Poetry Ebook Giveaway!

Good Thursday afternoon April 11, 2019!

If you read and follow me here and on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter, you know I’m doing surprise giveaways this month for National Poetry Month. There was one on my Facebook Author page (closed now).

When I was learning about poetry, a teacher turned me on to Sara Teasdale. One of my favorite poems of hers 

And if you are reading this, you can win a Kindle ebook of The Poetry of Sara Teasdale.

******All you need to do is comment with your thoughts on the above poem and tell me what it means to you. I’ll return on SUNDAY APR 14 at noon to use Random.org and pick a winner.*******

So leave your entry in the comments!! I’ll come back on Sunday and post the announcement.

(Ps. stay tuned to my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook pages for more surprise giveaways!)

Yours in poetry, Between the Lines,

Sherry

The Need for Poetry Never Ends

The Need for Poetry Never Ends

National Poetry Month ends today and while some may be letting out a sigh of relief, it is worth reminding ourselves that poetry serves a purpose in civilization and lives well beyond the April Madness every year. I believe our need for poetry never ends because it serves as witness of societies flaws and struggles and then gives voice to the observations. We see ourselves in ways we do not in other mediums.

Forbes Magazine has long highlighted poetry with responsibility. Take for example an article Jul 9, 2010 about Poetry and Pollution. The newly announced poet laureate W.S. Merwin wrote of ecological disasters. But Merwin is by far not the first to use his pen and write with a “social responsibility.”

In literature, where we seek social justice, first you have to understand what is meant by social responsibility. The best definition I ever read was, “the awareness of social injustice, from the local to the global, necessitates specific actions to combat those injustices. In other words, social responsibility and social activism are inextricably intertwined; once aware of the injustice, one is morally obliged to act.” (Naomi Benaron, author, 2012).

For fiction writers, there is a long history of literature intertwined with a need to highlight social responsibility and therefore find social justice. From Quixote, Dickens, and Austin through more current folks like Parsipur, Merwin, and Lucia Mann, there is a compelling need for writers to seek answers in the darkness and to speak out with authority whenever possible to shine light, right wrongs, and seek betterment for their lives, societies and countries.

But what of the poet? What makes the poet separate from the fiction writer? And are they more or less powerful with the pen?

I think it begins with a belief that social responsibility begins with children. What better way to send a message than a poem that one can learn, recite, and then remember forever? Besides understanding how poetry has always been a voice in the dark, then discovering those lights shows us how much social injustice has been highlighted in poetry.

Once Chinese immigrants were incarcerated at Angel Island, California during the early 1900s. They wrote their poetry on the walls, despite being told not to. Their poetry filled the halls of their prison and became known as the “talking walls.” From these walls, we learned of their belief in a right to freedom. And that they believed no one has the right to restrict their right to protest injustice. Their poetry was a powerful tool. Here is a short quote from one of the Chinese poems:

“For days I have been without freedom on Island.

In reduced circumstances now, I mingle with the prisoners.

Grievances fill my belly; I rely on poetry to express them.”

The beautiful language highlighted the impoverished conditions and sparked a need for a more fair and just society.

Another desirable aspect of poetry is its ability to present ideals and stress a position, to step off neutrality without the ugliness. There is a responsibility in our country to propose freedom and democracy. Political dictators and oppressionists have attacked these sorts of poets because they find social injustice poetry to be dangerously seditious. Which is exactly why I – and so many others — find it powerful.

Those young Chinese poets also did not take their use of poetry lightly. There was nothing common or funny about the literary tool. In their culture, poetry is the preferred method for highlighting social injustice. This is what makes their “talking walls” so important, that they leaned on their culture as they sought to expose social injustice. It also comforted them, giving something familiar. Here is a sample of one in translation. From the Angel Island bathroom wall:

Most of all, I think the power of poetry exposing social injustice comes in humanizing issues and reaching people on an emotional level. Poetry allows us to gently empathize, find common ground, and to make what is scary or heinous more touchable. Again, it starts with children, learning to deal with social isolation, bullying, differences, and finding understanding in diversity. Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss did it for children and made topics easily remembered. Maya Angelou made it easy for adults to understand and want to do better.

This was exactly my thought when I wrote my third book of poetry, The Book of Now. Not that it could be for children, because truthfully it is too harsh for little kids. But that I can cover terrorism, bullying, abuse, political bigotry and so many other harsh and divisive issues while pointing out the need for and the power of diversity, compassion, and knowledge.

Today’s important poets have shown me the way. From Swiss poet Daniele Pantano, Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, to past U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, poetry ignites the issues and sparks a need for change. And these changes may simply be in how we view an issue, more enlightened, more open-minded, more resolved.

I certainly don’t expect to remake the world or create a tsunami of change. However, with my poetry, I want others to see subtleties, discover new emotions, and open dialogues of change. There are controversial issues in The Book of Now. We have to be fearless and open-minded if we are going to make this world a better place. Poetry is my way of highlighting social injustices and directing where our social responsibility might be. I think poets make the unpalatable more digestible, because they do it with compassion inside their honesty. I hope I did the same.

I contend that poets believe in possibilities. Like me, The Book of Now does, too. I hope the message resonates with some of you and that you will take up the banner against the social injustices highlighted in The Book of Now. Join an illustrious population of people striving for a better world.

