Near the end of the movie ET, young Elliott watches in horror as scientists enclosed in a sterile bubble and protected by Tyvek suits prepare to slice and dice into his beloved alien friend. Unable to recognize the magic of the extra-terrestrial or receive him as a gift, the researchers default to the only approach they understand. They plan to dissect and analyze him to see what made him tick.
If poetry was an alien life form—and I’m not stipulating it’s not—I might be tempted to approach it clad only in Tyvek while wielding sharp instruments.
For months I’ve quietly eavesdropped on a group of poets who gather in this corner of the internet at Tweetspeak Poetry. Every once in a while I drop by to look at what they are reading and listen to what they are saying about it. Rarely do I speak up or make my presence known. If someone notices me in the room I just stand there, smiling and nodding—a quizzical look on my face—because I have no idea what these people, these poets are talking about. Frankly, poetry scares me more than a little.
I remember when my children studied poems in high school, dissecting and analyzing the poor things stanza-by-stanza and line-by-line. They learned about meter and rhyme, and filled worksheets with stress and breve markings to delineate each iambic, trochaic, and anapestic foot. Whenever I’ve thought about dipping a big toe into the poetry pond, I’ve assumed I would need to consult those old workbooks just to help me keep my head above water.
I get bogged down by things like why poets break their lines where they do. I try to count words and syllables, attempt to feel the rhythm and find the music. I flail about as I read, seeing patterns shift and vary wildly, refusing to settle into any kind of order I can make sense of. I keep thinking maybe if the words of a poem were fitted into a spreadsheet I might be able to detect some kind of underlying structure. It might make more sense to me. I have no clue about what makes one poetic form work better than another. And when I listen to poets discussing their craft I feel as though I am hearing another language.
Then along came The Poetry Dare.
A Tweetspeak editor took note of me standing uncomfortably at the edge of the poetry circle, hands dug deep into the pockets of my Tyvek suit, and devised a little experiment, asking me to be the subject.
The hypothesis: Repeated daily exposure to poetic works may reduce symptoms of anxiety among poetry-averse readers. Under the expert guidance and supervision of poet Megan Willome, I will consume a poem a day. Megan will monitor my reactions, fully aware I may at any time break out into hives or require administration of oxygen.
I will document my results and provide occasional updates as we seek to answer the question, “Will one scientific mathematical poetry-non-lover survive the dare to read a poem a day?”
Who knows? Perhaps I may one day even make friends with this alien life form.
Photo by DesignShard, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Nancy Franson.
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Elizabeth W. Marshall says
Nancy, this is delightful and so are you. I am sitting as still as a July day in South Carolina waiting and watching this experiment unfold. This is fun stuff. Thanks for agreeing to be the object of the experiment. You are brave. Anything for science, or art, or the cause. You go valiant you.
Nancy Franson says
Thank you, my friend. You can be an honorary member of my resuscitation team should I get in over my head. I know you write lovely poetry; I just don’t understand how or why. Yet.
Elizabeth W. Marshall says
Honored to be on the resuscitation team which will not in fact ever be needed 🙂 But honored and standing at the ready nonetheless. This….
“Poetry is ordinary language raised to the Nth power. Poetry is boned with ideas, nerved and blooded with emotion, all held together by the delicate, tough skin of words.” Paul Engle
I thought this would appeal to the mathematician in you 🙂
Sandra Heska King says
It appeals to me!
JoAnn says
It’s very simple Nancy….don’t follow the rules. Just read Dr. Seuss everyday. Make up words and throw grammar out the window. Write from your soul, even if your soul wants to use the word “potato” in a way your brain finds offensive.
LOVE YOU! xoxoxox
Nancy Franson says
Don’t follow the rules–have you met me, JoAnn? These folks certainly have their work cut out for them, choosing me as a test subject!
Will Willingham says
Nancy, potatoes can also be sliced and diced. So it seems quite perfect for you.
I think it was Shakespeare who wrote,
Shall I compare thee to a russet potato?
Thou art more lovely and delicious baked.
Nancy Franson says
Some might suggest half-baked. The envious ones.
L. L. Barkat says
I love JoAnn’s advice. Perhaps we should all write a potato poem today (where is Maureen when we need her? 😉
Nancy, you have the one thing quite necessary for a life in poetry… and that is a sense of humor. Some of the best poets are know are amazingly funny people. (Just ask Tania Runyan 🙂 )
Nancy Franson says
I like forward to reading any and all potato poems. And then having Megan explain them to me.
Ann Kroeker says
You don’t believe this, but I actually wrote a potato poem, and it won a contest. I swear this is not a joke.
