Poetry and personal thoughts
Rainy mood equals a day in bed and slow day of reminiscence. Being in that mood, I found a great young poet on Tumblr. I was never really keen on poetry until I met Erin Lierl, a travelling poet for hire, who wrote me a poem upon hearing a story I'd told her about some of my experiences with people. Given that it was also midnight and in the middle of Lisbon, it's an memory. I have that poem framed on my wall- it's really personal so I won't be posting it. That got me interested in poetry and literature a little more, so I started appreciating it more and more.
The girl I found today, Ming di Liu, is a New York twenty-something student writing one poem a day, and it's really beautiful--
“
"I don’t eat desserts anymore," I say
“And I don’t skip class.
I don’t get mad at the world
But I still think it’s sometimes unfair.”
It’s only been a little over six months
But things have changed.
You are still you
But I am not the girl you met in March.
"I’m still busy with work," you say
“And I’m still traveling.”
I understand; it was never me.
It was always you.
”
I think it's sad how we've spent years and years learning about great poets, Petrarca, Raleigh, Blake..., and about great loves and beautiful women from hundreds of years ago, and how in a few years people will have nothing to learn about this time that's right now. There are no famous poets and no famous affairs that would have epic poems written about them.
Top achievement is reading the meaning of Beyonce's and A$AP's verses on Rap Genius and serious poetry is found nerdy and dumb. It's not that I don't like Beyonce or A$AP, it's just that I think that people have lost the interest in making art with words and at the same time not making a top-chart pop piece.
I've recently found a collection of poems, all signed by anonymous people and only with initials- it ranges from happy to heartbroken themes. It's really, really beautiful and I love that there's still some people out there that keep poetry alive. I mean, have you ever read a text so perfectly composed it sent chills all over you and brought a memory back you thought you've lost?
Cling
The things you cling to
When you feel like
You’re drowning
Those are the things
That are worth
Your passion.
Those are the things,
That are worth
Loving.
KH
---
Empty
Such an oddity:
not to feel anything at all.
One cannot describe the emptiness
that makes you fall into yourself,
desperately trying to fill a gap
that is designed for hollowness.
Should my heart stop,
I wouldn’t know,
for it already it
half dead
and half invisible.
AJ
---
When a Homeless Person Loves You
I fell in love with someone who had nothing,
someone who taught me that
there’s so much more to empty places than just echoes,
who connected the stars above my head
with charcoal fingertips to create nets
so that when my world’s turned upside down
once more, there would be something to catch
me this time around.
He had cardboard smiles for strangers,
a shy one for me.
Everything he called his
could fit snugly inside my fist.
And when they flew away like butterflies,
he didn’t mind at all.
Because he knew there were echoes in empty places,
cardboard smiles from passing strangers
MJL
There are hundreds more like these- many are so so sweet. I think people should respect literature more, and value its importance. I kind of sound like an old, grey teacher rambling about reading, but it really is true. I don't get much time to read, but everytime I start or finish a book that's great, it's a great feeling. You never know when you'll read something that'll change your mindset or view on things- and that can be rarely done with movies as much as it's done with literature.
Will write soon, xx
