Brief impressions of great poets

 

For decades, I devoured poetry! Traditional poems, contemporary poems, free verse, haiku, or indiscernible forms didn’t matter. I was so hungry to write delectable poems, I gorged myself on those I admired.

When my vision declined, however, I had to reduce my poetry diet to very large print books, so my formerly over-stacked shelves of poetry have now dwindled to three. 

Since I no longer have books by all of the poets who came to mind, my recollections might not match your impressions. With mere memories of my favorites to go by, I’ll keep these briefs brief by confining my thoughts to the syllabic count of haiku:

 

Billy Collins Reads the Dictionary

which syncs with his high
cerebral forehead and his
cover of quick wit.

…

Mary Oliver Memorialized Earth

by looking closely
and finding beauty in un-
expected places.

…

Charles Wright Seeks Spirituality

though viewing afar,
declining to embrace it
with free abandon.

…

Jory Graham’s Exquisite Poems

use gorgeous language –
often indecipherable
to avid readers.

…

Carl Sandburg Spoke Plainly

of Chicago life
for us to experience
even in the fog.

…

Richard Wright Wrote Haiku

observing little
moments in everyday life.
We identify!

…

Wallace Stevens Titles

act as an entry
into his poems, giving us
a clue to meaning.

…

The Book of Psalms

shows faith in action.
In hard circumstances, praise
stands as sacrifice.

…

Have you written a poem about your favorite poet? If so, you’re welcome to post it in the comments section below.

 

Mary Harwell Sayler
a lover of God and poetry

Poems about poets

If you ever lack a subject that interests you enough to write a poem, do what other poets do and write about other poets! If you want to make a humorous connection, write in a style totally unlike the poet you’re writing about, which is what happened in the poem below.

To be honest, I didn’t plan this, but right in the middle of my determination to learn about prose poems, read prose poetry anthologies, and experiment with writing prose poems, I happened to see an elderly man with white hair and flowing beard who reminded me of Walt Whitman. As those of you who have read Leaves of Grass or other works by Whitman know, he wrote free verse freely with no line constrains like traditional verse has and no linear limits like paragraphs impose. So, here’s the poem pretty much as it came to me.


Leaving Walt at the Mall
by Mary Harwell Sayler

Coming out of Dunkin’ Donut, I walked right by Walt Whitman without even speaking. You know how he likes to include everyone in a conversation and so can go on a bit, but I just wanted to get home before my caffeine let down. Later I felt bad about giving him nothing more than a nod, especially since I’m sure his driver’s license expired long ago. He’s been gone for over 100 years now and was almost that old when he died, so I could have at least offered him a ride somewhere, but he might not have liked being confined in this little boxcar of a poem.


©2013, Mary Harwell Sayler, all rights reserved. Please do not use without permission. The poem “Leaving Walt at the Mall” originally appeared in the book Living in the Nature Poem, published in 2012 by Hiraeth Press.

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