I’ll post it at my blog right now.
Ann Kroeker says
Nancy, a hint: it’s not about the potatoes.
Ann Kroeker says
Okay, here’s the poem: http://annkroeker.com/2013/07/02/field-hands-a-poem/
L. L. Barkat says
not sure if my comment went through at your place. I said you are a poet. It’s true. You might not know yet that you are a poet 🙂
Ann Kroeker says
I *used to be* a poet, long ago (note the copyright on that potato poem). Then I veered from the path and got all prosy. 🙂
Will Willingham says
Once a king or queen in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia.
Marilyn Yocum says
I loved our potato poem, Ann!
Marilyn Yocum says
I meant YOUR potato poem. Love it!
Ann Kroeker says
We should all have potato salad on the 4th of July. Marilyn, you can share mine. Then it will be *ours*. 🙂
Ann Kroeker says
Nancy, sit with a bunch of Billy Collins poems first, because I think you’ll find a kindred spirit–someone funny having fun with the whole thing.
And may I say how jealous I am that you have a poetry mentor in Megan?
Also, check in with Tania Runyan’s “How to Read a Poem” series on Fridays this summer. She’s a great teacher (fun and funny, too). She shows that reading and appreciating poetry is not so much about scansion. It’s about…well, check out her first one: https://www.tweetspeakpoetry.com/2013/06/28/how-to-read-a-poem/
Nancy Franson says
You had to know I was going to jump at any chance to hang out with Megan. L.L. recommended Tania’s article and I’ve got it printed out and sitting right next to me as I type.
I guess it’s evident I’m in desperate need of remedial assistance if I’m going to survive this dare!
Will Willingham says
I need to go look up the word scansion …
A few moments later …
Who knew? There’s a word for that.
Nancy Franson says
I actually did know the word scansion. I think I read it in my kids’ poetry homework.
Ann Kroeker says
This person, who seems to be using a fake accent of some kind, had some fun putting together a casual but instructive video about scansion. A quick and easy way to learn the basics.
Ann Kroeker says
I would like to say, in my defense, I had no idea the video would embed so HUGE here in the comment thread. If you’d like me to delete it, I will.
Sandra Heska King says
SQUEEE!
There once was a potato named Nancy
Who thought poetry was not her fancy
But with one poem a day
I will venture to say
She will dance like a boa’d chimpanzee!
Nancy Franson says
Wait . . . I know this one. Limerick, right?
And that may perhaps be the first time I’ve ever seen my name rhymed with chimpanzee though, surprisingly, not the first chimp poem I’ve had written about me.
Will Willingham says
I am trying really hard to locate that chimp poem.
L. L. Barkat says
this one?
http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward/preview?u=9e5e4dd4731a9649c1dd1cf58&id=93620b71bd
Nancy Franson says
That one inspired a personalized version which I keep next to my desk. I get a little misty-eyed every time I read it.
Will Willingham says
Nope, this one:
She said chimp @#)$! crazy
on Twitter
on Good Friday.
It was poetry’s fault.
A tribe of fools who
knew her name
knew her type (A)
and had her number
typed in a spreadsheet
where cells don’t divide
without the right formula
But the sum total
can be counted
in pink feathers draped
over one’s neck,
a boa that does not constrict
but teases
gently
Just give in to it
or go chimp @#)$! crazy
Donna says
LOL! 😀
Nancy Franson says
That’s the one. Tears to my eyes, I tell you; tears to my eyes.
Sandra Heska King says
How. Did. I. Miss. That???
Hilarious!
Megan Willome says
I just want to say this has been fun for me, too. It makes me read the Every Day Poems more carefully, thinking about what I like or don’t like. And it’s always fun to talk poetry with a friend. Long live the aliens!
Nancy Franson says
Which reminds me, I need to do today’s homework.
Long live the aliens indeed!
Will Willingham says
Love what you two are doing together here.
Michelle DeRusha says
Nancy, I’m with you, girl. Poetry baffles me. It intimidates me. Writing it. Reading it. Everything. And I was an English major! {maybe that’s the problem?}
Sometimes I like to listen to Garrison Keillor read the poem of the day on Writers’ Almanac (NPR). Something about hearing it read aloud helps.
Ann Kroeker says
Michelle, be sure to check on Friday here at Tweetspeak. Tania Runyan is leading a summer series on How to Read a Poem. I think you’ll appreciate her series, and, perhaps, appreciate poetry a little more, as well.
Nancy Franson says
Michelle, I think you and I are wired the same way. Neither one of us can make heads or tails out of Magic Eye pictures either.
