Can You Write Poetry? - Boxing Legend Mohammed Ali Can.

In the past decade poetry has become an increasingly popular genre and with the popularity of Rupi Kaur and Nikita Gill it has also led to more experimental and diverse content. Although I have written poetry for about 13 years now I will admit that originally I found studying poetry to be a tedious task.

We can blame my primary school for that. As many institution they had a tendency to simply and narrow the scope of the genre. Luckily this changed soon enough as I was exposed to more than Shakespear's sonnet. In fact I only learned to appreciate them after I read other poets and understood the historical development of the genre.

You see the most fun part about poetry is that it is one of the more complicated genres to define. It blurs many lines, which is essentially the reason that it can include such a wide spectrum of authors.

Poetry can contain everything from an extreme strict structure to a lose and chaotic minimalistic impression on a surface, e.g. poetry was not always a written format and poetry has always had a close relation with performace. In fact the traditions in poetry and the traditions of language far back and are believed to be interwined. At the same time poetry has historically had massive succes in the written format and is now even seen as visual art in some contexts, e.g. breaking up lines, formating them in a shape og playing with layouts etc. Poetry is a monsterous umbrella concept that includes many ideas and characteristics.

The question is then are we all simply poets? Or is no one truly a poet? Or how do we begin to define poetry?

Rhyme or Reasons: Deconstructing common beliefs

Let us begin with a little myth busting because there are certain literary devices that are certainly typical for poetry but they are not definitive characteristics. Like the ones seen below:

• Rhymes

Who does not appreciate the beat and sound of a good rhyme like in the following poem:

Time Stand Still

By Lang Leav

(Found on Pinterest here)

However, if Leav decided to write "graveyards" instead of "cemetries" and "Endlessness" instead of "eternity" and go out of his way to avoid rhymes, it would still be a poem. I will explain how but there is still more deconstruct in our understanding of a poem.

• Figurative language: metaphors, metonymies, similies & personification

Poetry was a way with lanaguage, doesn't it? In fact Britannica's definition suggests that poetry is "the other way of using language". Now for some people that means the excessive of literary language. The kind of language one would not necessarily use in a day to day encounter. e.g. when we talk about experiences in life, we would not exactly lay it out like this:

Along the Road

Written by Robert Browning Hamilton

(Found on Pinterest here)

However, if Hamilton decided to write the lines differently and exclude the personification of "Pleasure" and "sorrow" and instead written "when I was happy/ I was energized/ but I never become wise" and so on, it could still be a poem. The question is HOW?!, and I am getting to it. Don't be too impatient because we just have one more stop.

• Emotions: "pouring your heart out"

There is no denying that some of the most famous poems have portrayed the most intense feelings in their poem and it is typical for most people to have read poems that centers around desire, love or betrayal. Who better to mention here than Shakespeare:

Sonnet 116

By William Shakespeare

(Found on Pinterest here)

In poem like these you find reflection about love and the gorgous figurative language is certainly intensify the portrayal but poetry is not limited to a themes, topic or the heart. Too many limits poetry to a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. This is not inccorect but it is only reffering poetry from romanticism . In fact poetry is not even about pouring your heart. Poetry does not have to be an emotional response. Poetry can be an observation, a thought or reflection. However, one thing that should be emphasized is the word intensification because now we are getting closer to the definiton of poetry.

Poetry: Every Letter Counts

Poetry is contradictory and like many genres it challenges its own limitations, boundaries or develops new forms or branches. You see, poetry is not defined by themes, topic or even characteristics. Poetry is defined by function: what does it do?

It creates awareness. Poetry is about form, emphasizing the way we are expressing ourselves. Poetry makes the reeder aware of the rhythmic, sound and meaning of words through the experince of the work. Perhaps a good way to showcase this is by looking at some of the shortest forms of poetry, which will be the most condenced examples.

Fun fact: Did you that the famoous heavy-weight boxing champion Mohammed Ali was also a poet?

- Okay, maybe that is a bit of exaggeration but he does have one poem that scholars have discussed.

During a speech at Havard in 1975 Ali ended his speech with a couplet:

"Me,

We"

Although some believe it is in fact saying:

"Me,

Wheee"

Either way this is a poem, not because it rhymes but because as readers/listeners become aware of the sound, rhythm and even the mening of the language used here.

Another example of poetry at its most condensed form is Aram Saroyan's "four-legged M", which only consists of one letter:

Four-Legged M

by Aram Saroyan

(Featured in the American Literary Anthology)

Arguable this poem is also visual art because the above letter is deliberately drawn to look a little different, which is emphasizing the similarties between M and N but also the seperation. Other than that, the letter M also sounds a lot like "I'm", and there the four-legged M is also considered to be pun, showing the formation of a conscious.

There is a lot to say about this poem but honestly we will be diverting from the purpose of this post because now we have to revert to the main question:

So, can you write poetry?

This is the beauty of poetry. If you know a language, you can write/recite poetry because poetry is in the language. Poetry does not have to be willed into existence. Poetry simply exists. As I mentioned in the beginning poetry and language has a deep history together, and so they have enterwined in each other.

Most of the time all you truly have to do is to simply express yourself authentically because language is inherently rhythmic and carries a sound. All it needs for peotry is meaning, and that is where you come in.

But not everyone is a poet because poetry requires you to be aware first. Can you be observant and reflective? Poetry is exploring but it begins with curiousity about the meaning of words and concepts. As I mentioned earlier poetry is about form and you don't need to know what love is but you have to be willing to explore the concept of love through language itself. This is why poets fall in love with words, phrases, sounds and/or rhythm. If you can love that, then indeed you can write poetry.