What was the first poem you’ve ever read?
One of the first poems I remember reading was for an English class in 3rd grade when I was introduced to the famous Robert Frost's poem, The Road Not Taken. Even today, this is still one of my favorite poems.
How has poetry influenced you as a person? Or as a writer?
As a writer, poetry helped me to be more concise and expressive with my words. As a person, during my darkest times, they enabled me to vent and express my feelings and thoughts. During my best times, they also enabled me to share those wonders and beauty that life has to offer. Writing poetry has always been therapeutic for me.
There are so many forms of poetry (including experimental) so I can't use this as an example to show a poorly written poem. For those who regularly read poems, you can spot ones which were not written from the heart or with pure sincerity and respect for poetry as a whole, and for life in general. Those kinds of poems would be lacking something...there would be no breath of life in it. No passion. Just a bland poem that has a bunch of descriptive words that go practically no where.
How would you persuade a non reader to read poetry?
By surprising them. I know of many who associate poetry toShakespeare and for them, they feel that reading poetry would be like trying to understand Greek. I used to be one of them! Robert Frost was one of the first poets to open my eyes to the beautiful world that poetry contained. I utilize various social media to include portions of particular poems and when someone would ask about it, they're usually surprised that the passage was actually part of a poem, and they would inquire for more of that poem. Objective accomplished (at least for the one person)!
Is poetry useful?
I believe that it is. It would almost be like asking whether or not if art is useful. What would this world be like without art? A very dark one! I think we need poetry in our lives to help us make sense of what we're experiencing or feeling; or at the very least, try to express them.
Bonus Carrie shares with us today one of her poems she wrote for her blog:
Alone
Heart is the bridge to
one’s soul, break it in
pieces and it will
strand you, immerse you
with unspeakable loneliness
(c) All rights reserved by Carrie Ann Golden
posted on June 16th, 2012
Blog: A writer and her adolescent muse - https://awriteradolescentmuse.wordpress.com/
Twitter: @cagolden71