From: Rita Auerbach <rita.auerbach>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:39:25 -0400

In preparation for the upcoming CLNE gathering in Burlington, Vermont, I've been reading Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing. While Bradbury's essays are about the joys of writing, he has much to say to readers as well. In the following excerpt he is speaking about reading poetry as a source of ideas for writers:

*Read poetry every day of your life. Poetry is good because it flexes muscles you don't use often enough....What poetry? Any poetry tht makes your hair stand up along your arms. Don't force yourself too hard. Take it easy. Over the years you may catch up to, move even with, and pass T.S. Eliot on your way to other pastures. You say you don't understand Dylan Thomas? Yes, but your ganglion does, and your secret wits, and all your unborn children. Read him, as you can read a horse with your eyes, set free and charging over an endless green meadow on a windy day.*

Very relevant, I think, to our discussion of how much one needs to analyze poetry in order to enjoy it. Rita Auerbach
Received on Sat 12 Apr 2008 08:39:25 AM CDT