How to Read a 300 Page Poetry Collection
It starts out with so much potential
I flip to the ones I like
I start at the back
and work my way to the middle
then lose my place
and wander in circles
like poring through clothes
at the Goodwill Thrift Shop
and trying on the same ones twice
________Colleen Redman / Poets United / Imaginary Garden with Real Toads
January 20th, 2019 2:25 am
I like to dip in as well.
January 20th, 2019 9:38 am
Ha, a good way indeed! Love that ‘Goodwill Thrift Shop’ ref.
January 20th, 2019 9:50 am
That’s just about how I read volumes of poetry too!
January 20th, 2019 10:01 am
Ha, I understand this! Identify with it again and again!
January 20th, 2019 11:46 am
Smiles. I love the idea of book as thrift store…..two of my favourite things.
January 20th, 2019 12:43 pm
absolutely …. poetry circles in and within, on and about – best approach to consider …. throw the pebble into the pond and chase down the ripples ….
who needs to follow Alice when one can dive into a poetic tome?
great poem!
January 20th, 2019 12:49 pm
I think that is why the only poetry book I’ve ever read from beginning to end is “the world’s wife” by Carol Ann Duffy…
That’s why I would like my first collection to be around a single theme and have a narrative arc…
January 20th, 2019 5:25 pm
That’s the way I read a collection, too. I love the randomness. 🙂
January 20th, 2019 7:57 pm
Hi Colleen, I enjoyed this! Wandering through a book of poems can be great fun, discovering something different hiding ‘tween the pages! Not so much fun wandering in circled through a novel though… 🙂 …still a beautiful smile…
January 20th, 2019 9:15 pm
Yup! Been there, done that, and bought the shirt.
This was delightful. : )
ZQ
January 20th, 2019 10:21 pm
Poetry books offer us the freedom to start anywhere we like. I sometimes just open to a random page and let the oracle of words speak to me.
Enjoyed your verse…
January 21st, 2019 4:55 am
That made me laugh!
January 22nd, 2019 5:31 pm
I enjoyed this! I like to start at the back and work my way forward (except with novels!). Very nice
January 22nd, 2019 7:06 pm
I tend to become overwhelmed and lost too!
January 22nd, 2019 11:49 pm
Aha, that’s the way it goes. In this circuitous manner, we end up reading and cherishing our favourites. Again and again. You evoked this experience so well.
January 23rd, 2019 7:18 pm
The times I have spent wandering through the Goodwill and poetry collections. Sometimes I walked out without buying a thing but I always finished the book!