PORTAL TO BLOGETRY

BLOGETRY AS A TONIC

2008-11-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

Blogetry is one of the most potent weapons in our armoury against the dreaded condition called Worry and its bedmate, Stress. Analysis of case histories has shown that worry is one of the greatest causes of illness. It has been termed ‘man’s greatest plague.’ Of particular interest is the statistic that fifty percent of our worries are about the future, only ten percent about the present. We are not born with it. Worry is a habit, and one that can be cured. Unlike kicking the smoking habit, the cure for worry is something pleasant: something you can actually enjoy. I would go so far as to say that it usually becomes an enjoyable and beneficial habit itself - the habit of blogetry. Note, however, that the benefits are not to be unlocked by simply reading poetry, but by writing it. This is of the essence. Maintaining good health requires the all important balance of a healthy mind and a healthy body. And it is attaining the former that presents so many of us with the greater difficulty. A sensible diet and regular exercise are physical matters that can generally be recognized and given due attention. Looking after the mind isn’t about passive activities like listening to music or catching the news on television. It has to involve something proactive. A daily dose of crossword or sudoku will take you so far, but not all the way. How often do you look back at your old crosswords? They may give a fleeting sense of satisfaction, but not that of an enduring achievement, one that can be looked back on, improved, continually augmented - and shared! For that, you will find the writing of poetry unbeatable, and blogetry a most satisfying form of publication. (Edited and abridged from an article in Mature Times by John Pemberton.)

AN AUTHOR'S POINT OF VIEW

2008-08-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

The subject here is Stephen Fry, author of The Ode Less Travelled (Hutchinson, 2005) which, according to the jacket blurb, will give you the tools and the confidence to write poetry. The book is brimful of exercises and step-by-step advice, and "guides the reader towards mastery and confidence in the Mother of the Arts.'' Moreover the 320-odd pages of text (excluding a glossary etc) are peppered throughout with examples and quotations. But here's the rub. In his foreword Fry says to the reader: "You will be relieved to hear that I will not be burdening you with any of my actual poems. I do not write poetry for publication, I write it ... to have something sensational to read on the train. And as a way of speaking to myself. But most importantly of all for pleasure." A little later, he sets out The Golden Rules. In the second of these he writes: "remember that poets are people and they have taken the courageous step of sharing their fears, loves, hopes and narratives with us in a rare and crafted form." So it takes courage to place one's poems before the reading or listening public. Now that contention runs counter to the concept of blogetry; and it is to be hoped that many more aspiring and accomplished poets will be brave enough to share their work through this online medium.

A CRITIC'S POINT OF VIEW

2008-07-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

When reviewing How to be a Poet, Keith Bennett, a poet of some renown, wrote: "It is my view that there are as many definitions of what poetry is, as there are people writing it and each one is is valid." If we were working in a political context we could interpret this credo in terms of the democratization of poetry. As such, it almost becomes a mantra for blogetry. Whatever we write will be deemed acceptable if it carries a label saying "This is poetry". His egalitarian approach appears to be all-embracing, yet in that same review he takes issue with the use of such "archaic poetic words" as 'twixt and o'er. So already he is suggesting the imposition of arbitration as to which words we shall be allowed to use, with their degree of longevity one of the criteria. Doesn't it behove us, as poets, as much to defend the vocabularies of our respective languages as it does to accept the poetic forms in which they are deployed? Has 'tis, for example, really outlived its value? Is it, on this account, to be ostracized for ever? I offer this short oxymoronic piece as a text to reflect on:

A beneficial thief is 'tis:
It steals the doubt from it's and its.