I know some who write humorous poetry. Good humorous poetry but only humorous poetry.
Why?
Some of these people also don’t read other poets. They give their reasons but what do we think? Are they frightened of what might happen if they try other sorts of poetry? Is it fear - that they won’t be able to do it? Find they have nothing to say? It can’t be because other poets have said more profound things than them - how would they know? They don’t read other poets. Is it that humor is enough, in their eyes, a security blanket that keeps them away from the challenge, keeps them safe?
Does thinking frighten them? A fear that they won’t be up to the task? I’d advise everyone to follow Rilke. Confront those fears. Try out different styles of poetry and see what your fears are guarding. If that old so and so is right, it’s your most treasured possessions.
Go on, dig them out. Be a poet. Don’t just say you are.
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
Portrait of Rilke by Leonid Pasternak
