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Feb. 28, 2005 What makes a poem a poem, and a piece of prose, just that, a piece of prose? I would say, should you ask a number of people you’d get different answers, but to me there are a few rich elements that make the distinction, let me explain. A poem is like a period it may not be needed, but it does something—a period stops something, or is suppose to. Some people use too many, others not enough, and still some wisely. Most times when I’m writing in prose, from paragraph to paragraph they get in my way to tell you the truth, that is why in poetry I use them sparingly, they are like insects they can eat a crop in a clap of an eye, or take the flow away from a poem faster tan a wasp; rob its intensity. But anyhow, like poetry, periods are needed in our language, or so it would seem. A poem in its simplest form should affect you directly, and again this is my perspective, if not many others. It is personal. Prose wants truth, poetry wants expression and emotion. In poetry we are using all the elements of language. In conveying meaning, meaning does not care about rhyme or sound per se, but poetry does, it wants you to remember the effect, where prose wants to dig into truth placid more. Truth sees a seagull flying at night to a destination; a poet may see the seagull flying foolishly and aimlessly in the night; or perhaps to enchant the stars. A poem appeals to the senses—or so I feel it should; which creates images in the mind, which is its task. So I use the two elements, image and effect in writing a poem above all else. Form comes into play, but not at the expense of effect. In one poem I use—to get my point across, if not feelings across, and I shall paraphrase—: I’d like to push down the throats of the hawks of the world, chicken bones: my wife said what a way of putting it. I said ‘…it got your attention did it not?’ It got affect. In prose often you are writing a narrative report, nothing personal per se. In poetry, I am personal; you get to know me through expression and my emotion, and this is of course by the means of words. I cannot help it; it is there, no matter what. You’ve heard people say, “Don’t take it personal,” in poetry that is how one digests the words, into their character; I give the poem a perchance private meaning, one that belongs to me, and then on to you. And yes, there is pleasure in poetry (like water, it can be calming), and we want this, who cannot say a nice, good or effective poem is not pleasurable to our senses. It is the images one creates that provoke this I do believe. So in a way, regularity, what is so demanding in a long or short story, may not be in a poem, yet the full use of language is required for the splendor of a poem to emerge, or so I believe, thus, reliability is an ongoing theme in a poem; I mean, if you are going east, keep going that way, unless otherwise noted. In one poem I wrote referring to “The Café…” it has deep emotional inferences, where as another, ‘The Poles,’ may not have, yet show a good example for the reader to enjoy, or be inspired in analysis. Enjoyment or devastation, one may have to look for symbolic meanings. And sometimes great demands are made on the reader to unlock such symbols. Thus we have to use imagination, intelligence, knowledge, the whole core of life. ------------ About the author: Mr. Siluk is a world traveler, a lover of the mysteries around the world, and has visit many World Heritage Sites, his most recent being Easter Island, the Galapagos and Mesa Verde. His books can be seen on/at Barns and Noble.com, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Abe.com Alibis, Boarders and several other sites and book stores. Many of his books can be purchased through the English Bookdealers. He spends his time between Lima, Peru and St. Paul, Minnesota, and has just finished working on two new books: "The Macabre Poems,” and “Perhaps it’s Love,” and continues to work on "Curse of the Abyss Worm,” a suspenseful mystery, and “Cold Kindness,” a tragic love affair. Visit http://dennissiluk.tripod.com Email: dlsiluk@msn.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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