Do you still believe in poetry?

Today I went to the first poetry slam in my life. Australia's national poetry slam champion from 2013, Jesse John Brand, would be a featured guest. I was very excited because I never listened to poetry in real life before, and since I've never met any poetry-lovers in real life, I thought it would be a nice event.

Turns out only a handful of people came to the venue, so the poetry slam was called off and just turned into an open mic. It was still a nice evening, quite some talents there, and I will tell you, watching youtube videos is very different from being there in real life.

These poem didn't really do it to me when I watched them just now on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcfO-Zp-ozA
^ Wreckage, by Jesse John Brand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz4V_SF6xNk
^ Pendulum, by Gloria Demillo

Maybe it's the sound quality, because Wreckage's rib-zipper-kind-of-sounds and Gloria's singing seemed to sound much better in real life.

Anyways, feel free to comment about what you think about these two poems, but I'm digressing haha.

My reason to make this post was because somewhere, deep inside of me, this naive kid still thought that poets could make a difference in the world. Yet, standing in front of me was "Australia's national poetry slam champion", performing for free in front of barely a handful of people. We all know that the weekly wins on this site barely mean anything, yet I would think someone with such a title would mean ... something? It's kind of saddening. It makes me wonder, what can poets do in this world. Are we destined to just express ourselves in the weekends while being tied to a 9 till 5 job during weekdays?

Please share your thoughts!

I share your sadness at the demise of the significance of poetry as a moving force in society. It's place has largely been usurped by the music industry.

On the other hand, I believe still the most important audience for poetry remains the poet him/herself. We write because we must, not because of any acclaim that may or may not result.

Here's a test: Do Not Google the answer!
Who is the most recent Poet Laureate of the USA?
For those in other countries, who is your own poet laureate?
(Canada, the UK, Ireland, India, Germany, Italy, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Iran and many other countries and individual states designate their own.)

I still believe,

In my humble opinion we hear poetry everyday when we turn a radio on or see adverts/commercials.

Poetry is still important today, In the UK we have poetry and verses read at funerals, we have poems in greeting cards. Our Poet Laureate is Carol Ann Duffy, who succeeded Andrew Motion who in turn succeeded the late great Ted Hughes.

Carol is heavily influenced by Ted Hughes.

Always.

Darren, I agree - Ted Hughes was brilliant. Interestingly, I found out not long back that Wordsworth was the only poet laureate to never write an official verse while holding that title. I think he was quite old when he came to the role, and had lost a child not too long before.
As far as the poetry is concerned, it must still [lay an important role in society. It is still studied in schools, it is still so prevalent in our language and still moves us greatly. We wouldn't be here ourselves if it wasn't important to some degree. But sadly, it is less relevant these days, it seems. So much easier to play on the computer, sit on a phone, text, tweet, etc etc. It's sad, but the world is caught up with things that don't matter.

Thanks for the input, guys. Here's something new, though, I went to a poetry performance of Mayda Del Valle last night. A nice bar was booked, and even though it was not over-crowded, there were still more than 30 people in the room, which of course is much better than the open mic from before. I got to talk to some people there, a woman who for example said she's a story teller by job, and countless of people who said they still wanted to publish.

On Thursday noon I went to a poetry workshop by Mayda Del Valle. At the end I asked her the same question I asked you guys, and she said something along the lines of: "It is important, but it will depend on the place you're in, whether the situation drives poetry to become important. I heard recently a man got into jail for his political poems. In the US, with so much happening, it's booming."

Maybe I live in a too peaceful country because I know that poetry is dead in the Netherlands. Then again I never thought of it the way you did, Darren. Indeed, our cards are still full of poems. Instagram, twitter and facebook are full of images with poetry in them. Maybe we should not seek the big changes in the world while being a poet, but simple the change one can bring to an individual. The moment they relate to your poem even though the poem was written for yourself, that, in itself, is an accomplishment too.

As for your question Larry, I truly have no idea haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwiAcrMNgoI
^ In the words of Mayda Del Valle, this is to whoever is struggling to be creative in their lives, to do what they love as an occupation.

To make this post was because somewhere, deep inside of me, this naive kid still thought that poetry could make a difference

^^ and it can. There so much that one can learn from poetry. It is that that we learn from it that help us see the world with other eyes, and depending on how we see the world, it might help make the difference on how we deal with our everyday life. i believe in poetry.

I want to believe.

There was a period of time that when I wrote a poem I could not wait to stand before someone and recite it. A poem that stands on its own merit is often enhanced by presentation, spacing music, illustration, play, or anything imagined . If I were dishonest I would change my pen name to Anon or unknown poet and attempt to profit from unclaimed masterpieces, I believe the most sung ditty Happy Birthday is repetitious , but who would not want the royalties on that one
I know my Bday has passed but I am going to leave a YT anyway lol

https://youtu.be/-6hqG7m9zh4

"May It Be"

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home

Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantie (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now

May it be the shadow's call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Mornie utulie (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way

I believe any aspect, particle, breath of life can be transformed into poetry. Even if it's not written. Or spoken. It's present even if its existence isn't known yet. And even if its purpose isn't understood yet, there's a meaning behind it. An inspiration, maybe a realization for someone, or maybe poetry simply evokes an emotion in someone that they haven't felt in a long time.

I do believe poetry can make a difference. But not a physical one, but a spiritual or emotional one. Maybe not to others, but to some.

