Favorite poetic snippets...

1. 71

   maven101posted 13 years ago

   What are your favorite poetic snippets, 4 lines or less, and what do they mean to you..?
   
   " When I have fears that I may cease to be, before this pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
   " Before high piled books, hold like rich garners, the full-ripened grain.." John Keats...
   
   This reminds me of my own mortality and of experiences buried deep within that I should share with those I love...the " full-ripened grain " of an awakened maturity and understanding...Larry

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   1. 74

      Hauntyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      One would think people would use this opportunity to quote their own poems... but no.

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   2. 60

      Gypsysilkposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      "Oh wad some power the giftie gie us,to see oursels as others see us ."
      I love this from Rabbie Burns and there is never a truer word said

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      1. 71

         maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Such truth be spoken by the great Bobby Burns...Here is a similar snippet from another great poet, W.C. Auden:
         " All that we are not stares back at what we are ".

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   3. 60

      VictorS.posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      "It is bitter--bitter," he answered;
      "But I like it
      Because it is bitter,
      And because it is my heart."
      
      Stephen Crane, The Black Riders and Other Lines, III
      
      All of the poems in this collection of poetry are good, but number three is the one I've seen quoted most often, and for a good reason.
      
      A little context: The narrator of this poem sees a creature in the dessert eating its own heart. The narrator asks, "Is it good, friend?"
      
      What it means to me: There is more than one interpretation for this poem obviously, but one thing that it represents to me is a coming to terms with the shadow part of the psyche, the parts of ourselves that we find repulsive or don't want to acknowledge. The creature finds what it is and what it is doing very bitter, but likes likes it because the acknowledgement is a type of healing, or at least an honesty. The narrator (and the reader) watches and perhaps considers accepting their own shadow aspects.

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      1. 71

         maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Such insightful commentary on a poem of such personal significance...I was wondering if this is the same Stephen Crane that wrote so masterfully on the American Civil War..?

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         1. 60

            VictorS.posted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yep. None other than the writer of The Red Badge of Courage, one of my favorites.

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2. 74

   Hauntyposted 13 years ago

   " Why was six afraid of seven?
     Because seven was a robot.  "
   
   This is just plain beautiful. It reminds me that robots are dangerous. I have contemplated this sense of danger and come to think it originates in the fact that they can shoot you with laser.

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   1. 71

      maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You have every reason to fear robots, my friend...This little " Robot pome " by Jason Christie should validate your necessary fear :
      "Why do I have to be one of millions?
      Why can't I just be a lonely little one,
      in search of a zero to call my own?..."
      A blue Robot..? Yikes !!!

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3. 60

   Jaggedfrostposted 13 years ago

   Know thyself and to thyself be true

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   1. 71

      maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      The Oracle of Delphi remains a mystery of history...but the words are immortal...

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4. 59

   epigrammanposted 13 years ago

   .....why yes ..... anything that I've written .......

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5. 74

   Arthur Fontesposted 13 years ago

   Too late, my time has come
   Sends shivers down my spine
   Body's aching all the time
   Goodbye, everybody
   I've got to go
   Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
   Mama, oh (Anyway the wind blows)
   I don't want to die
   Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

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   1. 71

      maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting, but what does it mean to you..?

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      1. 74

         Arthur Fontesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         The words fit my emotions perfectly.  It actually means to me exactly what it says.

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6. 60

   couturepopcafeposted 13 years ago

   Thought this might be of interest to poets:
   
   From Christian Wiman, Editor, Poetry
   
   Let us remember...that in the end we go to poetry for one reason, so that we might more fully inhabit our lives and the world in which we live them, and that if we more fully inhabit these things, we might be less apt to destroy both.

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   1. 71

      maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I should think that those that go to poetry at all, would be the least-likely to destroy anything...
      Here is a snippet from Yeats I find applies to some I know:
      " Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."...

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      1. 60

         couturepopcafeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Love it.  And yes, let me rephrase.  Of interest to poets not in the sense that we are destroyers but in the sense that "we are the music makers, the singers of songs,..." etc.

