Ichabod's Kin
A place for politics, pop culture, and social issues

          That’s where poetry is right now. It’s at a high in popularity virtually throughout the world. Maybe due to exhaustion from the polemics that pervade everything, politics hardly the only one, demanding our agreement and acquiescence to others’ claims of truth, in words that, like bullets, are searing to hearts and minds.

          There are all kinds of poetry but the appeal is more with seduction than hammer blows. The voice of poetry is declarative, not demanding. It says, “Here I am; this is what I think and feel; this is my truth,” and invites the same from others.

          Some feel poetry is elitist because the many rules in classic forms are a turnoff to the modern mind. In America, Walt Whitman blew that all apart with irregular forms of line and daring topics. He was as much resented as he was hailed, regardless of his reputation now. 

          Yet among his earliest champions was Ralph Waldo Emerson;, whose own poetic skill was considerable but who knew a brilliant, world-changing new voice when he heard one, regardless that others, along with the endearing Emily Dickinson, found Whitman vulgar, rude and a disgrace to the craft. That judgment now is a distinct minority.

          Today poetry is all over the place in shape and form, and is among the most democratic of arts. The only drawback may be the snobbishness of poetry editors and critics who from their mole-hills of self-importance decide who is and isn’t a poet. Such occurs however to anything that becomes too popular.  Indeed, over 22 million readers admitted to reading poetry in a recent year.

April is always National Poetry Month. As part of the overall literary scene, Newburyport has its Literary Festival, showcasing authors of all genres including poetry. Be there or be square, as the saying goes. Poetry reading sites have multiplied throughout our city and region, making it a public staple. A new group seeks new and emergent poets at Newburyport’s Sr./ Community Center, and since last September has grown in numbers and excitement; any and all are encouraged to spread their wings before an appreciative audience at 1 p.m. on first Thursdays of every month for what one participant calls “the joy of poetry.” It’s called, “Poetry & Pizza,” and has a large number of parlors have lined up to serve the best from their menus to support this public interest in poetry. We also include a Poetry Extravanganza that includes young poets from local schools who are second to none at creative verse.

I display my own poetry at Nu Kitchen every April, a new exhibit space thereafter for visual art. Owner Josh van Dyke is no stranger to honoring the arts in his popular and very “happening” restaurants here and elsewhere. Many thanks to business people like him; to the Senior Center for making its space where all ages go for an array of worthwhile events; and the Rockport poets who are taking the love of poetry to new heights.