Poetry remains one of the most steadfast literary necessities no matter your age, sex, color, race, ethnicity, orientation or creed. Poetry reminds us who we are, where we have been, and how we might face the future together.

Just because the National Poetry Month is over doesn’t mean poetry should end. In fact, I’m hoping we never bring about such a horror and instead, realize the important role poetry plays in the world.

_________________________________

Thanks for coming by! Next month, more on the new book, character insights, writer tips and surprises! Don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter while you’re here (right margin).

I remain, Yours Between the Lines,

Sherry

Why We Need Poetry

Spring has sprung
in winter’s grip.
Summer’s begs that
either slip,
as Mother Nature
nurses her fat lip.

~Sherry Rentschler  (c) Apr 2018 in honor of the wacky weather

National Poetry Month arrived April 1 and during the next thirty days I take great pleasure discussing the ins and outs of free verse, making bizarre limericks, giggling over e.e. cummings, immersed in Baudelaire or Yeats, and wishing I was in Paris during the time of the beat poets.

For most folks, Poetry Month is something they hear about on Pubic Television (and therefore avoided) or from school (and therefore avoided), or in passing on the internet or social media sites (and dismissed as done by college kids or rappers). Such perceptions are a shame too, because National Poetry Month is all about discovery and learning, finding pleasure in seeing the world in new ways. 

Because we need to read poetry and let it help us discover our world in ways news and scholars and schools do not.

I heard someone say, “Poetry. Just rhyming words about things over my head.” Such remarks remind me that poetry doesn’t reach “the common man” because we never stressed the common man poems. It was all Iliad, Shakespeare, Chaucer, and Keats. And we groaned, remember? (well, I didn’t, but my friends certainly did).

More, the above comment carries weight because poetry, once the style of telling stories has passed into the background. You don’t find it in Kohl’s or Walgreens or the grocery store. It’s not in the magazines (but once or twice a year) for April and perhaps Christmas. Kids talk about it at school just long enough to get to lunch where they can discuss “real literature” like Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, and Wonder, or discuss the latest comic book/graphic novel that became a blockbuster movie (Marvel, anyone?).

Sadly, the very people discussing the latest blockbusters and listening to their playlists on their phones, are missing some of the best moments in quotable literature. According to CNN, “Fewer than 7% of Americans polled in 2012 had read a work of poetry at least once in the past year — down from 17% in 1992, according to a national survey (PDF) by the U.S. Census Bureau on behalf of the National Endowment for the Arts. That decline in participation was the steepest found in any literary genre.”

What we need to emphasis to our children and each other, is poetry is the short, short, short, story. A poem can define a moment, bring us together in surprise or sorrow, encapsulate a thought, and help us to understand ourselves in brilliant and usually brief ways. Just look at Maya Angelou or Mary Oliver and how easily we come to share their understanding. No, you don’t need to read Dante’s Inferno (though you really would enjoy it), when you can read William Carlos Williams or even Dylan Thomas. Truth is simple. And poetic.

No, poetry isn’t mainstream anymore. But if you hang out on Twitter or Instagram and you search for poetry or poets, you’ll be amazed at the real poems being shared and quotes coming from them. Many don’t even realize the poem that originated a quote but are surprised to realize that poetry made the words quotable. Take the great poet, Alexander Pope in his An Essay on Criticism, Part II , 1711:

Ah ne’er so dire a Thirst of Glory boast,
Nor in the Critick let the Man be lost!
Good-Nature and Good-Sense must ever join;
To err is Humane; to Forgive, Divine.

Poetry is more about us than we realize. Poetry is us. We sing it and the songs we sing become markers of our lives. We quote snappy lines, sometimes not realizing the words are ancient or even Nobel Prize winning. 

Do we need to know that? Nope. What we need to do is read more poetry. We need to not “go gentle into that good night” but rage against poetry’s invisibility. Help others to see the beauty all around them. Start with a child’s poem such as the insightful Shel SIlverstein. Or even Dr Seuss.  But let us dust off our old tomes and read….and celebrate Poetry Month, every month. Let our children become the natural poets of the future. Start now.

 There are so many good poets and poems out there. Sure we need to read the classics to discover the artful phrase, to understand the development of the art form, to hear the triumph in epic verses. But does that matter in the long term? Nope. What we need to do today is introduce each other to the modern poets and create a love for common words defining life in uncommon ways. To restore our wonder and excitement. To show us that we can know profound things and be better for the knowing. Poetry does this and so much more.

Let us read some poetry. Share with a friend. Just one poem. Maybe once a week or, better yet, once a day. Don’t do it with anyone if you are nervous or shy. Read it alone. Think and enjoy.

But read poetry. It will improve you, delight you, surprise and shock you. It can enrich you and prevent the inevitable ennui that comes with time.

Be invited in. See the world through rose colored glasses. Or in the boldest colors of reality.

Poetry matters.  Check out some of the ones mentioned here or ask your friends what they are reading. Go on an adventure and allow yourself to be surprised. See your world through creative, fresh eyes and maybe you’ll be inspired to write a poem or two yourself. Share with children and let’s all be a little more free verse in our lives.

Happy reading!
I remain, Yours Between the Lines,

Sherry