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7. 71

   maven101posted 13 years ago

   Yes..we are indeed the music makers...The music of life, rhythmic, cyclical, enduring...What has allowed us, as poets, to endure this..? To soak in life and expel it through verbal imagery..? Is there a poetic gene..? This need to color life with such spontaneous remarks ..? An inner sobbing at this life of such injustices, or an inner laughter at the absurdity of life's challenges..? I don't know the answer...I only know that I know nothing, and knowing nothing allows me to accept all knowledge, without prejudice...Truth will always out...
   Another snippet :
   “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Oscar Wilde...

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8. 0

   china manposted 13 years ago

   Imagine all the people - John Lennon - self-explanatory.

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9. 66

   Ben Evansposted 13 years ago

   I was angry with my friend;
   I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
   I was angry with my foe:
   I told it not, my wrath did grow.
   
   -William Blake

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   1. 60

      couturepopcafeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Love it.

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10. 60

    couturepopcafeposted 13 years ago

    Where in the Hands of Creation does breath begin us?
    Breaking silence.  Becoming the inside.  - Caleca

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11. 55

    Sab Ohposted 13 years ago

    No man is an island, entire of itself

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12. 60

    couturepopcafeposted 13 years ago

    Much of the world's beauty forms in response to a wound. -unknown

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13. 66

    Ben Evansposted 13 years ago

    You can spend all your time making money
    You can spend all your love making time
    If it all fell to pieces tomorrow
    Would you still be mine?
    
    -Eagles "Take it to the Limit"

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14. 61

    qwarkposted 13 years ago

    "The zenith of times creation,
    
    is a 2 legged "imp" called: MAN!
    
    Diminutive in size compared to the rest,
    
    ...timorously active but bright none the less,
    
    this frail little primate was nobody's fool!
    
    ...Not far in the future the world "It" would rule!"
    
    
    Qwark

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    1. 60

       couturepopcafeposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Awesome.

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       1. 61

          qwarkposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          TY Couture!   :-)
          That was a "snippet" from a 4 chapter poem I wrote as a "hub."

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15. 60

    Jaggedfrostposted 13 years ago

    Quoth the raven, nevermore.

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16. 0

    Doug Turner Jr.posted 13 years ago

    "Who among mortal men are you, good friend?
    For never before have I seen you in the fighting
    Where men win glory, yet now you have come
    Striding in front of all others in your great heart."
    
    Homer's Iliad

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    1. 71

       maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Also known as REMF's...
       Epic poetry has pretty much diminished , Milton's " Paradise Lost " being the last epic poem of any real significance...
       What was your impression of Hercules, the man, not the warrior..?

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17. 66

    awareposted 13 years ago

    dang great to see you maven

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    1. 71

       maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Hey, aware !!...Been out of town  the last couple weeks...Had to see the ocean again...I truly miss the beach scene...Arizona is wonderful, but the call of the sea birds, the roar of the surf, and the moonlight glancing off the bay is missed terribly...
       I'll be catching up on my fav poets ( where you rank very high ) in the next couple days...Go well my friend...Larry

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18. 66

    awareposted 13 years ago

    Larry you are the person i wish most to read more of.
    Thank you friend
    Ray

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19. 41

    janessecretposted 13 years ago

    Noons of dryness see you fed. By the involuntary powers,Nights of insult let you pass. Watched by every human love.
    
    Auden, the greatest love poet of all . . .

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    1. 71

       maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       Wonderful snippet from a most wonderful poet...I have quoted him in an earlier comment that projects his philosophical bent...Larry

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20. 41

    janessecretposted 13 years ago

    Couldn't resist this one too . . .
    
    time held me green and dying, though i sang in my chains like the sea...
    
    This is about the golden handcuffs of comfort that we all wear, though we may be content we can nevwe really be happy unless we can break those chains.

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    1. 71

       maven101posted 13 years agoin reply to this

       His reference to the sea strikes me as a sea that is bound by the shores it rages against, chained by its inability to reach beyond the shoreline, its comfort zone...Larry

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21. 62

    Daniel Carterposted 13 years ago

    "There once was a lad from Nantucket
    Who carried a very large bucket..."
    
    Considering the deluge of rain and snow today, I think the young man must have been an eagle scout.

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