For the TB poets and poetry enthusiasts

[mellowgerman]

I'm really into poetry. I write and read it. Figured there have to be other TBers out there who share this passion.
So why not start a poetry thread?
Post your favorite poetry!

I'll start it off with one of my favs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znIXyFh6dsI
and if you've got the time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhgm_...eature=related

[nutso42]

To be honest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ-ivGJNRe8

[Deluge Of Sound]

Real poetry or slam poetry?

Originally Posted by Shel Silverstein

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends.

The Wasteland - T.S. Elliot
The Hollow Men, also by T.S. Ellio
Tell Her That I Fell - Leo Conellan
Somebody Blew Up America - Amiri Baraka
"Somebody..." really needs to be heard, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUEu-pG1HWw

[Hoover]

When I was a teenager I went through a very prolific period of poetry writing: From age 15 through 19 I wrote over 200 poems, an average of one per week for four years straight. And then

...it just stopped. Like someone shut off a faucet.

In the 30+ years since then I have written maybe 20 poems total. Maybe.

But man, in the 1970s, I was a poet...and I know'd it!

[EdHunter]

This is a piece on the build up to WW2 someone wrote...

A Gathering Cloud

A gathering cloud, as beyond the horizons,
Stuttering rifles ready their orisons.
A darkening storm, a growing fear,
The hour of judgement draws ever near.
A billowing inferno, flames growing higher,
And the bugles prepare in their sad shire.
A final battle, of good versus evil?
Or a horror of horrors, pain unperceivable?

[Skitch it!]

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
When I came home last night at three
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall
I couldn’t see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away

'Antigonish' (1899)

A snippet from Mad Magazine,

There was a man upon the stair
When I looked back, he wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I think he's from the CIA.

[NateS]

There once was a man from nantucket...

I like writing poetry, and reading poetry. Haven't written in quite a while....hmmm....

[mellowgerman]

Originally Posted by Deluge Of Sound

Real poetry or slam poetry?

Slam poetry is just as much poetry as any other type. I just figured I'd post two contemporary poets that I like. Did you listen to the Ross Gay clip?
Also, if I had to pick a favorite, I'd have to say EE Cummings. It's all poetry, just different genres.

P.S. love that performance of somebody blew up america

[Jim Nazium]

From Annunciation: The Words of the Angel by Ranier Maria Rilke:

I'm exhausted now, my way was far,
Forgive me, I've forgotten
What He, who in great gold array, sat throned as in the sun
gave me to tell you, you pensive one
Space has me confused.
Look: I am whatever is beginning.
You though are the tree.