Read Any Poetry Lately
Read Any Poetry Lately?
Have you read any poetry lately? Maybe not, as most people’s memories of poetry feature sitting in a boring English lesson, analysing verses and rhythms and learning lines to quote in an upcoming exam. So, when the Page Turners elected to read some poetry for the first time in the group’s existence, would this prove to be a challenge too far?!
Absolutely not! The group were given 10 poems by Mary Oliver to read. Mary Oliver is an American poet, born in Ohio, who published her first book of poetry in 1963, at the age of 23. Over the course of her long career, she received numerous awards and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.
Although some of the group said they didn’t like poetry (…those boring school English lessons!) and admitted that poetry wasn’t their “cup of tea”, everyone agreed that Mary’s poetry was accessible, full of beautiful imagery and very descriptive. Most of the selected poems were focused on the joys of nature: “an armful of white blossoms”, in The Swan; “they are full of gorgeous life”, in Starlings in Winter.
The favourite poem of most of the group was, Starlings in Winter, which describes a murmuration of the birds. Who would disagree with some lines from this poem:
I want to be light and frolicsome
I want to be improbable,
beautiful and afraid of nothing,
as though I had wings.
Go on. Spread your wings. Read some poetry! The Page Turners were glad they did!