Thoughts on the Collection of Poems

I did not get into poetry until I reached my adulthood. I liked reading them, but only by my own will, since my old elementary school in Korea forced students to memorize poems during breaks. In writing them, I never rhyme--I always do free verses, because I do not feel so confident in rhyming. But I now enjoy reading them, since visualizing the verses in my head is so much fun.

"Bird" by Pablo Neruda made me feel like I was in a large bird cage--the garden-like one, even though the birds in the poem had freedom. The art of poetry comes from telling the story, visual and deeper theme in minimal use of language that has rhythm. That cannot be done unless the poet has great understanding of the language itself. Therefore, it is one of the forms of art that are difficult to achieve.

"Bone" by Mary Oliver gave me peculiar feelings within the structure of the verses and use of words. The shift of visuals is weird--from happy pink to sad gray--and the connections between stanzas are loose. Playing with words cannot be done if the poet does not know what he or she is writing about. Poetry is all about understanding, in my opinion.

Probably I may write more poems or not, but I think I will still enjoy reading poems.

Hae-Lim Lee