No Time to Read

I hear this from time to time and have to admit that i don’t read novels anymore; Since I began art 15 years ago and during that time explored and am published in poetry and photography I only read non-fiction.

I read non -fiction in my areas of interest with art alone being a wide range including collage, assemblage, painting (also divided into watercolour, acrylic, pastels), artists books and bookbinding, printmaking (lino cuts, etching, collographs) mosaics and a range of small craft projects.

Add to that photography and poetry, associated business ideas, website development, statistics and self improvement articles, you can see there is a lifetime’s reading there. 

When I consider that I no longer read novels I am okay with that because I read poetry. Half of me is enjoying fiction and the other half is still learning. 

Poetry …. Where on earth do you begin?  If, like me when I first started, you know nothing about poetry except what you were introduced to in school and did not enjoy.  Well, in the beginning I went through the rules and poetic devices thinking I would like to write tracts and tracts of Dylan-esque POETRY and how difficult can it be, right ? 

[insert smiley face here].  I wrote embarrassingly bad, bad, bad poetry for a few months while reading great poetry from excellent authors.  I Googled to find WHO these good authors were and slowly started to recognise poetic devices and the use of great language (which is always been my love).  I also realised how difficult this poetry writing thing is and stumbled into Haiku thinking it had to be easier….  after all,

Three lines
less than 17 syllables
how hard can it be?

This short form has proven to be very challenging, much more complex than its 3 lines suggest and as with all art, there are many rules to learn before you can break them.  In learning Haiku I have received so much in return that one can but wonder at art and its contribution to well-being.

Haiku has given me :
-  A discipline that is a pleasure.  Making notes each day, jotting down observed moments, learning to see.
-  It requires close observation; of nature, of birds and bees, of human nature, beauty and ugliness, the weather, the season. 
-  Haiku requires using all your senses in that observation.  What I hear, see, taste, smell and touch …. plus intuition.
-  The form has sent me off in other directions, exploring my own philosophy, emotional intelligence, ways of being and seeing.
-  A love for reading poetry, good poetry.  A taste for writing it and writing well.
- Haiku has taken me on to other forms such as Tanka, Haibun, Haiga and free verse.

In this busy life today there is never enough time to read a book;  poetry gives me moments in a day where I can flick through the book and read one or two with my cup of coffee or on the bus, or waiting at the doctors. 

Try it … you might get to love it too.

2009 (c) Emerald13

you might also enjoy :
What is Haiku?
Haiku – part3articles on poetry