Poems include:  The Passing Year  (First Prize, Poetry Contest), Stan Patton and  Acoustics , Nancy Wilso

Patton, Stan

Wilson, Nancy N.

Digital Commons @ Butler University

14 MANUSCRIPTSDefinition of PoetryLynn Z. BloomOnceI took a course in aesthetics:Three hours creditIf I could learnWhat a poem was.A poem was "the record of the best and happiest moments of the bestand happiest minds";"The best words in the best order";"A criticism of life."But what was "best"?Would "happiness" necessarily prevail in a criticism?And if a poem "tells us . . .. something that cannot be said," howcould we discuss the ineffable?A poem was a poem, we learned, if it made you feel as if the top ofyour head were taken off,Or if your spine tingledOr your gut quivered,Save the classics, and with them, the more cathartic, the better.A poem was metered, rhythmic, regular-Except free verse.A poem rhymed-But not blank verse.A poem had consonance, assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia-Or none of these.A poem used a "higher concentration of imagery" than prose."But how high is high?" asked we bourgeois gentlemen, speakers ofprose all our lives.MANUSCRIPTS 15A poem was "poem-shaped,"Yes, just as a human being was man-shaped,unless she was a woman,Finally, we were told, "a poem should not mean, but be."Be what?To answer the question for myselfIwrote a term paper."A Definition of Poetry."The instructor gave it an A.But I never wroteA poem.The Fine Art of Ineptitude"Sue WinemillerEach of us knows at least one of them. They are perched beforeeasels duplicating the spring's emerald meadows and the autumn'sturbulent skies. Clad in leotards, they pirouette and pas de huerretheir souls into the "Nutcracker Suite," while their colleagues entrancethe audience with skill &n the! orchestra pit. Nod: content with amonopoly of the fine arts, their type is found fashioning Christmasangels from empty toilet paper rolls, making doll houses out of oldcereal boxes, and whipping together gourmet dinners from cans ofCampbell's Chicken Noodle Soup. I speak of my personal nemesis,the artist-one who, by inborn talent or by inclination, excels at hiscraft.

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