I think part of the reason I’ve been so poetry-avoidant is because I feel like this is something I should know; I should understand. I should be able to stare at it long enough that the picture will emerge.
So part of this project is just giving myself permission, and others as well, to say out loud, “I don’t get it. Is there any hope of me learning any of this now?” Old dog, new tricks.
That, and getting to have fun with all the folks over here.
Laura Brown says
Michelle, weren’t there any poems you loved during your English major time? Any lines that got lodged in your mind?
Heather Eure says
I like the way poetry is described here (although there are lots of ways to describe it). Perhaps you’ll find it a little enlightening…hope so. Well done, you in the effort.
“During most of our lives, we simply ignore the gaps in sense, but poetry can use language in a way that brings them to our attention. And once they’ve come to our attention, we start to notice that new things, new kinds of sense, accrete in them. These points of breakdown, these gaps, are not found just by art – they’re also found by violence and war, by love, wonder, and fear – by any experience that takes us to the unique. But I think the arts are particularly able to mold new accretions in constructive ways.” ~ Cole Swensen
Nancy Franson says
Art filling in the gaps. I like that Heather. Thank you.
Will Willingham says
I love that quote, Heather.
Poetry has been very much like that, for me.
davis says
the words
a cage of guinea pigs
lagging behind
the rats and mice
of modern lines
though if bread smooth
can still be loved at times
davis says
oops…i mean bred…not bread. slight embarrassed giggle…
L. L. Barkat says
it was all that talk of potatoes. Now we have food on our minds.
Or maybe it was Neruda, who said poetry is like bread 😉
Donna says
I am grinning ear to ear! I love everything about this post Nancy! I love everything about this dare! I love your courage and sense of adventure and I LOVE that you found Tweetspeak to lurk around for a while… and that you were spotted??? Ahhh… wonderful!
And what’s that? A potato dare? Well, who can resist a potato dare?
One poetato
Two poetato
Three poetato
Four!
Slice em up
Dice em up
Mash em on the floor!
Salt each letter
All the better
Who could ask for more?
One poetato
Two poetato
Three poetato
More!
Nancy Franson says
Thank you Donna. Actually I’m grateful to these folks who have invited me in to muck around in something they love. Perhaps they can teach me a thing or two.
Donna says
🙂 I am glad you’re here. I’ll tell you a secret… I was a lurker too. I remember using that exact word… lurker. The value of lurking and mucking around cannot be overestimated!
L. L. Barkat says
Donna, this is so funny. I am reading again and laughing, laughing 🙂
Donna says
😀 😀
Laura Brown says
In which a great American answers a journalist’s question, “What is your favorite poem?”
http://www.timmadigan.com/blog/post.php?s=2012-07-19-anything-mentionablefred-rogers-favorite-poem
You’re welcome, Nancy.
Nancy Franson says
Oh, Laura! Thank you–that just made my day! Of course, you knew it would, didn’t you?
Linda says
All of this scares me too Nancy. I used to write lots of poetry, but I think my sort of is rather passe. I don’t have a clue how to write a poem any more. So I stand quietly outside the circle with you – in deep admiration of those who do it so well.
Nancy Franson says
Linda I’ve never even attempted to write poetry, so you’ve already been much braver than I am. I join you in admiring those who do this thing so beautifully.
RuthintheDesert says
Poetry baffles me, for the most part. I understand a little Emily Dickinson but Robert Frost is just confusing. I am fan of short blunt writing–say it once, say it clearly, and be done with it.
I write Bible studies. A woman at church got “writer” and “poet” confused, thought I was a poet, and demanded that her daughter introduce her to me.
She looked at me with disappointment. “I heard you were a poet, and I wanted to see what you looked like.”
🙂
Nancy Franson says
That’s so funny–what do poets look like, after all? Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story. Of course, you could take the dare with me!
Ann Kroeker says
Ruth, this story cracks me up. What do poets look like? Maybe she was picturing Emily Dickinson?
Sheila Seiler Lagrand says
Ann K., that’s something we have in common–that poetry history (or record, perhaps is a better word.)
Yes, that’s it. I have a prior convictions in poetry.
Ann Kroeker says
Sheila, I think it’s time we wander back in. What do you say? Shall we venture in with Nancy and find our way around again?
L. L. Barkat says
you’ve been arrested for poetry? 😉
oh my.
Nancy Franson says
Oh, well NOW this is getting interesting!
Laura Brown says
I confess I have a record, too. Been clean a few years. But even before this post I’d about decided to be a recidivist.
laura says
I’m just standing in the corner of the room laughing my arse off (can I say “arse” here? it sounds poetic, doesn’t it?)at this conversation. What a fun way to end the day.
