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Marc Gilbert
Posts: 145
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2018 7:02 am
Location: Chicago, USA
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Post by Marc Gilbert » Wed Jan 10, 2018 4:13 pm

I'm glad to be here. I can't recall when I started writing. I had a grandfather that used to recite all sorts of old poems and song lyrics that he claimed to have written. I've come to learn then many were popular lyrics from around the turn of the last century, but hey, the bug stuck.

For most of my youth I kept notebooks of what I thought of as song lyrics. As I got older and a bit better read I started thinking of them as poems and thought that since I did it so often I might as well learn about it.

I lived close to Northwestern University and wandered into their book store. Grabbed a book entitled, Forms of Discovery by Yvor Winters, read it and in the process was introduced to an entire world. I've since learned he's not such a popular figure these days, but that book opened the door and he still holds a warm place in my heart.

When my wife and I started dating and I was comfortable enough to show her my stuff, she encouraged me to try and publish. I have stacks of old rejection notices and a handful of publications to show for it.

It's funny my tastes in poetry run the gamut and are fairly common. I love Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson, but I'm also a big fan of W.C. Williams, Wm. Stafford, Hart Crane, I could go on.

My writing still leans towards the formal and lyrical. It's more laziness than preference I think. I like to have a frame, or rules to work with. Writing a good free verse poem is hard. I love the sound of language and admire those that can blend it with images and meaning.

I'm looking forward to all your help :P
"Poetry is not speech raised to the level of music, but music brought down to the level of speech." - Paul Valery

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Tom
Posts: 248
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 9:09 pm

Re: Hello

Post by Tom » Fri Jan 12, 2018 1:40 pm

Very pleased to post this welcome, Marc.

Designer, architect, builder and poet - your well-earned resume is Renaissance-Man-worthy.

T

Sharon Leigh
Posts: 272
Joined: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:07 am
Location: Midwest US

Re: Hello

Post by Sharon Leigh » Mon Jan 15, 2018 7:13 am

Hi Marc! Amazing intro :)

I can relate, in a sense. My mother read to us regularly from the likes of "Best Loved Poems of the American People" and so on. Poetry took and shaped me from there.

I found the song-lyric notekeeping in your youth interesting, v telling of a love for language and an ear for euphony.

You like to write in forms because of laziness?? :D And here I am avoiding form at all costs for the same reason! I get ya, though. I bet you're good at math, too :mrgreen:

Looking forward to reading you! See you around the boards

Sharon
"This creature of the poem may assemble itself into a being with its own centrifugal force."-- Sharon Olds

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