Poetry Smoetry – Why Should I Care About Poetry?

We are three weeks into National Poetry Month and I continue hearing people groan about having to listen to, recite or read poems. “Why,” they implore, “must I bother? I don’t care!”

Ah, my metaphoric padawan, you might want to rethink that position!

To begin with, poetry has its roots in history.
Just as a reminder, poetry comes from an oral tradition. Before we could write, we told stories and sang songs. These “tales” were a record of the community, of history, of births and deaths. The anecdotes and the tragedies, everything was oral. And to make it easy to remember, clever rhymes and catchy tunes were used, even a sing-song style to help children remember the difficult and even exhaustive stories.

Celebrations were usually done in music and once again, it was easier to apply a rhyme to help others remember what to say each time. With repetition, as with the oral histories, songs that celebrate events become traditional and provided a sense of community and security. Roots.

Poetry was also a device for relaxation.
Long ago, before there were radios or televisions, phones or Facebook, poems were put into small compact books. These small volumes were easily carried and often found their way to the seaside, on a picnic, in the library or drawing room, at parties and by the beside. Poetry was an abbreviated form of a story that both men and women could share. Read by a practiced voice, it could be delightfully humorous, or scary, or loving. The joy was in the peaceful gathering. Additionally, small volumes were easily used in private for quiet reflection (given that women didn’t care a purse, this was something women could keep in hand).

Poetry was used for social interaction.
Being able to read aloud was an encouraged talent as was dancing or art or needlepoint or cooking. Various “ages” though time have maintained that reading poetry well signified a graceful spirit and mind, a healthy education or even a dramatic talent. No one went to an event without having something poetry memorized or able to be referenced. Up through the 1920’s poetry was standard fare at parties. Today, open mic café’s and beat poetry is making a comeback.

Finally, poetry engages the imagination.
Poets, beyond being historians and entertainers, teach us to see the world in new ways. Words are synthesized, and in their economy of use we discover more succinct visuals, opening our minds to new ways of visualizing, sensing and dreaming of our world. Poetry has a rhythm and flow that binds us to what could be, not just what is. We discover the power of words in both our dreams and our truth. This is the power of imagination and poets understand the power of this tool.

You don’t have to “understand” a poem in order to gain something from it. Often comprehension takes many readings before an “ah-ha” moment is reached. However, while you are reading, you can be feeling the flow, the passing and falling of the words. You can be sensing emotions though the words. Even without a depth of knowledge, poetry can enlighten through the senses and this enhances thinking and imagination. Poetry gives a sense of perspective through the music of the words.

Why should you care about poetry, a literary form that offers so much? No one says you have to be a William Shakespeare groupie. Neither do you need to be an avid follower of the dark deliciousness of Baudelaire and Poe, the satire of Ogden Nash or the love of the Brownings. But when you open yourself to just one poem once in a while, you are giving yourself a gift of truth, of history, of peace and relaxation, grace and adventure. You allow your soul to fly and be enriched.

Samuel Johnson said, “Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.”
It’s the best of both worlds. You don’t have to be a Poetic Jedi and that’s why you should care.

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Recommended reading: Poems by Agatha Christie (1973) Christie’s first book of poetry, The Road of Dreams, was self-published in 1925.

Paper Bones by me! Contemporary social issues poetry written for everyone and anyone.

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****The following items will always appear to keep you posted on activities.*****

WIP (Works in Progress): 

– NEW BOOK OF POETRY! – expected release July 2016
– first novel in the Evening Bower series, about vampires and other supernatural creatures
– fictional memoir
– four-part fairy story (part one complete)

On the Desk: (next reading): Soulless by Gail Carriger (#1 in a series)

Off the Desk (book just finished): Burned (Alex Verus #7) by Benedict Jacka

Coming Soon:  Princess Week and Guest Blogger PJ LaRue

I’m honored to have met many talented authors from social media and I’m especially delighted when I read an Indie author. That’s why I asked Margie Miklas, experienced and award-wining travel writer, blogger and author to do a guest editorial for you.

Marge and I have not met in person but I’ve come to know her a little from online interactions through Twitter and Facebook. Margie and I shared – and share – a love of Italy (those who know me, know I lived there for several years while I was in the military), a love of good Italian wines and food, and love of travel. When I found out that Margie had Italian roots, traveled to Italy often and wrote about her adventures, well, as has been said, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” We also share a love of photography.

