Sunday, May 17, 2009

Almost a Poet

"For good or ill--writes George Santayana in Scepticism and Animal Faith--, I am an ignorant man, almost a poet, and I can only spread a feast of what everybody knows." In a nutshell he defines quite well the poet and the poet's métier.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Nothing New

Taking a common phrase and changing it a little to make a similar sounding different phrase is not a very original procedure. But most poetic procedures are not new; quite the contrary, they are very old and very effective even today, after milenia of use and abuse of their communicative powers.

The apple is a very suggestive fruit, a polysemia of symbols with a poetic aura and a nice healthy complexion. A French apple--a pomme--has something of a poem to it in English. Both poem and apple are objects of delight and, so they say, restorative and healthy products; one is a marvel of creative language (something to roll in your mouth with relish), the other a simple, perfect product of nature you can bite, chew contentedly and consume for your well being.

A daily serving of fruit is highly recommended by nutritionist. A daily, even hourly serving of poetry is likewise a good, necessary nutrient for most human organisms.

Many are the offerings of daily poems of all sorts in all sorts of media. This happens to be another place for poetry. In the infinite digital realm there is room for everything, even for a blog devoted not so much to provide a daily poem, which is not what this blog tries to do, as to have a personal place where to post once in a while poems and commentaries about poems and poetry as they come to mind on the everyday, seemingly prosaic battle with a host of demons demanding one's attention.