Poems I like and why I like them.

Many of my friends want to know more about poetry, so I wrote these entries for them. It's been their holiday gift, and now I want to share it with the whole world. In each entry I explain what the poem means (at least to me), what appeals to me in the poem, and what I notice about the craft. I hope you'll be intrigued by the poets and want to explore them further.

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

Ross Gay

what it means

Gratitude overall, even in the face of drug abuse, inner city rot, mental illness. Notice the world and be grateful. Notice your friends and be grateful. Notice the small kindnesses strangers do for each other and be grateful. There is so so much to be grateful for.

why I like it

I heard Ross Gay read at the Seattle Arts & Lectures series, and it was joy beginning to end. He grinned the whole time. He told us about his gratitude journal. He told us about the garden he helped build in the inner city. I just wanted to hang out with him the rest of my life.

I mean how can you not get happy with a line like “the compost writhe giddy and lick its lips” or this:

I can’t stop

my gratitude, which includes, dear reader,

you, for staying here with me,

for moving your lips just so as I speak.

Here is a cup of tea. I have spooned honey into it

Anyone offers me honey, I’m there. And even though I did get tired reading this poem, how can I resist when he knows it too but can’t help himself because he is so full of gratitude?

craft

He is breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the reader. I still don’t think this is a typical technique, but now, I really want to try it.

This is a really long poem, and one of the things I want to learn is how to write long poems. One way is long sentences. Notice that first stanza uses lots of fabulous diction to twist and turn its way through one question. He also uses those semi-colons for all their worth. I suspect that he kept the gratitude journal for years and then plumbed it for moments to put in this poem. I think he might have also kept a “things that make me miserable” journal and found ways to be grateful for them.