Margie has written two books about her adventures (see below), is an award-winning travel blogger and just recently published a beautiful, coffee table book full of the most gorgeous photographs of Italy you might imagine. She offers perspective, detail,  and her love and enthusiasm for Italy ooze from her.

But she is like the rest of us, too, in that she is learning her way through the publishing quagmire and all the oddities that go with becoming an Indie author. Unlike so many of us, however, Margie has been successful. So I wanted her to talk to you about her journey and experiences.  Thank you, Margie, for honoring me with a visit and I look forward to reading about your continuing adventures!

Margie, take it away…

Some Thoughts on Becoming a Travel Writer

by Margie Miklas

I am honored that my friend and award-winning author, Sherry Rentschler, has invited me to guest post on her brand new site. Thank you so much Sherry. I really appreciate this opportunity.

I believe we can do many things in our lives, no matter the age we might be. A year ago I retired from a satisfying career as a critical-care nurse, and I love the fact that I now have more time to devote to my passions. If you are familiar with my blog or my books, you know that Italy is very close to my heart. I can never seem to get enough of Bella Italia, and I travel there as often as I the opportunity arises. So, of course, writing about my Italy experiences and all things Italian is my passion in life.

I had no idea writing limericks as a child, and creating and editing headlines for our high school newspaper, would foreshadow my future as a travel blogger and a published author. My letters to the editor and my satirical hospital newsletters I wrote were just warm-ups, I guess.

Five years ago I started a travel blog because I wanted a way for my family and friends to be able to follow me while I traveled through Italy alone for three months. The blog was a great way to detail my adventures in word and photos. I found that I enjoyed the comments left by my readers, and the engagement created a way for me to feel connected while I was traveling solo.

Social media was also a way to update my friends, and at that time, Facebook was it. I had no idea about Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Since then, it has become another story, and an important one as far as networking and engaging others with similar interests. But that is another entire post.

After I returned from Italy, I realized that I had a lot more to say, and I decided to write a book based on my travel blog. And that led to a second book, and a third.

I think what determines a writer’s success is passion. When he or she writes from the heart and writes about something for which he or she feels a connection, that is passion. In my earlier writing days, before my blog, I wrote many articles for various online websites, basically content mills, and was happy to be paid a small sum for each article. Some of what I wrote about was related to health and the medical field. When I wrote about travel, and especially about Italy, I felt much more enthused. Frankly, I think the writing was better too, because my heart was in it. So my advice to writers is to write about what moves you. I enjoy reading stories from writers when they write about a personal experience. I find these stories to be inspiring and I have since followed these writers’ blogs and ordered their books.

Another aspect of my writing encompasses photography. I have always enjoyed capturing my experiences with my camera, and have posted thousands of photos on my blog. But in a book comprised mostly of text, photos do not look that great at all, especially in self-published books like my first two. The paper does not do justice to the photos and the formatting frequently gets messed up, with photos not aligned properly and a multitude of other problems.

That is why I was so thrilled to discover a printing company in Canada that made it possible for me to publish a photography book. It has been a dream of mine for more than ten years, and I must thank Sherry for her continued encouragement to finally make it happen. I needed to be assured that the printing quality would be high enough and that the cost could be maintained at an affordable rate. The answer is offset printing, which is different from print-on-demand. With offset printing I had to purchase a large quantity of books upfront, to enable the printing cost per book to be reduced to an affordable sale price.

The other aspect of this is that I needed to teach myself how to work with Adobe InDesign, since I had to format the book and lay out every photo on every page. I learned a lot during this time and the printing company offered wonderful technical support during the process. So if anyone believes the old saying, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” I am here to tell you that is a myth. If you are determined and want something badly enough, you will make it happen.

As someone wrote in a review of my first book, “determination and open-mindedness will allow you to have experiences far beyond your expectations. Age does not matter.” The message is empowering and I would encourage all writers to make this part of your process. I remind myself of this on a daily basis.

–Margie Miklas Margie is an American writer and photographer with a passion for Italy. She writes the blog, margieinitaly. Follow her on Twitter, FaceBook , Instagram, and Pinterest. She is the author of the award-winning book, Memoirs of a Solo Traveler – My Love Affair with Italy and also My Love Affair with Sicily and the recently released Colors of Naples and the Amalfi Coast.