tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post2690404655188162041..comments2023-10-19T10:51:43.826-04:00Comments on Author Amok: Poetry Friday: When Did You Fall in Love?Author Amokhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-47060216389400592272012-09-01T21:33:28.953-04:002012-09-01T21:33:28.953-04:00Thank you for your post. This is a great question....Thank you for your post. This is a great question. I remember reading Longfellow's Evangeline in high school and thinking poetry was pretty cool. Jeff Bargerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828704200354400172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-15764252457154157572012-09-01T21:33:15.279-04:002012-09-01T21:33:15.279-04:00Thank you for your post. This is a great question....Thank you for your post. This is a great question. I remember reading Longfellow's Evangeline in high school and thinking poetry was pretty cool. Jeff Bargerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15828704200354400172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-47913996042411838082012-09-01T20:51:36.257-04:002012-09-01T20:51:36.257-04:00What a memory! I loved that poem, too, but I'm...What a memory! I loved that poem, too, but I'm not sure I fell in love with poetry to it. I'll have to dig deep to find that first stirring...Mary Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078793537148794310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-24967672019336642742012-09-01T17:08:27.896-04:002012-09-01T17:08:27.896-04:00Thank you for the kind comment, Myra. It's bee...Thank you for the kind comment, Myra. It's been lovely to read everyone's responses. This is a rich area to explore!<br /><br />My kids love Dr. Seuss's "The Sleep Book" and we'd read it before bed. It's long, so we tried to get away with not reading the whole thing.<br /><br />You're right, poetry is a gift in our lives.Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-70815545774742133432012-09-01T14:03:37.747-04:002012-09-01T14:03:37.747-04:00Hi Laura, what a lovely question. I think I've...Hi Laura, what a lovely question. I think I've always been in love with poetry ever since Dr. Seuss' wordsmithing in his books that put me to bed - all those quirky rhymes and made-up words. This is such a lovely post. Too often we take for granted these beautiful things that come into our lives - reminds me to be grateful of poetry and the calm and quiet it gives me.GatheringBookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04477710897574769648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-2129094539455153082012-09-01T08:53:50.764-04:002012-09-01T08:53:50.764-04:00Hi, Vikram. I only came across the Jumblies later ...Hi, Vikram. I only came across the Jumblies later in life. I'll have to check Lear out again. Have you looked at Wilbur's books of opposites poems?<br /><br />Tara, yes. Svea and I taught together when I lived in NJ and have remained good friends. (I moved to Maryland 13 years ago). I agree with you about Dickinson -- I still struggle to understand her sometimes, but can't help being swept up in the music.Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-92029861157076692922012-09-01T08:04:35.998-04:002012-09-01T08:04:35.998-04:00You know Svea Barrett too?! A wonderful poet, moth...You know Svea Barrett too?! A wonderful poet, mother, teacher and friend...and a fellow resident of the state of New Jersey. I fell in love with poetry through Emily Dickinson. I didn't understand the words years ago, but I love they way they sounded and stuck around in my head, waiting to be puzzled out. Tara @ A Teaching Lifehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07195982194362559883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-262184256363988492012-08-31T19:15:49.039-04:002012-08-31T19:15:49.039-04:00I think I might be the only person for whom it was...I think I might be the only person for whom it was Edward Lear's Jumblies ... :)<br />I grew up in India where it was - sadly - hard to come by poetry as a kid. For most of my childhood I only owned one single anthology of poems - the Jumblies was my favorite poem in that book.Vikram Madanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01798605843127029290noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-36656499992077062082012-08-31T14:59:27.795-04:002012-08-31T14:59:27.795-04:00Lalita, thank you for stopping by the blog and for...Lalita, thank you for stopping by the blog and for sharing that beautiful excerpt from your novel. I am awed to find that my experience with this poem is a shared one. Sending you gratitude!Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-39926600954014621252012-08-31T14:54:47.987-04:002012-08-31T14:54:47.987-04:00Hi, Jama. "My Shadow" is a beautiful poe...Hi, Jama. "My Shadow" is a beautiful poem. That book is so rich in imagery and thought. (Yes to e. e. cummings -- he was my high school yearbook quote!)