If poetry alters the way in which the reader views the world, then it has had its desired effect.
From John Barton
I became intrigued with colour theory. The absurd pronouncements of the Colour Institute, a group that decides what colours are hot each year or season, amused me.
Poets have to be sensitive to their audience, but it does not mean that they censor themselves. I realise my audience is diverse. Some will read with empathy and curiosity while others will take offense.
No poem is easily grasped; so why should any reader expect fast results?
Poets can't resist the dramatic pull of their lives and so inevitably write autobiographical verse.
Sometimes poetry is inspired by the conversation entered into by reading other poems.
I consider a poem to be a kind of experiment where a number of elements are brought together under test conditions to see how they will interact to create meaning or relevance.
I have become intrigued with the combining of seemingly unrelated ideas or images, or the drawing upon the many, sometimes dissimilar, meanings a word might have.
The point of an experiment is not to arrive at a predetermined end point, to prove or disprove anything, but to deliver a poem that reveals much about the process taken.
I have been told by a member of the board of one of Canada's most prominent literary magazines that a submission of mine once caused a great deal of controversy.
8 perspectives
6 perspectives
4 perspectives
2 perspectives
1 perspectives