Poetry Thursday: It Seems Like a Meme

The prompt this week on Poetry Thursday is something a little different - a meme! Anyone who has spent any time around RSR at all knows I looooves me some memes, so excuse me a moment while I do a happy little Snoopy Dance around the room. (lalala lalala lalaaaaa....lalalaaa lalalaaaa....) Aaahhh, that was fun. Now on to the meme. The part supplied by the prompt is in bold type while the answers I added are in not-so-bold type. 1. The first poem I remember reading/hearing/reacting to was probably Dr. Seuss. (And don't EVEN try to tell me that "Green Eggs and Ham" isn't poetry!) 2. I was forced to memorize "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" in school and um....well...nothing really. There is no "and" to that. That would be the first poem I remember being required to memorize, but I don't recall it having any significant impact on my life other than being a handy way to remember the signal in the church tower..."one if by land, and two if by sea, and I on the opposite shore will be, ready to ride and spread the alarm, to every Middlesex village and farm..." 3. I read/don't read poetry because it makes my heart sing and makes images dance through my head. 4. A poem I'm likely to think about when asked about a favorite poem is "High Flight." I know y'all must get tired of me bringing that one up so often, but it's one of the very first poems that ever made me want to read more poetry. 5. I write/don't write poetry, but not very often, and not very confidently. 6. My experience with reading poetry differs from my experience with reading other types of literature because for me poetry is more about the language itself - the rhythms and imagery of the words - and the feelings they evoke; while reading novels is more about the characters and the plot as driven by those characters, and if those stories happen to contain beautiful language and imagery then yay!...so much the better...but that's not why I read novels. 7. I find poetry in unexpected phrases that get stuck in my head and spark other images. Also, I find poetry in the poetry section of my book shelves. Ahem. 8. The last time I heard poetry was probably when I listened to an audio link posted by other bloggers. I seldom read poems aloud (although I really should!) and I'm not exactly in a part of the country that's big on poetry readings. 9. I think poetry is like a painting made of words. That doesn't mean I think it needs to be "pretty," just that it needs to capture something...some moment in time, some emotion or dream, some glimpse of truth, whether beautiful or ugly or anywhere in between. It's a way of looking at life and the world around us a little differently than we normally do. Here's today's Daily Art Thang: "Entanglement" (clickable if you want to see it larger in a new window) Want to hear more about the world of poetry? Then check out links at the Poetry Thursday blog.