Just to go back quickly to what larry said about the music industry.
I agree to some extent, but the fact is, if you listen to most popular music, the lyrics are childish and monotonous. There is rarely any effort made anymore in song words. Not always true, but the days where you can put a song on and take real meaning from it (Dylan, for example) seem to have pretty much gone.
The fact is, poets only have words to move readers with - so they have to be great. And when they are, they can be magnificent. The point I make is that melody too often covers dreadful lyrics.........the melody is often fairly awful too!

"I share your sadness at the demise of the significance of poetry as a moving force in society. It's place has largely been usurped by the music industry."

^^^^Well, poetry is closely related to musical traditions and have been recited or sung for thousands of years you know...

"On the other hand, I still believe the most important audience for poetry remains the poet him/herself. We write because we must, not because of any acclaim that may or may not result."

We write because we must that's for sure but nothing is more rewarding than to know that our verse touched someone deeply..

"In my humble opinion we hear poetry everyday when we turn a radio on or see adverts/commercials."

Maybe on a radio but name me one adverts/commercials than I will be a believer!!!! hahha

"I do believe poetry can make a difference. But not a physical one, but a spiritual or emotional one. Maybe not to others, but to some."

If you can change someone spiritually or emotionally than you have a great chance that you made a change physically in a long run.. Im not saying that if you read a poem you will grow huge muscles but you might do things differently. And if you think of it, adverts/commercials
are built on this concept...

Ben, trite lyrics have been around since the beginning of time. For every Bohemian Rhapsody there's a Sk8tr Boi.

One of the devices Cervantes had fun with was putting miserable poets and troubadours into Don Quixote to poke fun at them.

But today there are still Dylans writing out there, including himself:
Adam Duritz, KT Tunstall, Rob Thomas, Keb' Mo', Steve Earl ... I could go on.

I never meant that music once stood apart from poetry, but that the general audience for poetry has been diverted.

Larry, again, I agree to an extent, but I can't help feeling the general quality of song lyrics has worsened down the years. You are entirely right, though, there have always been dreadful lyrics but you have to go further now to find a decent lyricist, in my opinion. I have records ranging from the Doors, Dylan and The Smiths to Eminem, Beyoncé and Dr Dre! To showcase your point, Larry, I personally believe that Eminem is a genius. Like rap or not, his lyrics and the way they are structured are masterful. But I don't feel there are as many around as there were - just my opinion.
My point really was that poets can never afford bad words - they won't be hidden by loud instruments. They are all we have so they have to be good. I think when a great poets words are read aloud next to even the very best song lyricist, there is no comparison in quality - Shakespeare and Dylan, for argument's sake? That's why I still believe poetry has an important part to play in our lives.

Yes. Poetry is speaking from and to the heart directly and therefore will always have a place in society.

Beautifully put, Ingrid.

Thank you, Ben :)

"Yes. Poetry is speaking from and to the heart directly and therefore will always have a place in society."

^^^^^^^such a poetic reply....

I never thought about it, but yes indeed, even though many lyrics are beautiful, I can't deny it's the melody that adds extra flavour to it. The thing about songs is that they often include a chorus and then maybe 2 verses, some have even less variation. Sometimes even singing the same word a whole verse long can be really effective with the sounds and sound effects. But, if you just read it, most of its beauty disappears.

But then again, poetry has been having some embellishment too as of late. Spoken word has the voice or music as an accessory. Many poetry books are also starting to include illustrations/drawings/pictures just to set the reader in the right mood or to be more attractive.

I was at a bookstore the other day, thinking what makes a poetry book stand out, because I have a project going on where I'll design a few pages (+ front and back cover) for a poetry magazine. As I browsed through all of them, most of them were just white pages with verses. Don't get me wrong, if I know a poet, I won't care about it because I know the words will be good. But, when I'm looking for a new poet, I'm looking for a whole package, and so, yes, I will judge it on its appearance too. There are too many books in a bookcase, I can barely read one poem from each book while standing in a shop for 30 minutes only. Even if I did, I barely like a poem at first read unless it's very good. It takes time to sink in. So poetry, even though artsy, needs good advertising too.

I think that might be the cause of poetry dying. We're not advertising it. Songs are played all over the radio. Songs have music videos to attract people. Songs are used in movies or series. They're spread on the streets. Even novels have their ads, big posters on bus stops. Books are turned into movies. Where's poetry in our advertising world? You'll only find poetry if you're interested in it, like us. We will google for poets. We will look for poetry events. But those who are ignorant towards poetry, won't.

Two days ago I was really happy upon finding a FREE poetry journal on a stack (only three copies) at uni. To me, it said: poetry is still alive. So many students, from art to law to engineering, contributed to the journal. I thought it an effective way of sneakily putting poetry into people's lives. Yes, many will probably walk past it, or even throw it away after browsing through it, but the naive kid in me believes there'll at least be one person interested in it.

This inspired me for my project I talked about. I imagine a small magazine, mysterious, simple, but inviting you to open it. It is means for the people who take the train. Imagine a mysterious looking magazine left at a chair while you're just staring in front of you, while everyone else is too busy looking at their phones during their train ride. Maybe you'll be the first person out of an hundred who saw it who's curious enough to pick it up, and interested enough to read on.

So I got home and started to write a letter, starting with "Dear Stranger" and concluding it with a quote from a poem. I put it in a brown envelope and wrote "Read Me" on it, the next day I left it at a seat in the train. I'm wondering if it has reached someone, or that a worker grumpily picked it up and threw it away while muttering about people scattering random stuff in the train.

We should advertise poetry more.