One of the things that I most often read on the internet is the phrase "I didn't know I needed this in my life until just now." What an interesting sentence that is!
That's what the internet does for us in this day and age. We find ourselves going out and looking at things and ending up in strange places that we never thought we would end up in. Sometimes we find new hobbies that we are dying to try out. Sometimes we find something hilarious that we will share with our friends. Sometimes we find something beautiful that needs to be shared.
Just in the last two weeks I was introduced to several new games that I want to try, the whole lore system of Warhammer 40,000 which is phenomenal, several books that I want to read, a new web series that I want to watch, a web tool that helps me do assigned readings faster, and several more websites.
So in this discussion of the internet and poetry, and in keeping with my theme, I want to share a piece of poetry that I found in a very unusual way. Not in a book, not even on a poetry website. In fact, I wasn't searching for poetry at all.
Showing posts with label poetry online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry online. Show all posts
Friday, January 16, 2015
Technology Links
I
mentioned in my last post that one of my favorite ways to discover and share
poetry I liked was through the social networking sight Tumblr. Unfortunately, I
had not yet ventured much further than Tumblr in the past to discover new poetry,
but today was a turning point! Although I love poetry, it honestly just never
crossed my mind that there were so many resources to find such a vast amount of
incredible poetry.
To
broaden my poetry spectrum I started with a simple search on Instagram. I had
been under the misconception that Instagram was only used to take pictures of
food, and for girls to post selfies that filtered out any flaw! I WAS WRONG!
I
was surprised to find many simple poems with few words, but many of them
expressed deep emotions. I find it so wonderful that we have so many mediums to
convey what we feel, and to discover the similarities through the internet.
YouTube Poetry
So I literally just typed "poetry" in the YouTube search bar expecting nothing and was floored.
Who knew that people were recording themselves in their homes and outside and all over the place reciting original poetry? I certainly didn't. And who would have thought that it would actually be excellent? Not me.
Why are all of these posts about me being pleasantly surprised by literature in the digital age?
I also never really thought to look up different recitations of my own famous poetry. It's a beautiful thing.
As far as I've seen, the poetry corner of YouTube seems to be the stomping grounds of people who actually have something worthwhile to post in the comments ... though of course there were some disappointing things to be read. Ah well, the internet is the best place to anonymously bash other people... but I digress.
I commented on a YouTube video tonight. I liked a few of them. And I learned a lot about the way that people are feeling all over the world in beautifully concise and thoughtfully performed poetry. I was especially drawn to videos of people reciting original poetry about racism. Here's one of my favorites that doesn't have insane swearing in it. Also this one (and I still love JK Rowling!) Just tonight I've started to appreciate what a gift the internet is to these people who can voice their opinions and open the eyes of people around the world to their experiences. There is something so much more personal about watching and listening to someone recite their own poetry than just reading it. I'm starting to appreciate social media as a platform for so much more than narcissism. My friends were delighted to watch the YouTube poetry with me and we marveled together at the lessons we could learn from our peers around the world in this art form.
So again, I'm impressed.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Instagram, and Tumblr, and Youtube! Oh, My!
Social media is like a Russian Matryoshka doll. At first look, it’s a pretty hand-painted wooden doll, but then you open it. Surprise, another pretty hand-painted wooden doll! And another and another. And the last one is so cute because it’s so tiny! (Oh, the joy of tiny things.) Every link we click is like opening that doll and finding something new.
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| Russian Matryoshka Doll Image: link to {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll} |
Original Thought Zone
I have a good friend who told me that when he was growing up he and his siblings were not allowed to quote movies or TV shows at the dinner table or in the car. These times were called "Original Thought Zones." Apparently, their conversations had become so saturated with quotes that their mom was worried that they were going to lose their ability to produce their own thoughts completely.
I kept thinking about the Original Thought Zone as I explored the comments feature on my Kindle. I had been plugging away, reading poems (some sinking in deeper than others), and doing a little bit of highlighting when I decided to see what other people thought about the book "100 Best Loved Poems." And what did I find?
Not a single original thought anywhere!
The only comments made were just quotes from the poems in the book. At first I was disappointed. I decided that all these people should have grown up in homes with an "Original Thought Zone." But I think these comments exemplify exactly what we have been discussing in our class: that we use poetry as a way to express things that we just don't have the capability to express on our own.
