Introduction to Poetry

 I ask them to take a poem
 and hold it up to the light
 like a color slide

 or press an ear against its hive.

 I say drop a mouse into a poem
 and watch him probe his way out,

 or walk inside the poem's room
 and feel the walls for a light switch.

 I want them to waterski
 across the surface of a poem
 waving at the author's name on the shore.

 But all they want to do
 is tie the poem to a chair with rope
 and torture a confession out of it.

 They begin beating it with a hose
 to find out what it really means.

Commentary

Guest poem sent in by Phebe Haugen

Not long ago, when my teenage son was struggling with poetry in his English class, I gave him this wonderful poem. For a kid trying to figure out what imagery is all about, this little gem offers itself as a color slide, a hive, a dark room, a lake, a knowing, but silent, defendant. It invites us to engage all these images - except the last one - so that we might see into the heart of a poem without bludgeoning the poor thing to death.

And who among us doesn’t know that feeling of being the mouse dropped into the poem, trying to probe its way out?

Phebe

The Wondering Minstrels, poem #1397 · 25 November 2003

Poem selected by Martin DeMello

Fair use

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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.

Mallika Chellappa · 25 November 2003

Another poem that comes to mind which teaches the young to nurture their imagination
(sorry - this one’s from my nursery class
- how many out there remember the readers
called “The songs the letters sing”?)

Baby blew a bubble
Softly let it fall
Like a Rainbow Fairy
In a Silver Ball
“Pretty little Bubble
Won’t you stop and play?”
But the bubble, bubble, bubble
Bubbled right away.

Baby blew a bubble
Very hard she tried
Saw another Baby
Like herself inside
“Pretty little Baby
Won’t you stop and play?”
But the bubble, bubble, bubble
Bubbled right away.

I’m not sure whether the last four
lines should in fact be identical in
both stanzas. Or whether bubble
is repeated once or twice in the
penultimate lines. (It’s been a while)

Mallika

Virani Salima · 26 November 2003

Cheers,
Salima

Salima Virani
Power Budd LLP
Barristers and Solicitors
1 First Canadian Place
Toronto, Ontario M5X 1C7
Telephone:direct line)
Facsimile:www.powerbudd.com

Chellappa Mallika (Mallika) · 30 November 2003

Another poem that comes to mind which teaches the young to nurture their imagination (sorry - this one’s from my nursery class- how many out there remember the readers called “The songs the letters sing”?)

Baby blew a bubble, Softly let it fall
Like a Rainbow Fairy In a Silver Ball
“Pretty little Bubble, Won’t you stop and play?” But the bubble, bubble, bubble, Bubbled right away. Baby blew a bubble, Very hard she tried
Saw another Baby Like herself inside
“Pretty little Baby, Won’t you stop and play?” But the bubble, bubble, bubble, Bubbled right away.

I’m not sure whether the last four lines should in fact be identical in both stanzas. Or whether bubble is repeated once or twice in the penultimate lines.
(It’s been a while)
Mallika

Lily Chambers · 28 September 2005

Hey im 12 and my class had to wright a critisism paragraph on this to show what we think it means. this is mine: The author wants you to carefully examine his poem but not to strangle it. By holding the colored slide to the light means to see the brightest colors and strongest meanings. He wants you to listen to the poems secrets like you “listen to a hive”. He wants you to put your thoughts inside the poem and let them scurry around like a mouse inside of a maze. “Feel the wall for a light switch” he wants you to gently feel the poem for and answer or idea He has complete control over you when you read the poem like the poem is the skies and the author is the boat. You wave to congratulate him and that’s all he needs and wants for you to do, to understand and thank him. But you shall not harm the poem or jump to conclusions by tying it to a chair and hearing only what you want. Listen to the poem don’t destroy it.
I got an A- on this one

LibIC · 4 May 2008

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