Welcome to our podcast Reading with Libraries! We are excited to be back here chatting about books with you!
This week we will be discussing Poetry.
We discuss different genres of books each week, which is both fun and useful to library people doing Reader’s Advisory work. There are so many book genres out there that it’s tough to be an expert on all of them. So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar genre!
We want this to be fun – like a book group! And an important part of any book group is the beverages. As we start each episode, we will be enjoying our beverages; and as you – the listener – are also members of this book group, you should also have a beverage!
Our book group is very inclusive; there are no “right” or “wrong” books here! We just like to read and chat about books, and want you to share what you are reading too! All of us will take away at least a title or two that we want to read at the end of our time together!
Who is joining us this week? Our regular hosts Angie and Mary are here. This week our guest hosts are Annie and Abby from the Great River Regional Library System. Thank you for joining us as we talk about Poetry!
Beverages:
We have guests, we have our genre. We just need our beverages. Fortunately, we all came prepared with something to sip while we talk about our books. Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages. Each beverage will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself!
The American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is commemorated in this fresh and fruity drink, which blends tequila, cucumber, cilantro, and pineapple juice, a delicious mixture that is no divine tragedy.
Whiskey Sours:
Dorothy Parker’s drink of choice: Parker was known to favor whiskey sours
Pour whiskey and sweet and sour over ice cubes in a squat, old-fashioned glass.
Classic Martini:
Anne Sexton’s drink of choice. Accomplishments include: Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1967 for her book Live or Die.
(picture saved in Photos as Martini)
1. Mix gin or vodka and dry vermouth in a cocktail glass
2. Add the ice and stir until cocktail is chilled
3. Pour into a martini glass
4. Add a toothpick with 3 olives
Cider (NA) from the poem A Cider Song by GK Chesterton
- Quarter your apples (no need to remove peel or seeds).
- In a large stock pot add your apples and fill with water–just enough to cover the apples.
- Add your sugar.
- Wrap your cinnamon and allspice in a doubled up cheese cloth and tie, and add this to the apples and water.
- Boil on high for one hour (uncovered) checking on it frequently.
- Turn down heat and let simmer for two hours (covered).
- Take off the heat after two hours of simmering and let cool.
- Remove spices and mash up the apples to a pulp like consistency (a potato masher works well for this).
- Once cool pour into a strainer over a large bowl. When most of the juice has drained away, put the remainder of the pulp into a doubled up cheese cloth and squeeze over the bowl until no more juice comes out.
- (At this point you can either restrain the juice to get out the little bits of pulp that remain with a cheese cloth draped inside the strainer to catch them or just leave it like I do).
- You can store in an air tight container in your refrigerator for up to a week or you can freeze it for later use if you like.
Genre Discussion:
Definition from the Oxford Dictionary:
Literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature.
There is a lot to know about poetry, but don’t be discouraged! We’ll quickly share a few tips for beginners interested in getting started reading poetry.
The article “How to Read a Poem” from Poets.org has some very helpful advice: “Reading poetry well is part attitude and part technique. Curiosity is a useful attitude, especially when it’s free of preconceived ideas about what poetry is or should be. Effective technique directs your curiosity into asking questions, drawing you into a conversation with the poem.
The goal of careful reading is often to take up a question of meaning, an interpretive question that has more than one answer. Since the form of a poem is part of its meaning (for example, features such as repetition and rhyme may amplify or extend the meaning of a word or idea, adding emphasis, texture, or dimension), questions about form and technique, about the observable features of a poem, provide an effective point of entry for interpretation. To ask some of these questions, you’ll need to develop a good ear for the musical qualities of language, particularly how sound and rhythm relate to meaning. This approach is one of many ways into a poem.
Most readers make three false assumptions when addressing an unfamiliar poem. The first is assuming that they should understand what they encounter on the first reading, and if they don’t, that something is wrong with them or with the poem. The second is assuming that the poem is a kind of code, that each detail corresponds to one, and only one, thing, and unless they can crack this code, they’ve missed the point. The third is assuming that the poem can mean anything readers want it to mean.”
We’ll include links to more articles that explain the many different poetic forms, and also link to a poetry glossary so you can be more familiar with the terms of this genre.
Reading Lists for further poetry exploration:
- 18 Best Poetry Books to Read Right Now
- 50 Essential Books of Poetry That Everyone Should Read
- 25 Gateway Poets to Start Reading on World Poetry Day
- Poetry 101: Resources for Beginners – features articles like “How to Read a Poem,” a page on book recommendations, forms and techniques, schools and movements, and a Reading Guide to a few of the more famous poets
- 7 Must-Read Poetry Collections for Every YA Fan
- 25 Best Poetry Books for Teens
- 13 Poetry Collections for People That Think They Don’t Like Poetry
- Best Inspirational Poetry Books
- Buzzfeed’s 13 Best Poetry Books of 2017
Our Book Discussion
Now we are set with our genre, our yummy beverages, and have some good background information. Let’s get to the book discussion!
Below are examples of the books we discussed; the pictures are links to Amazon. We encourage you to browse around other books by these authors too!
Book of Longing by Leonard Cohen
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver
Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar
Electric Arches by Eve L. Ewing
Madwomen: The “Locas mujeres” Poems of Gabriela Mistral
Conclusion:
Thank you so much for joining us for this poetry discussion on our Reading with Libraries podcast! We will be back next Tuesday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries – which is surprisingly fun! – subscribe to our podcast Linking Our Libraries.
Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!