Tag Archives: poetry

For me, poetry is usually about the beauty of the language and the skill with which it evokes emotion, but there are also times when a skilled poet uses words to convey a visual sense so keen that I feel … Continue reading →

After a really long cold spell, we’re finally getting some spring-like weather here in WNY. Who knows how long it will last…but as long as it’s here, this poem seems appropriate. Spring, the sweet spring Thomas Nashe pring, the sweet … Continue reading →

Not all poetry is about positive things. Poetry can be angry and visceral, as in this poem by Wilfred Owen. Owen is known as one of the great poets to write during World War I, and he was actually killed … Continue reading →

The intersection of music and poetry is a fascinating one. There are song lyrics, which are almost always poetry, and then there’s the way in which poetry and music both can sometimes reflect the world in similar ways. There is … Continue reading →

A short poem today, short but powerful. One of the band directors at the music camp which featured in yesterday’s post actually wrote a piece for symphonic winds based on this poem, which packs tremendous imagery and emotional power into … Continue reading →

OK, story time. In high school, I attended a summer music camp several times, and then in college, I served there as a camp counselor. This was almost your canonical summer camp, with cabins in the woods and campfires and … Continue reading →

Sometimes there’s a poem whose verse is wonderful, but with whose message you disagree. Such is the case here, for me. Walt Whitman was one of the great poets of all time — in fact, he was probably one of … Continue reading →

I find prose poems interesting. At first they seem formless, and one wonders why the poet didn’t just write a straight-up story or paragraph, but as you read a good prose poem, the melding of the two forms clarifies. This … Continue reading →