INTRODUCTION

Some poetry or verse will live on forever.  The truly great ones always do.  What do you think is the most recognizable poem ever written?  Take your time; this IS a trick question.  Use the KISS system and also remember what I have said before.  Is all poetry in the form of poems?  This one is not.  Do you think you think you know the answer?  Not yet?  Here is another clue; only one verse is well known.  Need another clue?  It was written as a poem, but later became famous many years later.  Give up?  It is the US National Anthem, the ‘Star-spangled banner’.

            There are other forms of verse, like in the Bible or the parables of Jesus.  In order to best understand Jesus’ parables one must understand the way people lived back then.  Take for instance, the ides about getting a camel through the eye of a needle.  Back then this referred to a low place in the road with a bridge over the road.  In order to get a camel through the “eye of the needle” the camel had to kneel down on all fours and then slowly is coaxed to pass through.

How verse is used is up to the poet (writer) and how it is understood and enjoyed is up to the reader.  There is no wrong interpretation of poetry, because poetry is personal.  Because the idea or thought the poet wishes to convey is abstract, it is difficult to understand, but more difficult to express.  Therefore, the meaning of a poem may have many interpretations, similar to a painting.  If, a reader takes from a poem something of value, then the poet has achieved success.

            Most people have poetic talents.  It is like a friend one said, “I am a poet and don’t know it.  But my toes know it, because they are ‘longfellows’.  Now, a friend wants to know, “Stan, what is “Poetry Made Simple”?  Well, since my main concern is simplicity, these are a small collection of poems.  Poetry Made Simple is what everybody is looking for and this book is about a small collection of poems leading the reader to the answer.

There are three sections; section one is the introduction, which you are reading now, the second and third sections are poems and explanations of some selected poems.  An “up and coming” teenage poet writes the first group of poems and the other selection of poems is from many years of writings from a much older, and maybe wiser poet.  If you leave this book with something of value, then I would have helped you achieve success.  Please remember, poets are not complicated people and they are only trying to win you over.  Remember the Bee Gees.

                        “It’s only words and words are all I have to take your heart away.”              

Find a quite place, sit back and enjoy, POETRY MADE SIMPLE.