I think when we do that we come to "own" those inexpressible experiences and feelings more. They become ours. These people had powerful experiences with these lines and they felt like they needed to repeat them so that they could make them apart of themselves, so that they could be "theirs."
Along with sharing a line from the poem "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman I also decided though that I would add a comment of my own! Here are the lines that grabbed me:
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else."
My comment ties into what I was saying earlier about possession. I said:
"No matter what our place in life is, it is ours. It may seem dull or meaningless to someone else, but it belongs to us. And that matters."
Caution. Entering Original Thought Zone
I kept thinking about the Original Thought Zone as I explored the comments feature on my Kindle. I had been plugging away, reading poems (some sinking in deeper than others), and doing a little bit of highlighting when I decided to see what other people thought about the book "100 Best Loved Poems." And what did I find?
Not a single original thought anywhere!
The only comments made were just quotes from the poems in the book. At first I was disappointed. I decided that all these people should have grown up in homes with an "Original Thought Zone." But I think these comments exemplify exactly what we have been discussing in our class: that we use poetry as a way to express things that we just don't have the capability to express on our own.
I think when we do that we come to "own" those inexpressible experiences and feelings more. They become ours. These people had powerful experiences with these lines and they felt like they needed to repeat them so that they could make them apart of themselves, so that they could be "theirs."
Along with sharing a line from the poem "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman I also decided though that I would add a comment of my own! Here are the lines that grabbed me:
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work,
or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else."
My comment ties into what I was saying earlier about possession. I said:
"No matter what our place in life is, it is ours. It may seem dull or meaningless to someone else, but it belongs to us. And that matters."
New Doesn't Mean Bad
Trying new things can be scary. Especially when it involves something that's expressed from your soul.
So I decided to try an experiment. I posted something I wrote in a couple of different areas on our dear internet. I tried once anonymously on a poetry site, and once on the ever so popular Facebook.
It's interesting to see the response between the two, and obviously time will tell a little better the way the experiment will turn out.
I can honestly say it was more nerve wracking to post to Facebook to people I know and care about. Isn't it an interesting phenomenon to be more frightened by expressing myself to family than to express myself to strangers. One interesting aspect of posting to people I know, is it was a much more immediate response. People wondering where it came from, or what it's about, or even simply "liking" it. But after a couple of hours, it seems to have been forgotten.
However, posting anonymously to a poetry site where I could sort of tag what my poem was about about and having it in a place where thousands of people are constantly browsing, and the feedback keeps just randomly coming, and doesn't seem to stop. This is a place where poets of all stages come to look for publishing opportunities, critique, or even just to get their work out there. It also gave me a way to find other poetry and compare side to side the differences in writing and technique between the old and the new.
One other aspect that I've found to love is the poem community on Goodreads. It's fascinating to go through different poems and see what parts others love and the different viewpoints everyone has that I would have never thought about.
Overall, there's still so much I have to learn about how poetry is growing and thriving in the new world, but it's an exciting new prospect for me to try out!
So I decided to try an experiment. I posted something I wrote in a couple of different areas on our dear internet. I tried once anonymously on a poetry site, and once on the ever so popular Facebook.
It's interesting to see the response between the two, and obviously time will tell a little better the way the experiment will turn out.
I can honestly say it was more nerve wracking to post to Facebook to people I know and care about. Isn't it an interesting phenomenon to be more frightened by expressing myself to family than to express myself to strangers. One interesting aspect of posting to people I know, is it was a much more immediate response. People wondering where it came from, or what it's about, or even simply "liking" it. But after a couple of hours, it seems to have been forgotten.
However, posting anonymously to a poetry site where I could sort of tag what my poem was about about and having it in a place where thousands of people are constantly browsing, and the feedback keeps just randomly coming, and doesn't seem to stop. This is a place where poets of all stages come to look for publishing opportunities, critique, or even just to get their work out there. It also gave me a way to find other poetry and compare side to side the differences in writing and technique between the old and the new.
One other aspect that I've found to love is the poem community on Goodreads. It's fascinating to go through different poems and see what parts others love and the different viewpoints everyone has that I would have never thought about.
Overall, there's still so much I have to learn about how poetry is growing and thriving in the new world, but it's an exciting new prospect for me to try out!
