Poetry’s Power of Perspective & a Pantoum

In The Literary Life section of the Sept/Oct 2019 Poets&Writers Magazine, Steve Almond wrote an article called “Manuals for Living: What Our Favorite Novels Teach Us About Ourselves. He says he rereads Stoner _{(assoc link)} by John Williams (1965) “an alarming percentage of his time.” In the article he writes, “And so I read the novel as a study in human conflict, the ways in which Stoner unwittingly stokes his feuds, seeks to defend himself, and struggles to accept the limits of his power in the world.”

In another article in The Literary Life section, “The Turn” by Benjamin Percy, I read “But I am here to tell you about the generative power of no. I can’t wait to see what I build out of the wreckage of last week. I can’t wait to find the turn. Because I know the only true failure is to stop trying.”

In the fiction prompt, “School Days,” it talks about power dynamics and says, “You might chose to integrate narration from an older, more removed character with scenes from an adolescent’s perspective.

Writing is a way to express our struggles for and with power. We may write in spite of every no, in response to rejection, to show the power of our perspective. But there is another power of perspective and that is that the writer does not have to be the speaker. Though much poetry is confessional and assumed to be about the writer, it may be fiction, or written from someone else’s point of view. A poem can explore many perspectives, or through using second person have you questioning your own perspective.

Have you read a poem that changed your perspective? What did the poet do to accomplish that?

The Prompts

The Meet the Bar prompt at dVerse Poets Pub is to write a Pantoum.

NaPoWriMo : write a poem in which the speaker expresses the desire to be someone or something else, and explains why.

PAD Challenge : write a pessimistic poem

Poetry Non-stop : write a conceit (or unlikely metaphor); think of two things, perhaps one concrete and one abstract, which don’t immediately seem alike, and then use this interesting metaphor in a poem.

Today’s Poem

She Would Rather Be

A swimmer says
she would rather be a chameleon
as her tongue darts to catch
water dripping down her cheek from her eyelashes

She would rather be a chameleon
warm and dry, able to collect
water from her own eyes
easily changing to blend in

Warm and dry, able to collect
herself, still rosy from exertion
easily changing to blend
among non-swimmers sunning on the rocks

Herself still rosy from exertion
I observe her colors dissipate
Among non-swimmers sunning on the rocks
she wants to change at will like a chameleon

I observe her colors dissipate
as she darts to catch her tongue
she wants to change at will like a chameleon
a camouflaged swimmer says

See you tomorrow!