the tower

I started the idea of explaining the poems originally because every poem I would write, my family would say it was lovely ‘but’, with the but being that they clearly couldn’t understand a word. Then as I read more poetry I realised that some poetry was so deeply disguised in metaphors that I would also struggle to understand it, even though I would often read it over and over again until I had my own interpretation, (e.g Wallace Stevens – who in my humble opinion was a genius – ‘the emperor of ice cream’) . On the one hand I believe that the beauty of any art form is in the individual interpretation and that should be encouraged (= for any art form; poetry, music, sculpture, painting etc) so that once the artists creates it, it ceases to belong solely to the artist as it takes on the equally valid interpretations of the viewer/listener; (think Sphere Within Sphere by Arnaldo Pomodoro, what does it say to you ? ) but that said, sometimes it’s nice to have a helping hand and, having been to music college where there were teachers who could find deep meanings in the back of cornflake packets, I think if anyone is going to help you, it might as well be the artist/creator. Ideally, I believe that most really good poetry should have that flexibility of interpretation that enables the reader to fire up their imagination and put their own stamp on it. I suppose, to conclude, there are some really amazing poets on WordPress, and I just think it would be lovely if poetry could be opened up to the masses beyond the lyrics of teenage pop stars ! Thank you Eugenia!

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