Here's my thing: I am just an ordinary person with an ordinary mind. So poetry that I don't understand, or is "inaccessible" to me on a somewhat literal or what you call a metonymic level, I don't thoroughly enjoy. So if you're the same as me, and don't like way-over-the-head poetry, don't worry. For those who want challenge however, to say, discern meaning from poetry, don't despair, because most of these require a bit of mind-tinkering, if wanted. The beauty of good poetry is that they work on two levels: the metonymic (or literal) and the metaphorical (the symbolic). It's up to you to decide which level you want to gain access to. Saying that, by now, there's no abstract (or Dadaist poetry) included here. At least, I don't think so.
Note #1: There's no format or pattern really, to the way I listed the authors, certainly not by importance, but rather, whose poetry I typed first would go first. Of course, it is all selective attention too, as "favorites" are subjective as well. It is only natural that I do the ones which I like better, and then the ones that are shorter. This way, I will think I've accomplished a lot. heh heh heh. Sometimes, to be in a delusional state is good.
Note #2: Those pieces that are relatively short, like really really short, I will compile in another category other than authors. If I have infringed on any copyright law, please inform me, and I will gladly take the questionable material off. To avoid this, I have limited myself to three poems max per author (I think that's fair), with an exception for Atwood (4), since she is my fave author. The average is 2/author, so it is your job to go out and buy or borrow their books for yourself if you like the sampling I provided you. Any questions or comments about this page should be directed to my mailbox or to my guestbook.
Modified December 1998.
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