<br /><br />Katya, what a gift your mother gave you. Poetry was part of the speech you were acquiring.Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-43313492979597408762012-08-31T14:52:02.952-04:002012-08-31T14:52:02.952-04:00"My heart has more rooms than a whorehouse.&q..."My heart has more rooms than a whorehouse." Gabriel Garcia Marquez was talking about ME when he said that. I've fallen in love so many times it's hard to remember the first -- but probably it was Shel Silverstein. Love SO MUCH your memory and story about "The Swing." Lovely!Irene Lathamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04905936104127707762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-13114343472663002422012-08-31T13:36:53.449-04:002012-08-31T13:36:53.449-04:00My mom made me start memorizing poetry as soon as ...My mom made me start memorizing poetry as soon as I could talk so I don't remember when I fell in love... but I remember reading e.e. cummings as a teen and being mesmerized by his voice.Katyahttp://www.katyaczaja.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-70973680812716277602012-08-31T13:10:11.570-04:002012-08-31T13:10:11.570-04:00For me it was definitely Stevenson too! Only it wa...For me it was definitely Stevenson too! Only it was "My Shadow." I loved A Child's Garden of Verses -- read it over and over. Can't remember which edition I had or who did the illustrations but my experience was similar to yours . . . being transported, entering the world of the poem, stepping right into the picture, everything coming to life right there.<br /><br />What totally sealed the deal was discovering E.E. Cummings in high school. He remains my favorite to this day.jamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07859083373087448194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-78813011686187495882012-08-31T13:04:01.133-04:002012-08-31T13:04:01.133-04:00Laura:
Here is an excerpt from the last story in &...Laura:<br />Here is an excerpt from the last story in "Where Monsoons Cry," my collection of short stories. Need I say more?<br /><br />"Jaya is reminded of her favorite poem, “The Swing.” She remembers how Sister Joan would assemble the children and spread them out among the drooping roots and branches of a sprawling old banyan tree to recite the poem. Grasping the long hanging rope-like roots as if they were the ropes of swings, the children bent their knees, pretending, doggedly swaying, rising and falling in happy little waves to the rhythm of the poem. She hears their collective childish voices, especially her own—<br />'Up in the air and over the wall, <br /> Till I can see so wide,' <br /> <br />She hears them smacking their lips and giggling at the word “Up-p-p,” exaggerating “wide” to wi-i-de.”<br /><br />'River and trees and cattle and all<br /> Over the countryside—'<br /><br />Jaya joins in now, the words returning as if it were yesterday, as she pushes Neelam. Her heart feels airy, light as the flitting butterflies around them.<br />'Till I look down on the garden green,<br />Down on the roof so brown—<br />Up in the air I go flying again,<br />Up in the air and down!'<br /><br /> “Go on, go on,” Jaya calls joyfully, “Neelam, from here you’ll touch the sky and the stars and the moon.”<br /> And in that instant her mind is made up.<br /><br />Thanks for the post.Lalitahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12343070460165498604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-41284516707672263572012-08-31T12:42:38.437-04:002012-08-31T12:42:38.437-04:00I love the family story, Mike. I have to say, the ...I love the family story, Mike. I have to say, the NJ poets (Williams, Whitman, Ginsberg in particular) have my heart because I am a Jersey Girl. New Jersey has a rich heritage of poets and poetry.Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-20637106020711541232012-08-31T12:39:54.806-04:002012-08-31T12:39:54.806-04:00Dennis, that poems is one of the songs on Ted Jaco...Dennis, that poems is one of the songs on Ted Jacobs' amazing CD "A Children's Garden of Song." They are folk music versions of many poems from the book. Just beautiful.Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-19120499165331470562012-08-31T10:02:11.777-04:002012-08-31T10:02:11.777-04:00And, Whitman... how could I forget Walt Whitman?! ...And, Whitman... how could I forget Walt Whitman?! According to family lore, my great-great grandparents gave my great-grandfather, George Walter Ratcliffe, his middle name out of respect for Walt Whitman (they named other sons Fremont (after John Fremont), Winfield Scott, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses Grant) Michael Ratcliffehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02469869423353363535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-9996885689248234932012-08-31T09:45:38.643-04:002012-08-31T09:45:38.643-04:00Laura,
