My First Experience With Poetry
So there I was, (I love starting stories this way) sitting in 9th grade Honors English. Why did I take Honors English, it certainly wasn’t because I have great grammar skills. Thank you Gramerly, where were you back then? But I was a tuba player in the orchestra, so in order to fit everything in my schedule so I could take orchestra I had to take Honors English. Mrs Baxter, affectionately called Battle Axe Baxter, and there were some other names I won’t disclose, was teaching the poetry section of the class. We were reading T.S. Elliot’s Old Possums Books of Cats and I was bored. Did I mention this class was 2nd period? In Rockford Illinois, my hometown, 2nd period the sun usually still wasn’t up. Also, the high school I attended, rumor has it, was originally intended as a prison. No windows in most classrooms. So yes the perfect setting to understand poetry and contemplate life, the universe and everything. While the class was reading the poems aloud, I flipped ahead to the poem by T.S. Elliot called The Hollow Men. When it came to my turn to read, I started with the first stanza of that poem. I was engrossed, I found my muse, I found my spirit animal. I found myself in that poem. I understood it and didn’t understand it. Mrs. Baxter, startled, stopped me from reading anymore and said Tim, that is not the poem we are reading, that poem is too advanced for this class and we need you to stay on task. Now please read the correct poem or we can pass you. Class participation was part of the grade in that class and if you passed, you lost points. Did I mention I am not an English major? So I complied and read aloud about cats. I love cats, I have 2 right now, but at that time I wanted to read more from Mr. Elliot so I took the book home and read and reread that poem trying to decipher it. To this day I read that poem and pick something new out of it that I hadn’t noticed before.
Great story Tim, what does this mean to me?
As I write this it is March 31, 2023. I read that poem for the first time in 1988. That should tell you the power of that poem. It is not everyone’s cup of tea for sure, but it scratches that itch for me. Poetry can do that if we zoom out a bit, art can do that for someone. I credit that poem for making me the person I am today, an artist, husband, father, armchair philosopher, head instigator for Create Art Podcast, and podverse guide for Find A Podcast About. That poem has gone with me to Mombasa Kenya, Mogadishu Somalia, Cairo Egypt, Frankfurt Germany, Abilene Texas, Carbondale Illinois, Richmond Virginia, Phoenix Arizona, Chicago Illinois, Fredericksburg Virginia. I have done so many class projects on this poem, I have recited it at numerous poetry readings, I have introduced people to it and now I have introduced you to it. A pretty amazing journey I’d say, and that is the journey of this poem with me, think of the other people who read the poem before me and who don’t know me. Amazing. And this isn’t the most well-known poem by T.S. Elliot. I am in the podcast world as a listener and as a podcaster, I hope that 100 years from now, a kid like me is in a class and discovers my work and it has the same effect on their life. I know for me it made me feel less lonely, gave me a purpose, and kept me alive despite myself. We in the podcast world talk about the power of podcasting, yes it is a powerful medium. But the power of poetry is a tall bar to cross.
So what are you gonna do about it?
In the month of April, many people celebrate Global/National Poetry Writing Month. You can join in as well by going to the website and following the daily prompt and write a poem a day for 30 days. I am using prompts from someone else this year, just to get a different perspective, but I will be posting on the NaPoWriMo website the poems I do every day. I also am reading the poems I write on my podcast. You can follow the NaPoWriMo episodes here starting tomorrow. Give it a chance, no one has to read the poem you put out but think about the story I just shared with you. That poem could influence someone 3 generations after you die. Give it a shot.