Ann Kroeker says
“Arse” sounds so Chaucerian. I think it fits right in with the earthy themes in this thread.
Donna says
Well, going chimp @#)$! crazy has been suggested, so I’d say live it up! 😉
Elizabeth W. Marshall says
Laura, “arse” does sound poetic and British or West Virginia-esque. Maybe Southerese. Oh shoot now I have to google its past 🙂 Maybe we should all write a poem using the word “arse”. And Nancy, read Carl Sandburg and Ogden Nash and Billy Collins for sure if you want some humor. Billy Collins reads his own work beautifully on lots of poetry sights. Get out the depends 🙂 friend love ya. Hey by the time we are roommates you may be a poetry convert.
Marcy Terwilliger says
I’m really having fun reading this while I go back & forth to the window where we are trying to trap foxes. I thought it was funny this week when an old friend read a poem I wrote. She said, “I think I agree.” To which I replied, it’s just thoughts, words from the soul, a poem. You don’t have to agree or disagree, just enjoy what is written. With the new lingo in poems these days I believe everyone thinks and believes it must rhyme.
John says
Nancy, I’m following along here and sending you courage vibes for your dare. Can you feel them? I’m a drugstore poet at best so I’m interested in this little experiment.
Be brave, and I hope Megan will feed you some Ted Kooser.
Nancy Franson says
I think I may have quite the stack of poets to read before this little experiment is done. Feeling the courage vibes–thanks!
Megan Willome says
I was thinking about introducing her to Kooser this morning. Maybe “Selecting a Reader.”
Diana Trautwein says
Late to the table, as always, but this is such a grand idea. I think I fall somewhere in between Nancy and the editors here. I love poetry -have volumes of it all over my house, though I surely don’t know many poets and learn a lot about new ones in this space. But it terrifies me. I used to dabble in it, but gave it up years and years ago, probably when sermon writing became a part of my life. I refused to be a ‘3 points and a poem’ kind of preacher, so I never went close to a poem of my own and usually only referenced song lyrics or written prayers (some of which are poem, in my estimation) from history. I subscribe to the daily poem and the Saturday newsletter. Is there anyway to subscribe to daily posts?? I don’t get those so I missed this entirely. Ah, I see a line below. I’ll try clicking it. :>)
Diana Trautwein says
The line that reads ‘notify me of new posts by email’ below this comment box takes me exactly nowhere.
Will Willingham says
Diana, yes. Our weekly newsletter is our primary vehicle for daily content, unless you use a reader of sorts and want to load it in there. But the weekly will capture nearly all the week’s posts.
Or, be sure to follow us at @tspoetry and on our Facebook page.
Hoping Nancy will be with us every couple of weeks during the Dare, so get set for some fun. 🙂
Marilyn Yocum says
Nancy,
I could hear your for-real voice while reading this post.
(I can’t all the comments that were posted while I was at work. The world is supposed to stop while I’m at work.)
Marilyn
Marilyn Yocum says
I meant to write “I can’t BELIEVE all the comments….” What’s wrong with me tonight?
Callie Feyen says
I’m pursuing an MFA in Creative Nonfiction through Seattle Pacific University and have found that practicing Lectio Divina while reading a poem (I’m going through Gary Schmidt’s Acceptable Words, which is a collection of poems) is a lovely way to loosen me up as well as be aware of the words that shimmer. I try to do this once a day as well.
Laura Brown says
Thank you for mentioning this book, which I had not heard of but which looks amazing.
Callie Feyen says
My pleasure! The subtitle is, “Prayers for the Writer.” My dad sent it to me last year and I just love it. There are loads of wonderful poems but also great quotes that I find are great “entries” into my own stories.
Monica Sharman says
Gary Schmidt, author of The Wednesday Wars? Wow!
Callie Feyen says
Hi Monica,
Yes! That’s him! He’s one of my favorite authors. Have you read Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy? Or Okay for Now? I loved Wednesday Wars but I think Okay for Now is my favorite. I loved the stuff with the birds and the drawing and how Schmidt wove that into the the story. I hope I can write like that one day.
Monica Sharman says
Yes, I read Okay for Now after a friend told me about his NPR interview. What he did with the Audobon art—amazing.
In case you haven’t heard it:
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/28/172877128/with-audubons-help-beat-up-kid-is-okay-for-now
Dolly@Soulstops says
Hey Nancy,
How are you? So fun to see you here 🙂
Eileen Popp Syracuse NY says
ooh-this has been so fun maybe I will get over my fear of writing poetry-thanks, all=a Syracuse nurse poet-wanna-be