self-inflicted extinction

Certain words, having an excess of syllables, or being ill-melodious or seeming contrary to their definitions, drive their own extinction within the language. [‘cachinnate’ for example]

new word to me

"Epeolatry," or the worship of words, embodies a profound reverence for language and its intricacies. This concept highlights the beauty, power, and significance of words in human expression and communication. Those who practice epeolatry often appreciate the nuances of language, celebrating its ability to inspire, connect, and transform. This admiration can manifest in various forms, such as collecting poetry, studying linguistics, or engaging in deep discussions about literary works. Ultimately, epeolatry emphasizes the importance of words not just as tools for communication, but as objects of devotion that shape our understanding of the world.

[from the Word Trivia site.]

poets resist

By definition a poet resists word prediction.

narrative explained

A narrative poem carries a story however unconventionally it’s told.

art or nature

I propose a simple distinction: a thing or something is either art or nature.

poetry stretches

Again and again, poetry stretches words until and so that we are forced to look afresh at them, and by the same token at the concepts, experiences and attitudes behind them. The poet Randall Jarrell quotes Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: ‘The author whom a lexicon can keep up with is worth nothing.’

—James Camien McGuiggan, Meaning beyond definition, Aeon (online) 3 April 2023

brakes on perception

The language of poetry is difficult, laborious language, which puts the brakes on perception. In some particular cases the language of poetry approaches the language of prose, but this does not violate the law of difficulty.
[…]
Moreover, there is a strong tendency to create new language, specifically intended for poetry; as we know, Vladimir Khlebnikov is leading this school. Thus, we arrive at a definition of poetry as decelerated, contorted speech. Poetic speech is constructed speech.

—Viktor Shklovsky, Viktor Shklovsky: A Reader (Bloomsbury, 2017), edited and translated by Alexandra Berlina [94; 95]

defied without end

No definition of poetry is needed. Each poem defines itself. Then the next poem defies that definition.

art is

Art alters nature.

prose poem is

I would have placed emphasis on the subversive character of prose poetry. For me, it is a kind of writing determined to prove that there’s poetry beyond verse and its rules. Most often it has an informal, playful air, like the rapid, unfinished caricatures left behind on café napkins. Prose poetry depends on a collision of two impulses, those for poetry and those for prose, and it can either have a quiet meditative air or feel like a performance in a three-ring circus.

—Charles Simic, "Essay on the Prose Poem," delivered on June 1, 2010 at The Poetry Festival in Rotterdam.

two not three

Terza rima: A sequence of interrupted couplets.

doomed definition

Any definition of art or poetry is doomed from the start, though perhaps while composing the definition some good thinking gets done.

painting, meaning, music

Every sensible definition of poetry is personal—is attuned to a poet’s own habit and nature—and is incomplete. If you collected all such definitions of poetry by poets, no doubt they would stand in a circle, with poetry, or life, or essence of man, in the middle, as clear at last as a poem. At the moment I am for Pasternak’s conclusion that poetry ought to contain painting and meaning, in addition to music.

—Geoffrey Grigson, The Private Art: A Poetry Note-Book (Allision & Busby, 1982)

category angst

Definitions and their discontents.

make and mark

The artist creates, and the audience defines.

sweet disorder in the dress

Poetry will forever be too motley for dress of definition.

poem made known

If it gets lodged in your throat, if you choke-up speaking it aloud, it’s a poem.

what is time, what is poetry

For what is time? Who can easily and briefly explain it? Who even in thought can comprehend it, even to the pronouncing of a word concerning it? But what in speaking do we refer to more familiarly and knowingly than time? And certainly we understand when we speak of it; we understand also when we hear it spoken of by another. What, then, is time? If no one ask of me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not.

—Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book XI (ca. 400 CE)

For what is poetry? Who can easily and briefly explain it? Who even in thought can comprehend it, even to the pronouncing of a word concerning it? But what in speaking do we refer to more familiarly and knowingly than poetry? And certainly we understand when we speak of it; we understand also when we hear it spoken of by another. What, then, is poetry? If no one ask of me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not.

not it

That's not it: It’s never it…art is never quite it.

rickety answer

Poetry—
but what is poetry anyway?
More than one rickety answer
has tumbled since that question first was raised.
But I just keep on not knowing, and I cling to that
like a redemptive handrail.

—Wislawa Szymborska, from "Some Like Poetry," translated by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanagh.