Bus Stopping

A fellow writer suggested I include poetry in my reading rotation.  I resisted.  I don’t write poetry, I don’t like poetry, why on Earth would I want to read it?  I was envisioning overly flowery prose and…well…poetry.  I can’t recall a single instance over the course of my life where someone said “Hey, friend!  Let’s hang out and read some poetry on Saturday night.”

I have nothing against it.  It’s simply never been something I’ve had a great deal of interest in.  Some people love football, others not so much.  Golf?  If we’re talking miniature – I’m in!  Eighteen holes around a course?  No, thank you.

Most every day while running, I pass by the same abandoned building.  It stands out now because on one side a Donald Justice poem has been painted.  

If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Justice, he was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet.  Sadly, he passed away in 2013.

The poem is called Bus Stop.  While stopping to catch my breath one afternoon, I took the time to read it.

When I was done, my view on poetry had changed dramatically as a result of one portion.

And the last bus

Comes letting dark

Umbrellas out –

Black flowers, black flowers

To me, that was brilliantly simple.  Dark umbrellas representing black flowers.  Such a powerful image conveyed in so few words.  

I began to appreciate how much of a challenge poetry must be. As a novelist, I have no less than 250 pages to get my story across.  Imagine having a few short paragraphs!  I have the luxury of being able to wander a bit, but as a poet almost every single word needs to help you reach that end game.

After that afternoon, I began to review my own work to see how I could make it tighter.  What could I take out?  What could I punch up?  What can I do to get this across to the reader in the fewest – but most powerful words possible?  

I even named the process – bus stopping.  adj. the act of condensing verbose writing to a condensed form with strong meaning.

What are your thoughts on poetry?  Or using poetry as a guide in your own writing?  Let me know in the comments section down below.