The artists’ POV

I learned a lot in the interview we had with Antonio Lopez over zoom. He helped me see a whole new side as well as the importance of poetry. The first thing I noticed about him was the way that he spoke was poetic in itself. He had a beautiful way of choosing words that communicated exactly the thoughts he was trying to get across. He even mentioned many metaphors and similes to describe what poetry is. It came across a little confusing to me at first, but I eventually understood that he was trying to get us to understand the meaning of what poetry meant through evoking feelings and emotions that we knew well instead of us trying to comprehend a dictionary definition of what it was. Like when he said “A poem is the obsession of an artist”, which can be seen in a million different ways depending on the person, it helps us think about what we are obsessed with and what we love and ties those emotions of our strong feelings of a certain hobby or even person, to poetry itself. I also loved when he stated that “poetry is a declaration that I AM HERE”. This provides the feeling of empowerment and that poetry is a way to express whatever feelings are in need of being expressed. That there is nothing to hide and that it is all your emotions and your own statement of your presence. I feel that his way of adding his own “I Am Here” to his poems is by always mixing Spanish and English in his poems. It creates a unique tone and even a more real tone and feeling because the reader knows this is his own language and he is not trying to hide who is, even in his work. He expressed who he is to the fullest by incorporating his language into his work. The last thing that really stuck with me about his interview was when he discussed that artists are the first ones people look to in times of tragedy because they can help try and make sense of things. This ties with another thing he mentioned which was that artists look to chaos and find the beauty in it. I believe that he is trying to explain that artists see things in a way that we may not right away. They see things from a different standpoint and by looking at things from another point of view we may be able to find the solution or make sense out of something tragic. I never thought of artists doing a job like that and it really stuck with me because it makes so much sense. Like artists could paint or write something and see it in a completely different way than everyone else and that is what we need when we cannot find an answer or a solution in times of tragedy. I feel that this is very important in politics and that we need more of it to be seen. By claiming that there is a need for different viewpoints of people to make sense of the world’s tragedies and set backs, it shows that we need to incorporate more of the views from different people of different cultural backgrounds, gender, sexuality, and all the possibly different viewpoints we can to find the best solution to the things wrong is our world. People are wonderful because we are all so different which means something that I cannot find the answer of may be insanely obvious for another person. Antonio also discussed that he is in politics now and is trying to incorporate his work and more artistry into politics just to make sense of issue or possibly find better and better solutions which I believe is a wonderful way of going about things and could lead to a better world. I overall loved the interview with Antonio Lopez and have learned so much from hearing about his point of view.

Emily Mayo

Poetry?

I feel that Marianna Moore’s poem “Poetry” defines poetry the best out of the three. However, this judgement was not made because I believe that either of the two other poems do not define poetry very well in their own right (and they both do), it is because they focus more on showing/utilizing poetic devices rather than offering explanations and analysis like how Moore did.

The last portion of Moore’s poem is where it does the task of defining poetry the best. The most important part is when she states,” … imaginary gardens with real toads in them…” Which is something that poetry can be compared very closely to, even though at first glance they may seem like totally disconnected entities/ideas. Just like how people, whether it is with their own personal pet or for a large display (any animal display) will create a living space (or terrarium) for an intriguing specimen in order to preserve and share it, people create poems in order to capture very real emotions and experiences in something that is synthetic.

Even though the surrounding may be totally fabricated, it can still carry something totally genuine. Some are so well crafted that it can even fool your senses to the point to where you may even forget that it is not “real”.

