BellaOnline Forums Books and Music Poetry When did you begin?

Hi guys, I'm Jordan, the new editor of the Poetry site. I promise I don't bite, especially not through the computer. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better and to help us all appreciate poetry more and craft poetry better.

When did you begin to appreciate poetry? I remember most people in my high school class thought of poetry as a chore and/or a bore. Then again, they thought of pretty much everything that way.

I really began to appreciate poetry in high school. I'm not much of a poet, but on occasion I've made some sad attempts. I read my high school friends' attempts at poetry, too. How did Pablo Neruda and William Carlos Williams make their poetry work so well when ours seemed so stunted and sophomoric?

I have to admit that it was pretty easy for me to get "inside" a poem to interpret it and draw the meaning out. However, one of the first poems that really had an impact on me was Edna St Vincent Millay's sonnet, Oh, oh you will be sorry for that word. It was the first time that I was able to look at a poem and see that it was a sonnet�and understand why that made a difference. Plus, I liked it.

When did you begin to really 'appreciate' poetry? What was the first poem you really appreciated?

Hi Jordan,

It's nice to meet you! I've been meaning to venture over here and visit, as poetry is a passion of mine!

I remember my first attempts at poetry. In high school I was in love with a guy named Lee, and I wrote a poem about him LOL. You can imagine the fun I had with that one. And for some crazy reason, I never bothered to stop HA HA!

Though now my hubby's name is Dave, and I've never tried to put that into prose (thank heavens).

Looking back, I'd have to say that Mother Goose actually got me interested in poetry. There is nothing like that magical rhythm found in children's poetry. I loved it as a child - and love it to this day.

I thought poetry was "pooh pooh icky", a timewaster, and so "girlie" and pretentious, etc.

When I became an adult, and I was nursing my husband through a stroke, poems just came to me and that is how I started writing again.

I have started a book on Halloween/scary poems.

My favourite poem, when I was a kid, was The Land of Counterpane by Robert Louis Stevenson.

As an adult, I'm not a huge poetry fan. I guess I don't really know much about poetry, compared to other literary forms. I look forward to checking out your site.