing" poetry, join Glynn, along with L.L., Marcus and others for a monthly Twitter/poetry jam at TweetSpeak Poetry.
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