Past Experience with Poetry

My experience with poetry is as far from academia as can be. Poems are much more than words on a page, and the spirit of poetry is not something that can be taught. Our- the student's- indoctrination with interpretation of poetry falls short in that it seems to be stale. Though I can't truly speak for everyone, I think that most would agree that poetry's presentation is about as archaic-seeming as liturgy (no offense intended). In this I am drawing a parallel to religious enlightenment, in that we can be taught how we are supposed to interpret a religious text or a poem. My problem with poetry, like too much of the bible, has been my inability to internalize it. Without internalization, our interpretation is superficial and of little value. Of course there is benefit to being taught how to read and interpret, but at what cost is it if our heart isn't in it? Here I would have to say that there is an important difference in the mode of presentation between the poetry of music, and the poetry we read on paper. In music we can hear the tone of the speaker's/singer's voice and understand the message the music is supposed to convey as the sound waves convert to brain waves in an electrical brain storm that stimulates to our deepest emotions. The physics of poetry in music is real. Without this mode, I have a hard time internalizing poetry. The exception to the rule is if it's from someone I know, including myself. I believe that the more we know someone, or why they are trying to convey what they are trying to convey, the more layers we explore and appreciate. Poetry as an art of academia is like poetry for the sake of poetry, and it doesn't strike the right chord in me. Poetry for the sake of spiritual awakening, as an art of the heart, is something I can appreciate.

I do like that poetry is creative and that it has the potential to awake your inner workings. I do find the idea of internalizing something I find dark, a bit detractive, almost intimidating. Because of my past experiences, I need to try to let the reading become more personal for me. It helps me to look at poetry as "ying and yang," in that poetry is both a word art and an art of the heart. It does bother me to think that someone may have written a poem solely to impress the critics that be, as opposed to a form of expression. I need to believe that poetry is an expression of the soul and I don't intend to let the readings detract from this. The readings haven't changed a thing, though I appreciate that we aren't necessarily told what the poems should mean to us.