felPoetry is a literary artwork used to create an intense emotional experience and or to draw attention to something that is true . This is done by using special tools: originality, concentration, experiment, attentiveness, and form according to Poetry for Dummies by The Poetry Center, John Timpane and Maureen Watts. Words are to a poet what musical notes are to a musician, or marble is to a sculptor.
The poet achieves originality by expressing the ordinary in an extraordinary way, and vice versa. The art of using fewer words and, at the same time, express more meaning is concentration. The poet experiments with language in creative ways to startle awaken or challenge the reader. Attentiveness is the way a poet pays attention to the use of language. Form is the structure of a poem: a metrical structure for traditional verse (a sonnet or a ballad) or open form.
How different is poetry from prose? Poems, even in open form, have a structure. Structure is the way the poet plays with words. Here is an example: my poem Thanks! from Hooked on You
When saying “Thanks” is hardly enough
But enough to show appreciation
When appreciation is hardly enough
But enough to glow on one’s smile
When one’s smile candidly says it all
Then saying “Thanks” is the sunrise
And “You’re welcome” is the sunset
We feed out body with food, our soul with God, and our mind with poetry. When overwhelmed by life or just stressed out, poetry is the solution because of its healing power, the tonic to a busy life, and the call of our inner life. Sometimes poetry makes one think, or plainly entertains with the image it creates. By seeing the ordinary in extraordinary ways or vice versa, the fantastic journey of life continues by bringing light where there is darkness.
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