7) Poetry Reading

     Poetry - said to contain the ability to connect with one's soul, with one's inner mind. That must mean my soul is a really sleepy dude, because I kept dozing off at the poetry reading. All jokes aside, I don't particularly enjoy poetry. I find most poetry lulling and dulling. If you were to ask me who my favorite poet of all time is, I would suggest that it is Dr. Seuss. That man is an utter genius!

     I can't say I was too thrilled when Professor Brown informed us that we would be going to a poetry reading instead of having our "relatively" normal English class. I have nothing against poetry, but it bores me. Going through high school, I was repulsed when I had to write poetry for assignments. The assignment would instruct me to write "this number of" lines of poetry in quatrain format along with internal rhyming in "this number of" lines. My brain wanted to revolt! I really disliked having to be able to identify all the different qualifiers and types of poetry. Poetry is really not something I enjoy if you couldn't tell.

     Rewind to last Tuesday night, I had a bunch of Chemistry homework. I didn't end up getting to sleep in any form of a timely manner. I probably went to bed around 1-2 a.m. which isn't a lot of sleep when you get up at 5:30 a.m. From that point, I knew it would be a rough day. I didn't have very high expectations going into the room for the poetry reading, but I came out with my expectations being exceeded.

     I would say that due to my lack of sleep, diluted mental concentration, and distaste for poetry that I didn't enjoy the reading, but I did come away with a more favorable view of poetry. I mean, you can't hope to convert me to poetry with just one instance, it'll take time IF - I doubt it will - it does ever happen.

     As I sat there, I learned that poetry doesn't have to just be something passionate and personal. Poetry can be a story, a history book, and journal. The fact that Arra Ross was able to create a poem from a real-life, historic culture was, and still is, something that intrigued me. It broke the bands of the poetry I grew to understand. This revelation didn't stop me from nodding off during the reading. You have to admit, her soft, lyrical tone was about as soothing as a rainstorm. Now, I didn't actually fall asleep, but I lost concentration, my eyes would gradually close before I snapped them back open. It wasn't the most memorable or enjoyable experience, but I learned something new.