Warning! I hope you’re ready!

Rhyme, rhythm, metaphor ahead!

April Flowers © Kathryn LeRoy

Hello friend,

April is National Poetry Month. I know what you’re thinking. “Oh, no, another post about poetry!” or “I’m outa here, no poetry, no way!”

Either way, the reality is that poetry permeates our lives. Snippets of rhyme and rhythm sneak into our brains. It follows us throughout the day from jingles in commercials to ads on our devices, and even in the movies.

Remember the scene in Groundhog Day when Rita quotes from “My Native Land” by Sir Walter Scott to the cynical TV weatherman, Phil Connors.

The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.

I would be remiss not to include my favorite scene from Dead Poets Society, where the remarkable Robin Williams captures the essence of poetry. Mr. Keating explains to his relunctant students:

“We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

Then, ends with this excerpt from Walt Whitman’s “Oh Me! Oh Life!”

“Oh me! Oh life! of the questions of these recurring,
. . . What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists and identity,
That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

The most common poetry follows you and me as we drive to the supermarket, across town, or get on the road again, driving down the long, lonesome highway. Music, whether you listen to country, pop, blues, or rap, contains the poetry of life hidden in melodies and foot-tappin’ verses.

And the Poetry Flows © Kathryn LeRoy

I’m sure you have a favorite song, one that moves you to tears or brings back fond memories like some of these.

Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tamborine Man” contains these famous poetic song lyrics.

And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time
Far past the frozen leaves
The haunted frightened trees
Out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow

Kris Kristofferson didn’t flaunt his PhD. in creative literature, but he certainly brought poetry to music with songs like “Me and Bobby McGee,” through Janice Joplin’s raspy rendition:

Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose,
And nothin' ain't worth nothin' but it's free.

Who could ever deny the poetics of George Harrison’s “Still My Guitar Gently Weeps?

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps

Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” gave us a beautiful metaphor:

There’s a lady who thinks all that glitters is gold, and she’ building a stairway to heaven.

Leonard Cohen is famous for his poetic lyrics and storytelling in songs like “Hallelujah.”

I heard there was a magic chord that David played, and it pleased the lord, but you don’t really care for music do you?

Stairway © Kathryn LeRoy

Poems tell the story of our humanity, our joyful, silly, tragic, love-filled lives. You have probably guessed by now that I am smitten with words, especially poetry.

So, on this lovely spring day in April, I leave you with a poem from William Carlos Williams.

Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens

Rain © Kathryn LeRoy

You can browse through a few of my poems here.

Hum on over for the Poetry Foundation’s Poem of the Day or search for your favorite poet.

“A poet is someone—you, me, anyone—who writes poems.”
—Judson Jerome

“I write poems for a stranger who will be born in some distant country hundreds of years from now.”
—Mary Oliver

A Poem Hides © Kathryn LeRoy...

If you would like to read more from me, visit my website. I’ll be waiting for you there.

With gratitude,

Kathryn

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