{"id":8340,"date":"2014-04-18T15:41:38","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T19:41:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=8340"},"modified":"2014-04-18T15:48:38","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T19:48:38","slug":"form-poetry-and-the-empty-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/04\/form-poetry-and-the-empty-cup.html","title":{"rendered":"form, poetry, and the empty cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>I spent the day researching obscure poetic forms. \u00a0And it was enormous fun — thinking about what to pour into those elegant white cups of structure. Along the way, I wrote this poem for my sisters (the least structured of women). But we’ll get to the poem in a moment.<\/p>\n

Because what’s important is this whole cup thing. How the shape of the container\/ vessel impacts what goes inside. I don’t drink tea (or coffee) from ugly containers — and don’t go making more of that than I’m saying. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Anything worth writing deserves the best possible — and most appropriate — presentation. Forms also help us give shape to the booming chaos within, especially at times of grief, or even great joy. I have written elegies and eulogies (and yes, there is a difference<\/a>), and the shape of a poetic elegy is no more difficult than a spoken eulogy, sometimes easier.<\/p>\n

Form, after all, is just shape. It’s drinking green tea from the celadon tea set my husband brought me from Korea, not from the Aynsley pot my tea conspiracy gave me.<\/p>\n

\"author's<\/a>
author’s photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That’s reserved for when I need to remember I’m loved, and have overcome difficult times.<\/p>\n

A sonnet (at least in my hands) is rarely funny, although that can have its own appeal, the subversion of a form. Any more than I’ve ever seen a tragic limerick. The form (and all its cultural readings) doesn’t go there.<\/p>\n

It’s why I don’t drink juice from a teacup, or hot chocolate from a goblet. The forms war w\/ the content.<\/p>\n

This may be more than you ever wanted to hear about form, structure, and cups. \ud83d\ude42 But it’s important. Honest.<\/p>\n

Because people AREN’T cups. And our ‘form’ needn’t dictate (or even seriously impact) our ‘content.’ I don’t have to wear old person clothes — I needn’t eschew my beloved jeans. Any more than I had to wear a dress to my son’s wedding. \ud83d\ude42 I can reject form, up to a point. (I’m NOT going to a funeral in pyjamas, despite how many students turn up for class that way!)<\/p>\n

But in poetry? I’m sticking to my initial claim: form is a great way of enabling content. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

septolet for four sisters<\/p>\n

eldest
\nmiddles
\nyounger still
\nour lives stairstep<\/p>\n

each sister a tread
\nfamily the risers
\nconnecting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I spent the day researching obscure poetic forms. \u00a0And it was enormous fun — thinking about what to pour into those elegant white cups of structure. Along the way, I wrote this poem for my sisters (the least structured of women). But we’ll get to the poem in a moment. Because what’s important is this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[317,22,780],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,334,1190],"class_list":["post-8340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-poetry-writing-month","category-poetry","category-practice","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-buddhist-practice","tag-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\nform, poetry, and the empty cup - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I spent the day researching obscure poetic forms. \u00a0And it was enormous fun -- thinking about what to pour into those elegant white cups of structure.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/04\/form-poetry-and-the-empty-cup.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"form, poetry, and the empty cup - 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