Poetry is For Losers by Steve Watters on 11/19/2008 at 6:00 PM

Around the time Ted posted his blog featuring his poetry, I was cleaning out files in our home office and came across some stuff I wrote in college.

Here's one piece that may explain why people even bother writing poetry:

Poetry, they say, is for losers
Especially those who've lost out
Who go grabbing metaphors like lifeboats
When their ship is going down

Poetry, they say, is for sick people
Especially the terminally unwell
Who go stabbing their pens like needles
Into veins with things to tell.

Poetry, they say, is for loners
Especially because it's done alone
But still we write and read it
To know we're not alone

Comments

[1. Susie said the following at 8:14 PM on Nov 19]

1

Cool-I had no idea that you guys were so poetic! ;)

[2. Amanda said the following at 9:13 PM on Nov 19]

2

When discussing poetry, I confess I always remember these lines from Love's Labours Lost:

Dumaine : In reason nothing.
Berone: Something then in rhyme.

And that sums up my opinion of a lot of the poetry I've read. :)

[3. Laura said the following at 9:51 PM on Nov 19]

3

Just out of curiousity, what percentage of the Boundless staff/Line posters were English majors?

[4. LeeLee said the following at 8:07 AM on Nov 20]

4

Haha... yeah, pretty much. Just look at Sylvia Plath, the cliched example of the tortured poet.

[5. Beth said the following at 11:08 AM on Nov 20]

5

So then, poetry is for...everyone.

[6. Jonathon said the following at 12:20 PM on Nov 20]

6

I am an english major.

[7. Josh M said the following at 3:38 PM on Nov 20]

7

Major doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it, I was an engineering major and write poetry with varying regularity. Here something recent written while meditating on Psalm 6:

Darkness seeks a hold
Obscures Your name from mind
In every which way I'm pulled
Struggle to keep on Your path's line

Each offered path will beckon
But I've traveled there before
Know how later each will darken
Yet leave me still wanting more

So I pray, while still sane
Shine Your glory, light my way
Fill my mouth with Your refrain
And hedge my path, so I'll not stray

[8. Leah said the following at 8:41 PM on Nov 20]

8

"Who go grabbing metaphors like lifeboats
When their ship is going down"

You realise that's a simile and not a metaphor? ;)

[9. Heather said the following at 2:02 PM on Nov 21]

9

Enjoyed the poetry. I have a collection of poetic lifeboats from my college years, I've since grabbed on to the real thing at the cross. I'm glad to say that it recently gave birth to a new blog I'm really enjoying. God's word is far more inspiring than my former woes.

[10. Gracie said the following at 2:10 PM on Nov 21]

10

Aren't similes subsets of metaphors?

[11. Christopher said the following at 6:39 PM on Nov 22]

11

Nice work, Steve! I was an English major in college; poetry was a particular love of mine. I used to write them myself. Sadly, having postmodern philosophy and radical literary theory crammed down my throat, also in college (at a time when I didn't have the worldview to deal with them) soured me on writing, and even reading, to a certain extent, for a long time.

I started reading seriously again when I became a Christian six years ago, at the age of 29. Much more recently, I have also started writing again. For anyone who is interested, you can go to my MySpace page to read original music reviews and a poem (the first one that I have attempted in years!). Here is the link to the page:
http://www.myspace.com/thatibelongtogod

[12. Leah said the following at 8:51 PM on Nov 24]

12

Gracie- still misleading to call a simile a metaphor, not really the same thing. A simile is when something is "like" something else (eg. "like a lifeboat"); a metaphor is when something IS something else (eg. "The killer was a lion, waiting to ambush his prey").

[13. Helena said the following at 2:27 AM on Dec 1]

13

Hey, i thought i'd share one of my own.

The One Who Gave

Hold back the dam of sadness
Hold back the dam of broken dreams
Hold back the dam of lost love
Hold back the dam of hopelessness

I fear the bursting of tears
I fear the drowning of hope
I fear the bleed of crimson flow
From the heart that knows not it’s own

Find me refuge in this storm
Find me peace in this turmoil
Find me hope when hope is lost
Find me comfort in arms so cold

Release the floodgates of happiness
Release the floodgates of longings fulfilled
Release the floodgates of unconditional love
Find hope again in the ONE who gave.