Poetry post one, take two. Action.

Some of you are looking at the size of this post and going “oh lord, that’s a big post” (or something to that effect). First of all, allow me to congratulate you on your observational skills. VERY GOOD!

Second- uhh, Sue me, I guess. Yeah. I’ll take a Leah approach and say “This is my blog, I don’t care if you don’t like it” even though that is total hogwash since I get a lot of satisfaction from the comments area. But wait! I am a considerate blogger- that’s right! You see, this is actually a cut version. Or rather, a sliced version. I have decided to slice up my poetry post- hereafter referred to as my “poest”- into smaller, more digestible mini-morsels or poest perfection.

This poest I supoest, (sorry) will include (I)ntroduction through (S)hwab… I know that doesn’t mean anything to you, but it made me laugh. Anyway…

Like many things in life, I respect, admire and attempt poetry- but I usually end up being too distracted by other things to do much of any of those verbs. And so, like most everything else, I will go on a binge, or a mood, and just take in or write poetry. This is basically how I operate; I do the same thing with computers, movies, electronics or anything that fascinates me. It is probably a blessing or a curse, but more likely a mix of the two- but alas, that is another topic altogether. This is a poest after all.

My current poetic kick probably started with lit class- We were to get some 20^th century poems to read. I chose my friend, Mr. Frosty. I decided to do In a Disused Graveyard.

I heard a lot of good stuff, including some pieces by people with weird names like E.E. Cummings, and people who’s names half of us mistook for the wrong gender. Next class is 21^st century American authors. We are supposed to bring our own poetry or short stories. I of course, am not intimidated by this; I have a good poetic arsenal I can draw from as you can see by the new link on the right side bar to my poetry and prose page. But there are so many other people I wanted to share that I am fighting hard for the ability to show case their work as well… In case it doesn’t make it, here are some of the contestants:

Andrew Shwab

First the lead singer from the hard rock band Project 86, Shwab has recently self published several of his own short books. If you were a fan of his lyrics, it would seem a no-brainer that he would cross over to poetry; his lyrics have always been amazingly poetic, despite his hard-edged aggressive vocal style. As I have seemed to misplace my book of poetry by him, I will instead give you this example from his song “Bleed Season”. See if you can spot the symbolism:

Trace the tree and the veil will flee me

And now I see with salty eyes

Consistent tragedy persisting in me

This disability's my soul's demise

Deaf to self and mute to mind

Muddled wallowing nebulous blind

My crippled confidence is chafed away

With the answers I'm pulled astray

The habits laced embrace me

With a cold, chaotic flinch

Kiss of old deaths erase me

Soft, subtle, inch by inch

You can find the full lyrics here.

I will go into some more, cooler yet poetry in my next poest. Until then, discuss! Comment like you care. Humor me. What do you think the song is about? (Read the whole thing for context). I think I've cracked it, but I'm interested in other interpertations.