News and Thoughts
"I Know That Is Poetry"
“If I read a book [and] it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”
— Emily Dickinson in a letter to her mentor and friend Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 1870
I’m editing a book that references many famous poems. It’s lovely to be reminded of poems I haven’t read in years and to be introduced to new works as well.
Poetry, sadly, gets a bad rap in schools. I think that’s partly because teachers are discouraged from assigning any poems that might be considered suggestive, upsetting, or controversial. I’m a big Emily Dickinson fan, and I’ve always regretted that she’s represented in English classes by poems like “A Narrow Fellow in the Grass.” I mean, it’s a nifty little poem, but it’s a snooze-fest if you’re sixteen. I might suggest “Wild Nights—Wild Nights!” That’d make ‘em sit up and take notice. Or what about “Dare you see a Soul at the ‘White Heat’?" If that one doesn’t make you feel physically as if the top of your head were taken off, well, you need to get the top of your head checked. (Possibly the whole head.)
The boredom of many high school poetry lessons leads to adults who think they hate poetry. Some probably would hate it even if they knew it better, but others might be surprised by how much they like it now that they’re allowed to roam its full depth and breadth. Poetry delights, moves, and comforts me and always has—which is one of the reasons I like to share a poem in each edition of the "Savvy Writer." This month I'm also highlighting the work of my friend Missy Brownson; look for her exhibition at the Loudoun House in the "Events" section.
I’m very grateful to all the poets who bring their gifts to the world.
Sarah Jane