The Poetic Detective

By GK Jurrens

Does poetry interest you, but you just don't "get it?" Or does it intimidate you? Do you love "word puzzles" and "word paintings" but find them mystifying? Become a confident "poetic detective!" 

• Short chapters of straight talk in Part One of this tight volume expose poetry's sexy anatomy, including high-impact case studies. 
• Part Two offers a provocative collection of GK's own poems he calls "one-minute stories," further illustrating the powerful principles revealed in Part One of the book.

- "A cool way to explain & share poetry."

- "Truly understand and enjoy all poetry!" 

- "No other book like it."

• Language: English
• Publisher: GK Jurrens
• Release date: Aug 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781952165214

Book preview

Part One

Becoming a Poetic Detective

What makes no sense

Can make no cents.

So, let us dispense

With talk of expense

And find new joy

Inside a new toy.

Chapter 1

Why The Poetic Detective?

Hey!

I don’t enjoy watching basketball, maybe because I don’t understand the game. The same is likely true for most reluctant readers of poetry.

So while I think my poetry is good, I might help you enjoy it and all poetry with more profound enjoyment by simply revealing to the naked eye its subtle but shapely curves, to strip away the pretense, exposing its sinewy flesh and muscle and flexibility in all its glory—to reveal all its secrets and to leave you satisfied. ¹ (see note #1 at the end of this chapter).

If you are an aspiring poet, you will find this guide insightful and educational, possibly even amusing.

Our goal—yours and mine? To read and enjoy poetry with an informed eye.

Like most poems, the chapters in this book are short and packed with information in a straightforward and unpretentious manner. But you must think. That’s not so bad, is it?

I’ve studied and condensed key learning points from dozens of revered texts on the topics of reading and writing fine poetry. I found most of these wonderful resources too expansive to absorb for the average and impatient reader, including me. At first, I struggled. Then, after months of effort, it came more easily. I’d like to spare you that trauma.

If you’re an aspiring critic or an analytical reader who hungers for more knowledge, but don’t wish to spend hundreds of hours to acquire it, you too should find this guide a concise and useful exposé.

You will then know when I and other poets break the rules. And you’ll learn soon enough I am an irreverent rule breaker. But then you decide for yourself when that works, and when it does not.

Case in point: consider the title of this book, The Poetic Detective. Greater linguistic precision would have been served by titling it, The Poetry Detective, but how awful does that sound? You’ll learn why my chosen title—and the book’s theme—make more sense shortly. I broke a rule for the sake of artistic license. Yeah, I am such an outlaw!

If you are already an accomplished poet, you might find some new ideas you can press into service. At the very least, I’m hoping this will stimulate you.

Why should you bother with this book? And who am I to suggest I can offer you a flavor of verse ² (see note #2 at the end of this chapter) along with a method of reading it that you might even find compelling?

Is it possible you don’t really care for poetry? Yet? If that’s true, good! I hope to change that.

Said differently, I hope to change or intensify your attitude toward poetry by exposing the poet’s perspective when composing a piece. You’ll then use this knowledge to enjoy any poetry more.

So what is useful or even interesting about this book? It might just compel you to experience all poetry with fresh eyes. But it will accomplish this in a lean ’n mean fashion. I promise.

---

While I consider myself a creative, right-hemisphere-dominant—I’m even left-handed—I bring with me the discipline from a career in global technology. That is to say, I love attention to detail as much as I enjoy impulsively pursuing anything and everything of intense interest this life has to offer. Plus, having worked and visited my employees in more than a dozen countries, I have some interesting yarns to spin.

For example, I choose each word with ridiculous care. Being both obsessive and irreverent helps, not to mention conflicted, maybe like most creatives.

That is a good thing for an author, and especially for a poet, sufficient to craft an exciting picture in the minds of our readers. But poets accomplish this with some specialized knowledge and the careful selection of a few words instead of being encumbered by paint or a camera. We then use our minds, the poet’s brush, as we read the works of other authors and poets, attempting to see into their vision. Mr. Spock might call that a mind-meld.

Poems often come from a place that might fascinate you, but you’re probably glad you don’t live there yourself.

This is where we wish to journey. You will see I’m having some fun with typographical shape next, with nary a rhyme or rhythm structure to be found. Just let the line breaks work for you.

Come play with me:

Read a poem. Twice.

