In Honor of National Poetry Month

She read the poem for the seventh time. There was not one trace of a metaphor, not any symbolism, nothing she could use for her critical analysis at all. She searched in vain for a simile, any kind of imagery that could be used to explicate the poet’s work. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zero. Even the tempo was weird, more like just talking rather than writing carefully chosen words.

She felt like throwing the book across the room and screaming about the total lack of fairness in the universe. Her composition was due the next day, and what could she say about poetic devices when there were none to be found?

That’s when the idea came: the poet had spoken straightforwardly, not relying on known poetic devices. She thought to herself, “An angle for her paper? Yes!”

She could write about what wasn’t there - any form of artifice - and the effect on the reader of plain speaking. The poet’s voice imparted meaning without relying on the traditionally accepted forms of his predecessors. It might not be the same take on the poem that the rest of the class would derive from his work, but she decided she could discuss the absence of metaphor, simile, etc., logically and turn in a good explication, her own interpretation of the poet’s strange poem.

She began to think: “Hmmmm…my working thesis might go something like ‘Bobo Bardwords’ minimalist poetry evokes a common-sense approach to questions of life and death through the absence of poetic artifice in his terse language, a language reminiscent of ordinary speech.’”

OK…now to start writing.

Roxy’s tip: Enjoy poetry this April, National Poetry Month!

See you next time the breeze is cool, the sun is up, and the waves roll into view! My next entry is coming soon. ‘Til then, hang ten!