My reaction to Kenneth Koch

I do agree with Koch that poetry is a separate language, but more so that its a different form of language. It makes sense how one could view that poetry might have been one of the earliest forms of communication, where people tried to express their feelings and emotions towards a situation. That by utilizing poetry it might have been easier for others to visualize and feel the poet as closely and fully as possible. 

I also can see how poetry is like the music of words, that poetry contains more of an artistic side to it then just plainly speaking. However, I am not sure that this would apply to all languages, especially when being heard. For instance, when I hear Italian being spoken, I find the language to be very melodic and musically inclined as opposed to hearing English.  I also happen to disagree with his beliefs that one should be in a good mood when writing poetry and comparing it to going to a party. In my opinion, poetry is another form of Catharsis, in which the person who wants to write it in a form of just letting out, will write it in any mood he or she seems fit. One simply does not only get inspired by being in a good mood; inspirations can happen at any time or day, feeling any emotion. There is a saying in psychology which states that to communicate one doesn't always need a mouth or ears, but to simply deprive them of those two things, and the person will surely speak through their fingers. 

Feeling Fucked Up by Etheridge Knight

Lord she's gone done left me

done packed up and split

and I with no way to make her

come back and everywhere the world is bare

bright bone white crystal sand glistens

dope death dead dying and jiving drove

her away made her take her laughter and her smiles 

and her softness and her midnight sighs--

Fuck Coltrane and music and clouds drifting in the sky

fuck the sea and the trees and the sky and birds

and alligators and all the animals that roam the earth

fuck marx and mao fuck fidel and nkrumah and 

democracy and communism fuck smack and pot

and red ripe tomatoes fuck joseph fuck mary fuck

god jesus and all the disciples fuck fanon nixon

and malcom fuck the revolution fuck freedom fuck

the whole muthafucking thing

all i want now is my woman back 

so my soul can sing

I chose this poem to compare some of Koch's thoughts. In Koch's notes, he also claims that in writing poetry, the "poet feels free to write about everything" and the "pleasure of writing is being free to use all words". I found this poem to be one of the most simplistic but one that had most meaning and showed its truest emotion. I also thought it was quite interesting with his choice of words, especially fuck, which is repeated several times throughout the poem. This word which has a negative connotation and is a very low form of speech, says nothing about the level of education he had, but more of how and what he is illustrating to say. Everytime the poet used it, you felt how powerful it is. The more times it was said, the more its importance was accentuated, especially with its placement in front of nouns varying significance, such as ripe tomato to large ideals such as religious factor god, placing them on the same level of unimportance in comparison to his true emotion. One can really feel the authors pain, how the small or large objects, humanity and nature don't matter to his souless being and is being weighed on the same level. The poet is emotionally destroyed and has the "fuck the world" mentality.