Hmmm... which poets to list? Rita Dove...Laura,<br /><br />Hmmm... which poets to list? Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah poems inspired me to write my "Skimino Cycle" of poems based in family history. Reading Neruda led me to Garcia Lorca and Miguel Hernandez (I also have a general interest in 1930's Spain). I fell in love with the Japanese haiku masters, Basho, Issa, and Buson, and the Chinese "Immortals," Li Po, Du Fu, and Wang Wei. A recommendation from a local book store owner in Santa Fe led me to the late Jim Sagel, and his descriptions of life among the Hispanos of northern New Mexico. Who else? the Beats: Ginsberg, Snyder, Kerouac (although I like his prose better than his poetry); Mexican poet Alberto Blanco (picked up a copy of his "Dawn of the Senses" at City Lights the last time I was in San Francisco). I just discovered Campbell McGrath-- bought a copy of his "Seven Notebooks" at Dedalus Books, and am really enjoying it. And, I "rediscovered" the 14th century Welsh poet, Dafydd ap Gwilym, going back to a bi-lingual volume of his poetry (edited by Rachel Bromwich) that I bought in Oxford in 1987. Ah, I could on...Michael Ratcliffehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02469869423353363535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-38522982162299736882012-08-31T09:43:36.126-04:002012-08-31T09:43:36.126-04:00Laura,
Crazily enough, my first poetry love was a...Laura,<br /><br />Crazily enough, my first poetry love was also, A Child's Garden of Verses! My first grade teacher read us some of the poems from a beautiful edition filled with black and white photographs of children. I dragged my mother all over Baltimore looking for that edition (no Amazon!). We never found it and I settled for a different edition which had the illustration that you used on your blog from The Swing. I think they are by an artist named EULALIE. I still have the little green cloth bound book to this day! And to this day, whenever it rains, I say to myself:<br /><br />The rain is raining all around,<br />It falls on field and tree,<br />It rains on the umbrellas here,<br />And on the ships at sea. <br /><br />Thanks for this delightful post!Dennis M. Kirschbaumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16031561988019077295noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-65454077298940559212012-08-31T08:13:12.564-04:002012-08-31T08:13:12.564-04:00Hi, Tabatha. Shel Silverstein always makes me thin...Hi, Tabatha. Shel Silverstein always makes me think of 1) The Giving Tree (loved) and 2) the Silverstein I bought for my best friend's 14th birthday, then got into huge trouble with her mother because it wasn't exactly rated G. Ouch.Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-27666123081354428752012-08-31T07:43:35.995-04:002012-08-31T07:43:35.995-04:00Hi Laura,
Thanks for sharing that beautiful memor...Hi Laura,<br /><br />Thanks for sharing that beautiful memory with us. I can't remember my "first love" moment, but it might very well have been Shel Silverstein. Tabathahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14367572663591077922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-44161895315788560462012-08-31T07:10:15.365-04:002012-08-31T07:10:15.365-04:00Hi, Mike. The metropolitan statistical area criter...Hi, Mike. The metropolitan statistical area criteria in haiku says boatloads -- maybe save that for a character down the road. Who are some of the poets you have "discovered" since your big poetic shift?Author Amokhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13636391982938592789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8303906221917588052.post-91867091708898859192012-08-31T07:03:31.587-04:002012-08-31T07:03:31.587-04:00Hi Laura. Thanks for this post-- it's nice to...Hi Laura. Thanks for this post-- it's nice to stop and think about that moment when each of us fell in love with poetry. I think the moment for me was sometime in 2002, a bit before I turned 40. I had written poems in high school and college, but pretty much stopped all creative writing through my 20s and 30s, except for a few poems here and there for my wife, and a few fun dabblings at work (I once wrote out the metropolitan statistical area criteria in haiku-- wish I still had that). I read poetry during that time, although I was not a particularly avid reader. Something clicked in 2002-- call it an epiphany, if you will-- and I had to write. A shelf was cleared of history and geography books to make room for books of poetry, and then a second shelf. It's hard now to remember those years when poetry wasn't an important part of my life.Michael Ratcliffehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02469869423353363535noreply@blogger.com