Redefining the Poem
As I browsed the Web today, searching out the modern poetry of my contemporaries, I have come to the realization that poetry is nothing like I thought that it was. I mean, growing up, I was taught that poems are supposed to rhyme and be descriptive and sometimes witty and nice to read. As I surfed around a few online forums, I discovered just what poetry has come to be.
Anything you want it to be. About anything you want it to be. Really.
I sat down and read lots and lots of poems. Poems about bad dates and drugs and old books and sadness and happiness and drinking your life away. Well, I guess the content hasn't changed that much, now that I think about it.
Anything you want it to be. About anything you want it to be. Really.
I sat down and read lots and lots of poems. Poems about bad dates and drugs and old books and sadness and happiness and drinking your life away. Well, I guess the content hasn't changed that much, now that I think about it.
But the form? I found
a few poems that were like, a line. And
the comments went wild! I guess I just
need a little more practice with the modern take on poetry.
However, I did think it was pretty cool that I COULD do
this. And don’t get me wrong, I found a
few gems that were truly inspiring! As I
browsed the comments, I found that the authors had linked the poems to their
blogs and Youtube profiles as well.
That is a GREAT idea! How nice to
be able to connect all your work so easily and attract followers!
This got me thinking.
What if all the present-day technology had been around when the classic
poets were writing back in the old times?
It would be sweet! I bet you’d
hear people all over saying, “Oh my gosh, did you SEE what Shakespeare threw
down on the forum last night?! ‘To be or
not to be…’ He’s soooo hipster!”
Wouldn’t that be great?
{Look, he has an earring. Hipster when it was still frowned upon.}
Anyway, this experience has definitely been
enlightening. I’ve discovered new ways
to find other poets, new ways to have my own work read, and new…ideas on what
poetry is in and of itself.
User, Not Consumer
Today I became a user of the online literary world.
It might seem silly, but before today, I had never before commented on a random person's post--let alone someone's personal poetry.
But, I did it. I'd be wrong to admit that I wasn't a little scared and intimidated of breaking my little, personal bubble of internet. I mean, I've never so much as "liked" a video on Youtube. Ultimately, though, it was a little refreshing to offer my thoughts to someone else.
I joined a poetry group on Goodreads. I then stumbled upon a "personal poetry review" thread. I scrolled through a bunch of...er...interesting poems until I found one I liked. The comment that I left wasn't really spectacular at all, but it was certainly a unique experience.
Click here to find the poem.
For the first time ever, I watched a poetry video. The poem I decided to memorize is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet "How Do I Love Thee." Some of you might think it cliche, but I am a class A sap for romance. I wanted to hear it read aloud, so I searched for one on YouTube. (I don't remember who suggested the idea in class, but thanks!)
Here is the video:
I very rarely listen to poetry, so it was the coolest to hear Elizabeth Barrett Browning's little sonnet read aloud. The guy who recited the poem read it with so much gusto I couldn't help but feel he had someone special in mind.
I have also spent some time highlighting things on my kindle. I love that I can look up words and terms with the click of a button. I also enjoy the little feature that allows one to see what other people have highlighted and noted. All in all, the kindle is one of my new favorite things.
It might seem silly, but before today, I had never before commented on a random person's post--let alone someone's personal poetry.
But, I did it. I'd be wrong to admit that I wasn't a little scared and intimidated of breaking my little, personal bubble of internet. I mean, I've never so much as "liked" a video on Youtube. Ultimately, though, it was a little refreshing to offer my thoughts to someone else.
I joined a poetry group on Goodreads. I then stumbled upon a "personal poetry review" thread. I scrolled through a bunch of...er...interesting poems until I found one I liked. The comment that I left wasn't really spectacular at all, but it was certainly a unique experience.
Click here to find the poem.
For the first time ever, I watched a poetry video. The poem I decided to memorize is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet "How Do I Love Thee." Some of you might think it cliche, but I am a class A sap for romance. I wanted to hear it read aloud, so I searched for one on YouTube. (I don't remember who suggested the idea in class, but thanks!)
Here is the video:
I very rarely listen to poetry, so it was the coolest to hear Elizabeth Barrett Browning's little sonnet read aloud. The guy who recited the poem read it with so much gusto I couldn't help but feel he had someone special in mind.
I have also spent some time highlighting things on my kindle. I love that I can look up words and terms with the click of a button. I also enjoy the little feature that allows one to see what other people have highlighted and noted. All in all, the kindle is one of my new favorite things.
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