I Have a Poet for a Friend

I make the claim, “I have a poet for a friend” with a great deal of gratitude. The benefits of having this friendship include receiving original poems on a regular basis. Without any effort at all, with the click of a mouse, I am given entry into a poet’s world and allowed to see it through her eyes.

My history with poetry is a mixed one. I was raised in a family where words were honored, elevated, cherished, and played with. As a child, I was read to.

Gradual Expansion

Poetry, of course, is its own genre. As I grew up, rhyming couplets gave way to sanitized limericks, which gave way to sonnets, followed by free verse. Each form demanding new understandings and offering new ways of looking at familiar things – roads diverging in a yellowed wood, mercy, dropping like a gentle rain from heavens above.

In school, the added challenge of memorizing verse opened new ways of experiencing words. The rhythm and pacing of a line, and learning where emphasis was placed, could alter the meaning completely.

What I heard in my head when reading alone became transformed when the same words were recited on stage or in a poetry reading.

Ah, the Good Old Days!

I remember listening to poetry records at the record store. Poets like Langston Hughes and Dylan Thomas reading their own work brought their imagery alive. I also remember coffee houses, those smoky dives where poets of mixed talent got up on stage and did their own readings to mixed applause.

And while I have always had a love of poetry, I have not been a constant consumer. The collections sit on the bookshelf or living room end table. Occasional lines show up in crossword puzzles or fleeting snippets in conversation.

At This Juncture . . .

Now that I am in my 70s, the poems memorized in early school years remain easily recalled, but poems read recently evade capture entirely.

All of which to say, I am so incredibly lucky to have a poet as a friend.

Poetry as Nourishment

Perhaps even more important than my daily vitamins and medications, a regular dose of verse feeds my entire system. Nourishment from images parsed by skilled wordsmiths lasts more than 24-hours.

It is able to be re-visited and absorbed in all my states of being and mind. And, even though the words themselves don’t change, consumption of the poetry can change depending on my attitude, perception, cognition, and emotional state of being.

Fortunately, my friend is a prolific poet. In the past, she has accepted the challenge of writing a poem a day. She has explored different topics and used different forms of poetry. She is generous in sharing her process and her product.

Sources Over Time

As a consumer, I have benefitted from seeing her work pop up in my inbox on a regular basis. This is a radical departure from the historic access to poetry and poets. Way back in the day, when the great narrative poems were recited for the tribe, you would need to be at the circle around the fire.

Still later, as civilization developed, you would have needed to attend a gathering or religious event or play to hear words shared. Further steps in this evolution, you would have had to learn to read, and then found scribbled works (or hieroglyphics) to memorize and recite.

It’s not until relatively recently that poetry has become accessible for our own private enjoyment, with printed books available to those who could afford to have them in their libraries.

You Have Mail!

And now? Such service! I get a poem in my electronic inbox and the poet potentially gets an unlimited distribution network!

I admit to having become used to this unlimited availability. I hesitate to say I take it for granted, but I know that I look forward to receiving a poem with heightened interest and feel the disappointment if there is not one waiting for me.

This is the downside of concierge poetry.

It’s Not Just Poets

Please understand, I wouldn’t ask for it to be any other way. As a matter of fact, I am realizing that not only am I blessed with having a poet for a friend, I also have artists, singers, designers, and jewelers in my life to share their interpretations of the world through their music, paintings, and crafts.

I don’t know how I got so lucky! All these people provide me with beauty, insight, new ways of experiencing the world we share. Perhaps more importantly, they provide me with reassurance that while life may not be as predictable as I would like it to be, I can count on having their gifts to sustain me through times of doubt and darkness.

What Is Required of Me?

This companionship requires little of me. It is relatively passive on my end, needing only acknowledgement of the email or post. I tuck the communique in some safe place, remembered for eternity somewhere in the Cloud, and promise I will come back to enjoy it over and over.

It is a singular experience; one that I alone am having. This is different than sharing it with someone. And, truth be told, I like feeling as if the poem has been given to me for my private enjoyment. I don’t have to share unless I want to.  (I suspect this is a lingering artifact of being an only child, but that is fodder for a different post).

I hope you have a friend who is a poet, or artist, or musician, or craftsperson. I hope your life is as enriched as mine by someone who sees the world differently from you. Keep them close to you. Let them know how valued they are.

Thank you, friend.

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If you would like to read some of my friend’s poetry, you can check it out here: https://carolpoetmikoda.substack.com/

You can check out some of my artist friend’s paintings here: https://www.annewackerson.com/