It is, but so what. You like poetry or you don’t. Even if you don’t, you can probably admit that there has been at least one poem in your life that you enjoyed. As an example, I love
Portrait of romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
John Keats and his Romantic poetry. Whether it’s my poor memory (likely) or odd tastes (even more likely) the only poem of his I’ve fully committed to memory is this one:
GIVE me women, wine, and snuff
Untill I cry out “hold, enough!”
You may do so sans objection
Till the day of resurrection:
For, bless my beard, they aye shall be
My beloved Trinity.
So why bring all that up? Here it is: A Poem From Us. I read about this project in this article, “A Poetry Project to Celebrate National Poetry Month.” It’s brief and worth glancing at. To sum this up, the project is “use technology to help folks share their love of poetry with others.” There are opportunities to contribute as well as distribute poetry. Curious? Follow the links for more thorough explanations and for a look at the poetry people chose to share. What would/will you share?
Shiteki Na Usagi 
“My beloved Trinity.” That’s hilarious! I also love the word “sans.”
I just posted some dance videos for your viewing pleasure. 🙂
Shawna,
I always liked it. Made me feel like he had a wicked good sense of humor. I’ll come toe-tapping soon.
I’ve checked out the site and I think it’s a brilliant idea. The ones I’ve clicked on read very well. I think it’s cool that I can listen to so many poetry.
A Walk In My Heart,
It is a fascinating project, preserving poetry for years to come and sharing it too. Thanks for enjoying it.
Thanks ~ LOVE your blog! LOVE Keats! WONDERFUL post~ Deborah
Deborah,
You’re welcome. I’m a big Keats fan too, as you read. Glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for your visit and comment. 🙂
You sometimes have the best reading worthy things here. Thanks.
http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com
leahJlynn,
I thought this was definitely worth sharing. Glad you liked it. 🙂
Yousei hime i’m like a turtle when it comes to poetry but as long as my interest is there i will try to catch up. thanks for sharing Nonoy Manga
Nonoy Manga,
Everyone has their interests and things they respect. Do poetry at your own pace and find what you like. You’ll enjoy it more and that is what is important. 🙂
aloha Yousei Hime – very cool. there are pieces of poems I remember. I’m not sure if I remember one in it’s entirety.
I remember being required to memorize one, or actually a number of them at various times in my schooling. these did not usually stick much beyond the required time to recite them.
despite all of that, i think it is the freedom I feel in creating poetry that keeps me more and more returning to it.
to be sure there are those pieces of poems that I really like too. in high school it was within a poem by Sidney Lanier -The Marshes of Glynn that really caught my attention because so many poetic elements came together for me in it. I also enjoy reading Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha out loud because of the cadence and sounds that begin to flow out of the words effortlessly.
fun project they are doing. cool. aloha
Rick,
I think one of the blessings/joys of poetry is that it can take so many forms–oral, musical, written, artistic. I had to memorize in school too (I wish kids today did.) I remember a good portion of Kipling’s “If” which is still one of my favorites. I also had to memorize the introduction to the Canterbury Tales and a soliloquy from Shakespeare (“Out out brief candle…”). I don’t remember them as well. I also learned some other famous poems/literature but only because I sang them for choir. I keep coming back to “I should memorize more” but haven’t done it yet. I love the concept of this project. Thanks for coming by and sharing in the post. 🙂
yeah, i have to say, as much as i resisted at the time, i too am glad i did have to memorize poems etc. (must have been a common theme – i had to do Shakespeare sonnets as well as some others too). i agree i think reading out loud time and memorization of great literature has a value in it that i appreciate now way more than i did then. i think song is a great way to memorize – songs i could memorize easily. but then i probably wanted to. i think there are keys to help in memorizing that were not taught so much then but would be helpful now. yeah, it is a very cool concept – the video readings. aloha.
Oh man, I totally know what I’m going to share. I just hope no one’s taken it yet…
Joseph,
Yay! When it’s live, let me know. 😀 Isn’t it a wonderful idea? I’m grinning because I got to tell you about it.
huh interesting project…will pop over and read more…funny i never really found poetry (beyond HS classes) until later in life….
brian,
Funny what we pick up as the years pass. I wasn’t into poetry that much either until college. Even then I always thought I’d write stories, perhaps even books. I’m still daydreaming about stories, but poetry is my chosen form of self-expression (creative journaling, I guess). Thank you as always for stopping in and commenting. I always look forward to what you share.
yep…i wrote stories before and only did poetry because a commenter challenged me…
brian,
And look where that got you. 😉 I like it. You still tell stories though, just a different form.
This was a lot of fun. (And i want to thank you for you kind blog visits.)
I think I would share The Lake Isle of Innisfree, Yeats. Or perhaps Part 13 of Song of Myself. k.
K,
I love visiting your site and I thank you for what you share. I’m finally caught up with my backlog of blog reading, so you should see comments from me more often (in theory I have more time to read in-depth). Yeats…love him. Song of Myself…love that too. Glad you enjoyed the post. I thought the project wonderful enough to share.
This was TOTALLY cool … sort of like you! Thank you. Now let’s hope that I find the time to participate.
Raven,
Let me know if you do. I’d love to hear it. 🙂 You’re pretty cool too, btw.