more thoughts on poetry

a poet on my circle of poets list asked if poetry needed to be punctuated as prose. my reply embellished below:

i don't think a poem needs to be punctuated as prose and it is one of those ridiculous "rules" we poets must break. poetry is by virtue of everything it is, not prose. why then would it be only punctuated as prose.

i view punctuation as a poetic device, a comma lends a gentle pause, a period a full absolute stop, an enjambed line offers a hesitation slighter than a comma and an indentation a breath. that is why reformatting poetry is absurd. negative space is as integral to the piece as the punctuation even if it does stray from the rules of prosody.

it was commented to my piece "unjustified" on the master's artist blog, that some professor said, justification doesn't matter because the words should stand alone. that is perhaps one of the most illogical teachings i've heard.

i am unable to recreate negative space in poems on this blog, but look at the works of e.e. cummings, ginsberg's wales visitation, w.s. merwin's some last questions, lawrence ferlinghetti's the changing light ,
charles olson's maximus to gloucester, letter 27 [withheld], just to name a few. these poems with their unique use of negative space are all examples of reformatting poetry detracts from author intent.

visit ferlinghetti's link, then consider doing this to ferlighetti's poem:

The changing light
at San Francisco
is none of your East Coast light
none of your
pearly light of Paris
The light of San Francisco
is a sea light
an island light
And the light of fog
blanketing the hills
drifting in at night
through the Golden Gate
to lie on the city at dawn...

what a disaster that is! the elegant waves the eye makes as it rolls to and from one line to another is reflective of the tone and subject itself. now tell me justification doesn't matter? aligning the words in one column or (God forbid) center justifying them would lead to a leaden heaviness, not akin to rolling waves at all. not doing justice to the elegance of ferlinghetti's poem.

can you see now how negative space contributes to a poem?

i would argue, punctuating poetry as prose detracts from a poem as well. unless it is a prose poem or some form which lends itself to the conventions of prosody. unless the poet chooses to punctuate it as prose. i leave all judgments of punctuation and style to the poet alone. let the "experts" and "rule makers" find something else to do.

that is all for today, i am still tired. blessings.