Now paint the rest of the picture

within each

poem.

---

Paint it from within your own fertile imagination—

with warm or frigid hues,

maybe some over-saturated colors,

or harsh black on

white.

---

Maybe paint the poem’s

picture in your mind’s eye

with some broad strokes—

a rough outlaw

texture,

---

or with latte-smooth spirituality

reminiscent of a few paintings that force your heart to pound blood

in your temples a little

harder.

---

The entire effect might just pump your own pulse

a beat or three faster…

more food for a

bold brain who

hungers.

Is what you just read poetry? Who cares! Read this book to find out if you should. What do you have to lose? How about investing a few hours with me to just indulge, maybe spread over a day or two, a week or three? Aren’t you willing to take a chance to enrich your already sophisticated self?

Meander with me through an offbeat buffet designed for consumption in provocative and digestible bite-size chunks. Perhaps before you drift off into your own dreamscape each night? Or in front of a cozy fire with a blue-white snowscape just outside your window at twilight. Or with an icy drink by the heated pool?

The nascent detective in you will rest easier knowing you have solved a poem better than ninety-nine percent of poetry readers on the planet because you have a need to know! Having read this book, you will know. You must be curious.

Let’s find out how much, together.

1 While not strictly a poetic expression, you may or may not appreciate my one and only anemic attempt in this volume at an amusing double entendre —a word or expression capable of two interpretations with one usually risqué.

2 Words and phrases from the lexicon —language—of poetry are italicized throughout this book for easy identification, as are complete poems and quoted lines of poetry.

Chapter 2

Making Sense of Poetry

Let’s take a look at where we’re headed.

Part One of this book, a primer, offers you a fresh way to think about all poetry, maybe even a different way to make more sense of the beauty of all poetry.

Part Two of this book offers you a selection of my own poetry, correlating each brief composition back to the principles from Part One. I promise your experience with my poems, or works of other poets, will make a great deal more sense, and will enable a more enjoyable read.

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Are you ready to become a poetic detective? Sleuth on, my new friend!

For the motivated reader, poetry does not need to be difficult or mystifying. In fact, it can and should be pure pleasure, a puzzle for the thoughtful mind that should also paint a fascinating picture behind your eyes. But like all art or literature, there will be poetry you love, and some you’ll hate. That’s fine. I hope you read and love at least some of mine. Some, you won’t, I promise. That’s how this works.

But just like watching a sporting event, or enjoying a classic painting, or solving a mystery, the more you understand the rules, the terminology, and conventions, the more enjoyable it will be. And the more capable you become. You immerse yourself in the game, or the painting, or the mystery, or the poem. You nurture a more meaningful relationship between you and the world around you, and especially with that poet.

As a reader, art lover, poet, or critic, it can also be fulfilling to know when rules or conventions are bent or broken by an expert hand for marvelous effect. Or by a rookie who writes tripe. Don't you think? But first, you need to learn—or be reminded of—those conventions. Then, detect away!

Do you want to feel like an insider? Or are you already an insider and wish to take your immersion experience to a different level?

Nothing clarifies better than examples, so I’ll leverage several in this tight volume, including a classic, as well as some of my own poems, to illustrate and reinforce key points.

By the end of this short book composed of short chapters packed with principles and examples of poetry, you will not have become a black-belt expert at reading and critiquing poetry, but you will be a knowledgeable and capable poetic detective!

Note that all the terms used in the language of poetry will be italicized for easy recognition. I’ll remind you of this periodically. Here we go.

Chapter 3

What Is a Poet?

Poets are unique.

I spent forty years compiling this book.

How’s that for unique?

Definitely not a fast moving virus

or a lust for commercial success.

Is it?

Others argue poets are afflicted by an emotional disease, a disease of the heart. But I am convinced the situation isn’t so complex for this particular poet. I just love fitting words together in ways that clever readers appreciate, while burying secret messages that only a clever reader can discern. And you are clever, or you would not be here.

This poet, at least, falls prey to a propensity for getting into literary trouble. Writing well is hard. Writing poetry well is harder. But that’s not enough, is it?

The best poets wish to complicate matters. I know—perverse. They exercise their talent to make their creative venture more technical—for themselves. However, at the same time, the good ones strive to craft a more enjoyable and non-technical experience for their readers.

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The great poet, Dylan