Poets

[Deleted]

Some of my favorite poets:

Pablo Neruda
Charles Baudelaire
Arthur Rimbaud
Paul Verlaine
Rainer Maria Rilke
Guillaume Apollinaire
Federico Garcia Lorca
Everette Maddox

[Deleted]

I am pretty impervious to poetry and have not really read any since I was forced to in school.

However, I remember having preferred T.S. Eliot, Samuel Coleridge and e.e. cummings. Since I have always preferred clear and precise writing, I liked poetry with very clear sentences and imagery.

[Deleted]

I read T.S. Eliot's Ash Wednesday every year on the appointed day. Has been a ritual of mine for about twenty years.

[Jazz]

One particular line of Eliot's has always jolted me out of recurring states of indolence and hedonism...

"I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." oh god.

[hwinpp]

We did 'Le Spleen' by Baudelaire in Algiers. I was in the 1ereD2 at that time, at the Lycee Descartes. What a school that was!
I think I liked it because later on back in Germany I bought his collected poems.

[Deleted]

I found a photo of the Lycée Descartes.

[hwinpp]

I don't remember it that way...
It was a big property situated on a hill with gardens and old trees everywhere. I remember it as being very shady and green.
Ah, just found the pic.
These are more like it, lots of pics so I'll just post the link:

www.bouchouareb.com/alger-lycee-descartes.htm

Back on topic... wasn't Camus from Algeria? Maybe we went to the same school? I used to love his stuff, in a certain period.

[Nic]

Hmm...

There are few poets I regularly enjoy, but I am quite fond of C.P Cavafy and Hart Crane.

I also picked up a couple books of Ottoman-era poetry on my last trip to Istanbul, and have found them quite intriguing.

[bjd]

hwnipp, yes Camus was born in Algeria. He was from a poor family and won a scholarship to the Grand Lycée in Algiers. I googled a bit and it seems it used to be called Lycée Bugeaud and now, Lycée Emir Abdelkader.

I don't think of Camus as a poet, but as a journalist, playwright, novelist, essayist...

I'm afraid I'm like Kerouac -- impervious to poetry. When I was a student, I thought it was a convoluted way of expressing something that could be said so much more clearly in prose, so I still don't bother with it. I may read the occasional poem I come across, but wouldn't go out of my way for it.

[imec]

I don't care much for poetry either. But I do like this...

[spindrift]

Poetry means a lot to me, especially when it's read by a certain friend of mine in perfectly modulated tones....

[cheerypeabrain]

I quite like poetry but what I used to hate was the way we had to 'interpret what the poem means' in long, structured essays at school. I don't want to listen to other people reading poetry unless it's Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas....

What I REALLY don't like is 'tone poetry' which was terribly fashionable a few years ago. Awful.

[questa]

I had an artist friend (professional, hanging in National gallery etc) who grew tired of hearing the mantra "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like". He would go to all the exhibition openings and wander around telling people, "I know everything about art but I don't know what I like." He loved 'causing consternation'which he listed as his occupation when filling out forms.


Burton + Thomas = MAGIC

[bixaorellana]

A few years ago I heard someone doing Beat poetry -- someone in my age group, so not part of the original Beats. To my amazement it was wonderful and compelling and I didn't want it to end.

[bjd]

I think my dislike for poetry comes from the same reason as Cheery's -- having to figure out themes and what it meant, rather than just being able to read or listen to it. I used to think, "if it was written in prose, I wouldn't have to bother figuring out what it means, I would just understand it."

I confess that nowadays I read the occasional poetry in the New York Review of Books and appreciate it, but of course, it's not usually rhyming and often on contemporary subjects. None of that "Ode to a Grecian Urn" nonsense.

[cheerypeabrain]

Aaaaurgh....flash backs to my English Lit essay on Keats' Ode to a Grecian Urn I loved the poems but hated the analysis.

Bixa, I am fond of the Beat Poets...Lawrence Furlenwotsit (Furlinghetti)...and the Liverpudlians. Summer with Monika by Roger McGouugh (LOVE his work) is a huge favourite, the author reading said poem/novelette is a joy. So I lied....I do like SOME poetry read out loud...but think that it's preferable for the reader to take from the work what feels right for them...blah blah blah...

Richard Burton reading ANYTHING questa....

[mickthecactus]

There are some wonderful poems by Kipling.

[cheerypeabrain]

The difference in the poems Kipling wrote before, then after his son was killed in WW1 are very telling. Looking on my bookshelves I have lots of poetry books...the only ones bought in the past 30 yearrs or so are Roger McGough. Can't part with any of them tho...even the A A Milne....

[kerouac2]

I do remember that I kind of liked e.e. cummings in school.

[Deleted]

Our local saloon has the longest running poetry reading in the country. It's held every Sunday afternoon and attracts an eclectic group of people.
Most of the time there are featured poets and other times it's an open mic.
Some renowned poets have also made appearances over the years.

Every few years an anthology of poems from the various poets is published., called "The Maple Leaf Rag".
Some of the poets have also been published in prestigious anthologies such as The Paris Review, The New Yorker and a couple of others.
I always enjoy perusing it as some of the poets I know socially and it's always interesting to read their poems as they often times present a whole different side of the person.

I do not attend the readings on a regular basis but if there is someone featured whose poetry I admire is scheduled I make a point of going.
I have also read some of my own poems on one or two occasions but it's been many many years since I have.

[onlyMark]

May 29, 2017 8:20:47 GMT mickthecactus said:

There are some wonderful poems by Kipling.

The Zamzama Gun, aka Kim's Gun, Lahore, big impressive thing.

[mickthecactus]

May 29, 2017 16:35:22 GMT onlyMark said:

May 29, 2017 8:20:47 GMT mickthecactus said:

There are some wonderful poems by Kipling.

The Zamzama Gun, aka Kim's Gun, Lahore, big impressive thing.

Actually Kim isn't one of my favourite Kipling stories but I'd still love to see that gun.

[cheerypeabrain]

I have a weakness for Roger McGough and Adrian Henri (probably everything they've written!)

Ted Hughes...Hawk in the Rain collection, some Louis Macniece, Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, D H Lawrence and some Lawrence Ferlinghetti.


Lots of John Hegley..probably others.

[questa]

I specially stopped in Lahore to take pics of the Zamzam gun and the library behind it where Kipling Snr was head librarian. I'll post pics later.

[mossie]

I just can't resist messing up this thread, whenever I see the thread title spelt out in capitals the acronym springs into my mind.
"Piss Off Early, Tomorrow's Saturday", sorry.

[kerouac2]

Does the British inspired world also use the term TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) or is that unknown?

[mossie]

Also used in my day

[bixaorellana]

I just slightly modified the title so poetry lovers visiting the forum will know the thread is about poetry.

[questa]

Gosh, I hope this works. I haven't posted pics for a year. The red building in the background is the Lahore public library where Kipling Snr was head librarian.

I can't help myself..Q "Do you like Kipling? A "Don't know, I've never Kippled" (boom-tish)

[mickthecactus]

Jun 1, 2017 13:36:46 GMT questa said:

Gosh, I hope this works. I haven't posted pics for a year. The red building in the background is the Lahore public library where Kipling Snr was head librarian.

I can't help myself..Q "Do you like Kipling? A "Don't know, I've never Kippled" (boom-tish)

What a magnificent work of art! Thanks Questa (I was wondering how long it would be before that joke came out).