What is Poetry?
What is Poetry ?
Essentially defining poetry is like grasping at the wind – once you catch it, it’s no longer wind.
Ars Poetica
A poem should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit,
Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb,
Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown—
A poem should be wordless
As the flight of birds.
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs,
Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,
Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind—
A poem should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs.
A poem should be equal to:
Not true.
For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf.
For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea—
A poem should not mean
But be.
By Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982)
American writer and prolific Pulitzer prize-winning poet.
on 21 Aug 2009 at 12:15 pm 1.Michele said …
“A poem should be equal to:
Not true.”
“Le papillon, fleur sans tige,
Qui voltige”
meaning:
“Butterfly, flower without stem,
Who flutter about…”
A good poem always touches you where it should and nowhere else—you well know it.. Ajay.