It’s Poetry Friday. I hope you like my new logo for my weekly post.
I’ve been browsing through some of my older poems, published or unpublished. One of the wonderful things about being a poet, is that, if you write regularly you have hundreds and hundreds of poems, of different lengths and styles and structures and topics and even of different quality. But when I opened the poem I am going to share today, one particular thing struck me. I’ll let you read it, and then I’ll tell you what I wondered.
The Newspaper
The newspaper
has comics
and horoscopes
births
and deaths
sport
TV
weather and
advertisements
kids pages
and competitions
lost and found
jobs
public notices
and news.
(Poem Copyright Sally Murphy.)
Did you wonder the same thing I did? The thing that struck me is, that although this poem was written only 9 years ago, it might be a poem which many may young readers would not relate to. Why? Because printed newspapers are becoming less a part of everyday life, and a consequence of this is that even some of the subjects I mention might not be the newspaper a child might observe. And, though this thought came later, a lot of the ‘news’ in the newspaper is not new at all – because we have so much access to almost-instant news through the internet and television.
And then of course I wondered if poems really do become outdated. When I was a child, I read poems about things that were not part of the contemporary world – nursies and counterpanes in R. L. Stevenson’s poetry, for example. But what I loved anyway was the structures and the words. I loved the word counterpane long before I understood what one was! And of course there is poetry that goes back way way way before that.
What ‘old’ poems do you still connect with? I’d love to hear.
Today’s Poetry Friday roundup is hosted by Jama at Alphabet Soup. Head over there to see what other poetry goodness is on offer around the blogosphere today.
The cuppa logo is quite spiffy.
“The Newspaper” makes me think about what you’ve said.
Like Robyn, I’ve written for a few. In our little home in North
Florida here, we still insist on having
our paper version of the paper, in addition now to screen
time at the flick of a button from front pages all over the universe.
I hoard the weekly colorful comics & used them as gift wrap for
kiddos who grow up not knowing what the rustling funny pages are.
As for older poems for children, some that were racist & sexist or otherwise horribly hurtful don’t deserve to be resurrected. But I love remembering about the smithy under the village chestnut tree, the Stevenson make believe worlds & where would I be without Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which I see you looking at this very moment way over from your South Pacific sky, Sally.
I am happy I found this post.
Jan/Bookseedstudio/North Florida
Thanks Jan.
I agree there are some poems which are either politically incorrect or downright horrible in their sentiment/attitude, which we should not hold onto. Luckily, there are enough good ones to cling to instead.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses was my first encounter with poetry and probably is the reason for my writing. I remember “the land of counterpane”, and used to make my own mountains and valleys in the blankets on my bed. Still my favorite poet!
Another thing we have in common, Donna. Thanks for dropping by.
I’m very fond of “The Owl and the Pussy-Cat,” by Edward Lear–to me it’s still timeless and let’s our imaginations run wild. I was happy to find in a poetry anthology a sequel to “The Owl and the Pusy-Cat,” The Children of the Owl and the busy-cat: https://interestingliterature.com/2016/03/04/the-children-of-the-owl-and-the-pussy-cat/
I do think there is a place for our newspapers, and that someone will always appreciate them. I like your new logo graphic too Sally, it’s filled to the brim with poems waiting to happen, thanks!
Thanks Michelle. I so loved the Owl and the Pussycat. ” too long we have tarried”
The logo was fun to make!
We still has a newspaper subscription but recently a bigger company took it over and so it doesn’t include as much local stuff. I think it’s shame because the newspaper has lost its hometown personality.
When you said you would tell us what you wondered, I had guessed what you’d say because so many things that were “every day” for us are foreign to the younger generation.
But I don’t want to let go of poems or much from the past in terms of literature. It may be outdated but it’s a part of me. And your post inspired a poem (below)! Thanks!
I want to be a poem hoarder—
stacking them here and there
and there and here
in my mind.
For I never know when
a line
or a verse
or an entire poem
might bring joy or comfort
or remind me of a time
that I hold dear.
Wow. What a wonderful response, Penny. May I sue it in a Poetry Friday post?
I will always keep that “red wheel/ barrow” in my heart.
Oh you and so many others!
Hard to imagine that printed newspapers are relics of the past, but it’s been decades since we had a subscription!
(Love the inviting logo!)
Thanks for the thoughtful post and question, Sally. On NPR over here last night, I heard part of a story about a very young man in Arkansas who bought/rescued his small town’s newspaper, and how folks supported that effort. I wish that could happen all over. I wrote for a couple of small papers back in the day – there’s nothing quite like that local attention to detail. I was always a big comics fan, too – and isn’t “counterpane” one of the best words ever? :0)
Thanks Robyn. We still have a free locl paper delivered weekly. I’m not sure how widely read it is, but I always have a quick browse.
So much to ponder. We still get a daily newspaper–a printed copy–but my daughter never had the same fascination with the comics that I did (and still do). Even though things (content and style) change, the words still invite wonder and connection. I still love my Chaucer for old poems.
Oh I like Chaucer too – though wasn’t so convinced when i had to study him in highschool.
I read the “comics” to my granddaughters a few weeks ago simply because I had purchased a Sunday paper for another story and had them. While they have many lit opportunities, they did not know about the “comics” in a paper. You are right about your poem, so much is not in the daily life anymore. I remember looking first at the horoscopes as a child when I discovered them. A favorite ‘old’ poem is by James Whitcomb Riley, “Li’l Orphant Annie”. Thanks, Sally, and I love your cup of poetry!
Thanks Linda. My kids loved the comics, but I’m betting my grandkids won’t.
I designed the logo on a phone app while flying home. Modern technology can be amazing.
You bring up some interesting considerations, Sally. Though some subjects and even poetic forms may eventually become or feel dated, the truth in words of human experience, crafted with care and attention, are forever.
Thanks jama. You sum it up well.
Not only the content of a poem can become dated, but the style in which a poem is written. The writing calisthenics that were okay “back then” no longer are acceptable from a contemporary point of view and yet the poems themselves remain treasured in our memories and on our bookshelves. I agree, it’s interesting to think about, Sally.
Thanks Michelle. I agree we can treasure the works of the past while knowing that not everything should be emulated.
I love old Robert Louis Stevenson poems, too, Sally.
I think people find poems and other things from the past interesting just as they find things from other countries interesting (after all, as the quote from LP Hartley goes, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”)
Thanks Tabatha. I love that quote and wish I’d thought to use it in my post – it says so much!