Acquired Tastes: Poetry

While I never could write decent poetry, I remain very much in awe of people who can. It is this willingness to be "blown away" or thunderstruck, I think, that is responsible for whatever critical faculties I possess in appreciating good poetry. (Please note that my inability to properly, and accurately, convey the impact poetry has on me is indicative of my meager poetry writing skills.)

First, allow me to share a link to Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project, a site dedicated towards celebrating, documenting and promoting poetry's role in Americans' lives. It's a laudable venture, if only for assuming that poetry still plays a vital role in the lives of everyday people. That charming conceit, among others, will probably keep me visiting the site.

Second, here is a link to a poem read by Freeman Rogers on Slate entitled The Gaijin in the Teachers' Room in December, which ends:

Instead, he scribbles: what's inside of me,
even as I try to be dutiful,
that makes me dread
the cold will spread
and snow will turn the dreary scenery
to something beautiful?

Lastly, here is an admonition from yours truly: live everyday as if you were a poem. It is only by doing so that we encounter, on a daily basis, a grace akin to truly great poetry.