Poetry?? Really, poetry?!?!

I am fortunate to have many dear friends who are gifted with both tremendous intellectual and creative talents. Of course, it’s not all luck because I like to think I choose my friends very carefully and very wisely. Anyway, many of these wonderful people often express surprise (sometimes even shock) when I express my distaste for both Shakespeare and poetry. When it comes to Shakespeare, I’ve often said he’d have been great if only he’d written in English. I actually don’t really hate Shakespeare but over the years I’ve put Shakespeare lovers into such a catatonic shock by expressing such heresy, that it’s just too much fun to stop now.

As for poetry, I’ve always assumed that I hated poetry as well. To me, poetry has always meant pretentiousness and I’ll tell you why. There is poetry that I like. For example, I like some of the Robert Frost I’ve read or heard. I love Ogden Nash. But at some point, people who were writing poetry started to believe that if the poem rhymed, it was no good. If the poetry had some sort of structure, it was no good. (These people went to the same school as the lovers/performers of “free-form” jazz.) Now keep in mind, I have very little idea of what I’m talking about here. I’m just telling you my impressions. This new style and theory may have come from the anti-establishment feelings of the 1960s (which I applaud)  or it may have just come from intellectual, deconstructionist snobs. I don’t know. All I know, is in my mind I stupidly shunned poetry or the idea of poetry.

This brings us back to my good fortune of having smart, funny, creative friends. A good friend of mine, Jason Crane, recently had his first collection of poems published by FootHills Publishing entitled Unexpected Sunlight. He had a reading last week at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY that I apprehensively attended out of friendship to him. I found his reading and his poems to be quite entertaining. I should be honest and say that Jason is an accomplished public speaker and someone who longs to be on stage whether he realizes it or not so his skills in that area make his readings that much more enjoyable. I liked the poetry because while it doesn’t rhyme, it does have rhythm and beauty and humor, too.

Now here’s the funny part – after his reading there was a brief intermission before “an open mike” portion of the evening began. I was unable to escape before the other “poets” grabbed the microphone and it was then that I was treated to much of what I had previously dreaded and assumed about “modern poetry.” I shot my friend Mr. Crane a wide-eyed glance that said “you’re going to owe me big for this one!” He just knowingly smiled and chuckled at my obvious discomfort.

Despite his enjoyment in torturing his old friend (me), if you’re a fan of poetry I would encourage you to check out his collection called Unexpected Sunlight. For this cynic of poetic pursuits, it is indeed a most appropriate title!