Among the classes I took purely for pleasure in college include several on poetry. I know that many people have been turned off poetry, depending in part on the way it was taught or what poems were selected. But I have fond memories of reading poetry both in high school and in college, where I took classes in creative writing poetry and read student poetry for a campus literary magazine.
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Poetry (edited by J.D. McClatchy) is one of the anthologies I read from. It covers selected works of 75 poets, from Robert Lowell to Yusef Komunyakaa. And what a delicious gamut of poetry there is! It makes me sad that people might be missing out on poetry because of preconceptions. For those who find poetry intimidating or obnoxious, the folks at Flavorwire have compiled a great list called 10 Poems Everyone Needs To Read. Put together in honor of National Poetry Day a couple weeks ago, the list covers poets from Pablo Neruda to Maya Angelou.
The introductory list represents a wide array of beautiful, notable works, and wonderfully illustrates the notion that poetry is - as defined an old English teacher of mine - "the ultimate distillation of language." Every single word has its purpose and deserves to be savored.
10.18.2011
10.05.2011
Side by Side
Here's a wonderfully sweet video by JW Griffiths that won the 2011 Nokia Shorts Competition. Shot entirely on a Nokia N8 mobile phone, it captures a transatlantic love story through parallel eyes. Love!
10.03.2011
Off to the Races
About a week ago I was given the chance to attend the finals of the F1 race held in Singapore. It wasn't on my wish list of events to go to before I die like, say the Olympics or Fashion Week, but the F1 race was nonetheless an opportunity to take part in an unique event.
Getting to experience the race live, versus on television, also helped me understand the appeal of the sport much better. Initially I couldn't understand the interest. As a person who prefers doing a sport over being a paying spectator, I wondered how the audience - most of which couldn't even fathom what driving an F1 vehicle would feel like - would relate, and thus enjoy the sport.
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