3 ways to read a poem

If you've been reading poetry the way you read other genres in hopes of immediately understanding something interesting or new, you might have missed the vast difference in reading (and maybe writing) poems.

Taken from my paperback A Poet's Guide to Writing Poetry, these three ways to read a poem might help:

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As you read the works of other poets, expect to read each poem at least three times. 

This varies, person by person, but you might read aloud the first time to hear the musicality of a poem. 

Then you might read again, noticing the imagery or anything else that makes the poem outstanding. 

By a third reading, you might begin to enter the experience of the poem, feeling as if you were there or as if it were written just for you.

Mary Harwell Sayler  

P.S. Don't buy A Poet's Guide to Writing Poetry if you already have my former poetry home study course, poet's guide e-book, or earlier paperback!  Since the others went out of print, this one is almost the same.

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Take a poem to lunch

Have you read any delicious poems lately? You can recognize them by their crisp images and yummy words.

Similar to vitamins and minerals needed to replenish weary body cells, poems can replace junk-food thoughts with revitalizing nutrients for the body, mind, and soul.

A problem comes, however, in trying to find appealing poems to devour. Many of them go on and on with nothing new to give those of us who want more than empty calories or rehashed left-overs. Some poems make us turn up our noses at their saccharine sweetness while others seem gross enough to make us gag!

Poems need to be smooth, edible, and not stick in the throat.

Poems need texture, salt, spice, and a colorful garnish.

Poems need to be more melodic than a dinner bell.

As a lifelong lover of poetry, I’ve had the joy of sampling poems with enough variety for almost any taste. A couple of years ago, I wrote about some of those recommendations in “Favorite poets, poetry, and why.” Since then, new works have come to my attention as review copies arrived from poetry book publishers. I’ve undoubtedly missed many, but the following links can help to expand your versatile menu for a healthy, creative life of poetry:

Poetry by some of my favorite poets:

The Life and Death of Poetry: poems by Kelly Cherry

Idiot Psalms by Scott Cairns

Songs from a Wild Place and Estuaries by Jason Kirkey

Eyes Have I That See by priest-poet John Julian

Remembering Softly: a life in poems by Catherine Lawton

Anthologies with works by many poets:

St. Peter’s B-List, anthology

The Paraclete Poetry Anthology

The Seashell Anthology of Great Poetry


Reviews by poet-author Mary Harwell Sayler
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