Autobiography
Some thoughts and a poem
It is common to think about poetry as a place for the thoughts and feelings of poets, an exercise in working things out. We assume that the details in poems are autobiographical, that the poet is telling their own story. Sometimes they are. For example, mid-century confessional poets made it the point to explore the self. In the best work, an individual emotional or psychological instance offers insight into our shared human condition. So we mine the work of our favorite poets for clues about their emotional lives and how they lived.
On the other hand, poets are involved in the act of creative writing. The details that emerge in poems may come from personal experience, but they might come from observing others, or from reading. They might be made up. We approach novels and short stories with this understanding and we can bring it to our engagement with poetry as well, without diminishing the insights to be gained.
Autobiography
The poem is not the poet.
There are seven degrees
of separation
between em and tee.
The poet is not her poem
though her lover hears
graceful lines in her
features and gestures.
Don’t call this that
or that this, this being this
and that being none
of your business.
It is not her story
the poet is telling. It’s yours.Thank you for reading Every Other Sunday. Have you subscribed? Please do, and if you know someone who might enjoy EOS, please share. Comments are welcomed - tell me what you think.