– Andrew Hardy

Deep understanding of poetry

By: Randy Hernandez

I believe Moore poem title “Poetry” best defines poetry in general. Moore acknowledges the idea of showing the reader that there is more significant aspects to life than poetry. She begins her poem with the benefits of understanding poetry as she states “with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it after all, a place for the genuine”. When the reader has a great understanding of what the poet or writer is saying then they show a deeper interest in the work. The reader sees the writing as useful or seeing a purpose such as a “bat holding on upside down or inquest of something to eat.” Moore includes this list of what these animals actions hold a purpose the same way a writer may have. When poets write they always have a goal, whether it’s for pure joy, sharing sensitive issues or personal experiences. It’s not until one can’t get an understanding of poetry that they are “dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry”. This quote could refer to this idea of how one’s mind won’t see a purpose to certain aspects of what the poets wants the reader to understand. This results in them getting frustrated and not having a deep understanding of the poem. Then the reader sees no purpose or no big picture of why the poet wrote the poem. When Moore shows these two different aspects to poetry it helps define poetry in a general sense. At times it may be very difficult to understand, but other times it’s not too difficult. This idea of having to figure out what the poet wants to express in their writing is what poetry is about. It’s not until you have a deep understanding that you see the creativity, art or purpose to what the author wants the reader to see. 

Deep understanding of poetry

By: Randy Hernandez

I believe Moore poem title “Poetry” best defines poetry in general. Moore acknowledges the idea of showing the reader that there is more significant aspects to life than poetry. She begins her poem with the benefits of understanding poetry as she states “with a perfect contempt for it, one discovers in it after all, a place for the genuine”. When the reader has a great understanding of what the poet or writer is saying then they show a deeper interest in the work. The reader sees the writing as useful or seeing a purpose such as a “bat holding on upside down or inquest of something to eat.” Moore includes this list of what these animals actions hold a purpose the same way a writer may have. When poets write they always have a goal, whether it’s for pure joy, sharing sensitive issues or personal experiences. It’s not until one can’t get an understanding of poetry that they are “dragged into prominence by half poets, the result is not poetry”. This quote could refer to this idea of how one’s mind won’t see a purpose to certain aspects of what the poets wants the reader to understand. This results in them getting frustrated and not having a deep understanding of the poem. Then the reader sees no purpose or no big picture of why the poet wrote the poem. When Moore shows these two different aspects to poetry it helps define poetry in a general sense. At times it may be very difficult to understand, but other times it’s not too difficult. This idea of having to figure out what the poet wants to express in their writing is what poetry is about. It’s not until you have a deep understanding that you see the creativity, art or purpose to what the author wants the reader to see. 

The mystery of poetry

Diane Tarabay-Rodriguez

Poetry is a very complex type of writing and in many cases very difficult to comprehend. There are different types of poems some more confusing than others, for this reason, many people tend to avoid them. Marianne Moore does a great job of explaining what poetry means in her poem “poetry”. Through her poem, she incorporates humor and brings into light all the confusion that poetry can cause. Ironically, she constructs her poem with many strangely placed sentences and many other strange things that most poems consist of. What I enjoyed about her poem is that she brings comfort to the reader by mentioning that poetry is not meant to be understood and that everyone has different interpretations of poems. She goes on to talk about the fact that poetry is not something that is meant to be understood. After reading her poem, readers are able to feel relieved and relaxed. We as humans always feel the need to understand and have the answers to everything. We put so much pressure on ourselves to get all the right answers and uncover the meaning of every little thing that we encounter. We have to accept the fact that some things are unknown and must be left to the imagination.

Poetry is what speaks to you.

Jackeline Salazar

Even though all three of them are poems, the one that defines the most would just depends on what speaks to you the most. Everyone has their own definition of poetry so we can’t just say that one of these poems defines poetry the most, because they all have a meaning to what speaks most for itself. I personally believe that the poem that speaks to me the most is “USES OF POETRY” by Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. I like how he defines poetry in many ways, at least that is how I seem to read and understand it. He seems to make you think in the beginning that poetry is either used in a good way, but can also be used in some bad ways too. He uses phrases that also have a deeper meaning but usually it is easy to point it out and understand what he is talking about when he says what is the use of poetry. He also seems to be saying that poetry is define in many things and places and even in albums supposedly. He  is trying to acknowledge that poetry can interpret in many situations or in objects, even poetry can be define in our dreams. In lines 4-5, he mentions how poetry can be “paved over to make a freeway for armies of the night”. As in poetry can be covered to define many things.  He interprets poetry in many ways, it is just your way of understanding what it could mean and how you also want to define poetry as well.