Every now and again I’m going to post about books that have been significant to me on this wee journey. I say wee journey, I’ve been noodling and doodling with poetry most of my life. Lately I’ve become a bit less insecure about showing it to anyone. I dunno. It’s not that I care less about what people think these days. I do care about what people think. Experience has taught me that no matter what anyone does there will be those that enjoy it and those who do not and that’s fine. I’m not here to please everyone. I’m not here to annoy anyone either but somehow I manage to do this without effort or intention.
The Ode Less Travelled, Stephen Fry
This is probably the most important book about poetry that I have. It teaches Meter and form and gives wonderful examples and explanations. It’s been with me since it’s publication in 2005 and I have gone through it and it’s exercises many, many times. I still run through it and keep it nearby as reference book. I will never learn how to create a Sestina or a Villanelle without some form of ready reckoner.
And of course it’s Beloved Stephen Fry. Frequently referred to as an intellectual for the masses (occasionally this is pejorative) he is a performer, comedian, writer and wit that I do admire although he has said a few things over the years that I would be at variance with. If he had been my English teacher I imagine I’d have done a lot better than I did in my exams back in the late 20th century,
Munkus Bubbly 