Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.  

After we read this poem again in class I realized that I have started beating poems again and trying to get meanings out of them. It is like looking at a slide in class when the teacher just lets you look at them. You feel it. You enjoy it. You don't feel the need to analyze it. There may be questions that cross your mind when you look at it. When reading a poem you should always enjoy it and instead of trying to create feelings you think should be there you should try to focus on the feelings you get when you read it. I have been beating poems with a hose and I really started to like poetry a lot after I realized how enjoyable it was, but I have been starting to enjoy it less. I really like how this poem makes things personal. Like when you walk into a friend's room and you don't know where things are but when you just take a second to think it is easy to find what you are looking for. I think I might need to keep referring back to this poem when I start beating other poems again.