[New-Poetry] and yet it remains undefined...

[jforjames at aol.com]

define a housecat
A semi-animate piece of furniture.
Finnegan


-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Grumman <bobgrumman at nut-n-but.net>
Bcc: jforjames at aol.com
Sent: Fri, 14 Sep 2007 5:12 pm
Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] and yet it remains undefined...


It's not hard to define poetry as easily as one can define a housecat; what is hard is getting those who consider poetry sacred to accept any definition of it--just as those who consider life sacred will disdain any attempt to define a housecat.  Intellectual nihilists, who disdain all definitions of anything because no definition can be perfect will also always be with us.

--Bob

jforjames at aol.com wrote: 
Dennis Barone and I were talking today about how one tries to define poetry, the difficulty
and futility of even trying. I was saying to him that there are two basic categories of
definitions... 
1) The short, poetic and pithy ones which are memorable but not very emcompassing.
2) The long and explanatory ones that still fail to map the ambit of the art while dragging their chain
of prose.

Anyway this my last humble attempt to define what poetry is:

Words organized for affect; often employing the effects of sound, imagery and metaphor
through compressed expressions marked by their nuance or unusual perspective.

It sort falls in the second category...but the semi-colon gives the first part some aphoristic
punch, and what follows begins to bear the affect-effects thought echo. So it pleased me,
as far it goes. But my only real insight into the matter is this:

One definition of poetry is one’s defense of poetry.
-&-
Let your next poem openly refute your last definition of poetry.



Finnegan 
Email and AIM finally together. You've gotta check out free AOL Mail!



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