General Chat:

[PaintedDiary]

My question is “What Is Poetry?” …Which also can be translated to “What Is Poetry To You?”… not what it means, but what is it, what is poetry?

I did a quick Google search and below are a few things I read, and the last being my question.

*Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response.

*Perhaps the characteristic most central to the definition of poetry is its unwillingness to be defined, labeled, or nailed down.

*I also read a quote that said Poetry isn’t poetry unless it contradicts itself.

*Is it the birds, the sky, the meadow, the kitchen, beauty, or is it an "I don't know" answer, lol?

I would love to see all the similar and different responses from our diverse community with different backgrounds, training, ways of thinking, experiences, and etc.

So please post your respose to “What Is Poetry?” or “What is Poetry To You?”

{{{~~~***KIMBERLY***~~~}}}

[KayaOtah]

What is Poetry To You?

To me, poetry is something to do, to learn to strive for better. Also, you can express yourself in poetry, like when you're happy, your write something cheerful, and when you're sad, you probably will right someting negative, or something to cheer you up. Poetry is also a form to test your creativity. Write hard !! Enjoy Hard !!
*smiles*

[Sally Roberts]

Poetry is.... The deepest abyss of infinity.

An endless cocaphony of words, Large vasts that struggle to conform lines into verses. Taunting the brain to expel what data it holds.

Poetry is...Writing from the heart bringing it out on the front lines for inspection.

Poetry speaks from the depths of the mind.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::::::::::::::


Or it also can be summed up with a famous quote by Helen Keller when she said.

" The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart."

[Visionary]

This is about music but I think it's applicable to poetry too and my favorite.

We are the music makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams.
World-losers and world-forsakers
On which the pale moon gleams.
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever it seems.

Unknown

[Visionary]

To me poetry is the legitimate kin of legend, myth, and fable
that had brightened the hearth
in many lands through many ages.

In its most beautiful or visionary
it can give us a feast as we trudge
the bean rows of circumstance.

As a well-enjoyed wine one can sip
from the lofty, the lusty, or the absurd.

In its humor it is a loudish laugh
at man's neglects, reputations, and beliefs.

In its nobility suggests
duty to one's God, country and kin.

On its dark side
the ardently morbid find companionship.

In its gallantry it would feed the spirits
of those who long to see better days
of freedom, understand, and love.

Wearing its armor it gives voice against
aggression, injustice, and greed

In its intensity words well written
can be the holy grail of harmony.

[Checkmate]

Poetry defined
(Or what does it mean to me)
Freedom of the mind

Entering new realms
Escaping reality
Starting a journey

Opening up doors
A path to enlightenment
The mind is broadened

Pushing through jungles
While searching for the clearing
The source of new thoughts

A cleansing of sorts
Refreshing a stagnant soul
Rebirth of grey matter

Exploring frontiers
Expanding the horizons
A new land conquered

So now you all know
As put into my own words
Poetry defined

Funny you should ask this question...here is the post i submitted the other night in the haiku collection submission thread...guess i answered it before you asked...reading your mind maybe...lol

[Checkmate]

love the definitions i've read so far...great posts all of you.

[PaintedDiary]

!! Great Responses Everyone and your responses are like poetry themselves! Love all of them, and Keep'm Comin!

Scott even posted the answer even before I posted this question!!!!! How's that for being poetically connected!

{{{~~~***KIM***~~~}}}

[lasher]

Hey, wasssuupp? I found this meaning in the Wikipedia dictionary on-line. I’ll try to break this down because in a manner of speaking, even though the end of this definition seems to be jibberish (to me anyway), it pretty much hits the nail on the head.

Poetry (from the Greek "ποίησις," poesis—a "making" or "creating") is a form of art in which language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its ostensible meaning. ???? Eh?? In plain English………

When one writes poetry one is definitely making or creating. Poetry is most certainly an art, it is a difficult talent to grip – nevermind master, it is not for the faint of heart.

Poetry is to writing as BMW is to cars.

Poetry is an author’s most personal thoughts and insights into whatever the topic
might be, maybe a watch or a candle or one’s own city or mayhap even a dung
beetle sitting atop a great big heaping pile of… of.. well, you get the idea.

Poetry is taking our everyday language and, using the least amount of words
possible, creating a visual representation - in words - for the reader to
decypher. Not making it too easy nor too difficult for the reader to understand.

Poetry is a work of words which will take a reader on the trip of a lifetime.

Poetry is “expression in motion” on paper.

Poetry is a moonlit lake, a field of tulips, a mountain range, white water rivers
coursing through forested canyons, a thunderstorm and yes, a dung beetle
sitting atop a great big, heaping pile of… of.. well, you get the idea.

Poetry is a personal art form which lives and breathes the quirks and habits of each and every poet wielding a pen – which is why there are so many talented poets out there to enjoy.

[~Serenity~]

Poetry?
Expressing the unexpressable
Unsupressing the supressable
Bearing the unbearable
Sharing the unshareable
Loving the unloveable

..you know. stuff like that. in my mind at least