Wednesday, January 29, 2014

CONVERSION OF A POETRY-HATER

I have always despised poetry. Abhorred it, in fact. So many people seem to write in their own private language, understood by only a few. I read their lines over and over until my head aches, and still I have no clue what it is they are trying to say.

There is one poet, however, who is a bit different. It's almost as if she speaks a universal language. Over and over again, in the past few years, lines of poetry have jumped out at me from something I was reading -- a blog post, facebook, someone's art journal, a magazine -- and stopped me in my tracks. Each time it was lines from the same author, Mary Oliver...lines guaranteed to reach out and slap you awake, if you have been sleepwalking through life...lines like:

 "Tell me. What will you do with your one wild precious life?"

So much said with so few words. Anyhoo, I'm not quite sure how she managed it, but she has me seriously considering the very last thing I ever thought I would do -- buying a poetry book!

Speaking of my one wild precious life...


I'm having tons of fun with the new on-line class I mentioned a few days ago, Draw Your Awesome Life. After completing those first two cover pages, we moved on to doing little daily vignettes in a sort of diary or calendar style. Next came sketching our "To-Do" lists, which, as you may know, is something I have great affection for. Coming up next? Sketching our grocery lists!


4 comments:

Diane said...

Love your pages and am considering taking this course but am also considering Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool in April http://www.sketchbookskool.com/
and in March Strathmore will be having another group of free workshops. So many fun choices!
I agree with you about Mary Oliver. She is so accessible even I can understand and relate to her words. I am moved by a very few other poets but not at all by those who seem to be trying to play mind games.

Hill Country Hippie said...

I always swear that I will never overlap or double up on classes again, and that I will make sure I have gaps in between classes, in which I will just do my own thing, but that's sooooo hard to do, when there are so many fun options out there!

Anonymous said...

it is so hard Not to love mary oliver...I have all her books except the new one....she speaks a universal language...wonderful pages. xox

Hill Country Hippie said...

If I were only going to buy one of her books, which should I get?