More Poems

By Frank P Gay

Much of the book is exercises in various forms of poetry. The main purpose was having fun with a secondary focus on the challenge given by the many forms of classical poetry easy and enjoyable to memorize and recall. Euphony and rhythm make poetry pleasant for me to read, jagged edges are best left for rock climbing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 8, 2008
• ISBN: 9781453594803

Frank P Gay

Frank P Gay was born in Denoya, Oklahoma in 1925 and spent his first six years there on the Osage Indian Reservation. This was followed considerable movement around the country before going into the Army in 1943. This resulted in visits to Europe, the Philippines, and Japan. Time at Indiana University and the University of California, Berkeley, led to a Ph. D. in Chemistry and a career in research at the DuPont company in Wilmington, Del. ending as a Research Fellow. Desultory poetry writing over the years increased with the death of my wife, Jane ten Broeck in 1998 and has continued to date.

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Copyright © 2008 by Frank P Gay.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2008903341

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4363-3605-5

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4363-3604-8

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Contents

INTRODUCTION

VENOM AND PASSION

A WILY OLD MAN

OLD MEN

FREE RANGE CHICKENS AT THE LOUVRE

QUINTAINS ON SMALL, NATURAL THINGS

FIBONACCHAIN

VALENTINE

GHOSTS

BELIEF AND DOUBT

PERFECTION

THINGS TO REMENBER

PAINTING

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

OLD FRIENDS

THE CUBISTS

WINTER SKY

PUZZLES

WHO GOES THERE

SUNSET AND SUNRISE

A SALUTE TO HIERONYMUS BOSCH

HIERONYMUS

MUSINGS

HIS AURA

REPLACEABLE PARTS

WOODS

CHAUCER NEVER!

SOULS

YEARS

EASTER

PAINTING

A BIT OF SPLEEN

ON READING BOOK TEN, MILTON’S PARADISE LOST.

I’LL NEVER FORGET

MILTON’S ANGEL

VISITS

I PASS

A SAPPHO ODE, REPHRASED

DEREK

BRANDON

DOUBLE DACTYLS

THUNDERSTORM

GREAT IDEAS

THE MYTH

NOAH’S STORM

TEMPUS FUGIT

WALKING WITH JEAN

MOST WEEKDAY AFTERNOONS

THE FLY

A SQUIRREL

CRICKETS

THE FORESTS OF THE MIND

SONNET ON A HOSPITAL STAY

TRACKS TO SANTA FE

IF GOD HAS MADE

EPITAPHS FOR ONES I LOVED

MOTHER’S WAR

WHY

ANOTHER YEAR

SESTINA

BIRTHDAY GREETINGS

SONNET

A LITTLE PRAYER

THERE WAS A TIME

NO RULES

THE OLD

DID I LOVE

MASK

WINTER WINDS

TEACHINGS

INTRODUCTION

IT IS ALWAYS tempting to use an opportunity to put subjects and forms you do not like in a bad light. The letters and op ed pieces in Poetry magazine are full of this sort of calumny and it goes as far into the past as I have read. I even suspect that the ancient Greek philosophers were engaging in this when they claimed that poets were artisans and only philosophers had access to the Muses. It adds little light to the debate and blithely ignores the fact that different people have different tastes. This is directly responsible for the fact that we have more than one type of toothpaste, more than one cut of meat and more than one vegetable.

The arguments on what constitutes poetry get so violent at times that it seems we overlook a more basic feature. The question is not whether this type or form of poetry is better than the other. The question that gets lost in the heat of the debate is, Is this particular poem a good poem and does it communicate with the reader? If it needs an explanation longer than the poem and/or multiple uses of Webster’s unabridged dictionary and the OED, it probably is not going to become popular except with writers of similar poetry.

My personal preference is for rhythm and, most of the time, some form of rhyme. The rhythm can be in the form of a formal meter or from the natural flow of the words but it should come easily and sound well when read aloud. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I do not. The rhymes aid the memory and also help the hearer by giving structure to the poem. To a degree, it is like classical music where the rules allow the listener to anticipate what is coming next. If the melodic line is too predictable, it doesn’t need to be written. By the same token, the expectations allow the composer to surprise or shock the listener with the unexpected, within limits. I feel the same should be true for poetry. Above all, poetry is a form of communication. If mysticism or sesquipedalianism or other isms get in the way of the communication, the ism is a defect.

With or without