Yay for poetry!

Been busy lately. But I seem to recall that April is National Poetry Month, or some such thing. Figured I'd do something to mark the occasion before the month ends.

I like poetry. I like a lot of poetry. Mostly older stuff. Because, as someone -- I don't know who, but someone who clearly knows what he's talking about -- once said, you can have poetry that doesn't rhyme, but in much the same way that you can play tennis without a net: it's much easier but not nearly as fun.

My favorite poem, much like my favorite song, varies based on my mood; but the one that I've come back to repeatedly for several years now is "Five Smooth Stones," by Stella Benson. It's kind of a deeply cynical poem, and I don't really agree with most of the cynicism, but it's lovely and sad and bleakly hopeful. And it's either that one, or "The Dangerous World" by Naomi Replansky, in which someone watches their lover and is struck by the lover's mortality, or else an excerpt from Shakespeare's "Venus and Adonis," in which Venus curses love.

It's been pointed out to me that I tend to like sorta sad, morbid poetry. Mostly to do with death and love. But mostly not the happy kind of love. Go figure.

( Five Smooth Stones )