Outsider

There are days when my lack of education laughs at me. It pokes and needles. 

It loves to put forward ideas that are foreign and large, and then says, “Nope, not you. Too much for you.”  Or it presents to me a speaker, whose ideas are so compelling, but whose rich and luscious mastery of the English language is such, that I sit with almost a sense of vertigo, certainly a feeling of not being included, with it almost at the tips of my fingers but not quite. Elusive.

There is an club that I long to be a part of. There are no directions, no handbook, no assembly possible. 

Then I wonder, is this what poetry is meant to do? Put one ill at ease? Am I suppose to be comfortable with the feeling of being uncomfortable? Is that the lesson I missed when I did not finish, or even start, AP English? Once in awhile I am gifted an understanding of something so beautiful. Perhaps a poem by Mary Oliver, who is a little more accessible to the swirling matter that is my brain. But in the next moment, I am a child again, with my tiny fist knocking my own head, wondering why……I…..just……can’t…….get…….it!


Comments

  1. Debra She Who SeeksJune 25, 2023 at 8:32 AM

    My definition of good poetry is poetry I understand. Don't understand it? Bad poetry.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Marie SmithJune 25, 2023 at 9:06 AM

    I’m with Debra. Others appear to understand some poems which are beyond me. It’s not you Linda!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MargaretJune 25, 2023 at 10:23 AM

    I was almost an English major in college and took numerous literature and poetry classes in English and French (my major). I'm extremely good at analysis because...I can find a thread of something and then (excuse my language) bullshit on it. Literature and poetry are classic because of the many interpretations and analyses that people can take from them. In the effort to understand or find meaning, we stretch our brains. If I don't understand something, I make up my own interpretation of it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. ColetteJune 26, 2023 at 5:31 AM

    Poetry is a struggle for me, too. In my case I think it is because I have trouble concentrating. I have a friend who sends me a poem at least once a week. She allows me not to reply and comment back to her (which would force me to stop reading them), and I really appreciate it. I try to read each one (!), some I love, some I just don't get. But I think the more I read, the more my mind is able to adapt to a poetic mindset. Also, it's a good exercise in focusing.

    ReplyDelete

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