MikeLondon• Show poetry

Don't tell anyone, but I'm Bob Dylan in disguise.

For those reading (if there are any), the "Leaves of Eve" poem (of which there are numeroous versions posted) deals with art. The "Leaves" are actually paper. "Leaves" is another word for paper. The poem (all versions) deal with my writing and my art. The poem is basically a meditation on the role creating art has had in my life.




If you read one poem of mine, make it "The Explosion of Sound." It is my masterpiece. I don't use that word lightly. It is long (for a poem) at 8,000 words. But it is the best thing I've written to date. I worked on it over the period of a year and a half.

If you read two poems. Read "Explosion" and "The Man-King." If you read three poems, read the two aforementioned and "Rain. Shade. Sleep." These three are the very best of my work. "Man-King" and "R.S.S."

Don't worry, my other two best poems are much shorter than that. "Man-King" is some 1500 and "R. S. S." is only 1200.

That being said, for a long time I've maintained I'm not a poet, and from my own p.o.v. it's true. What got me into poetry as writing was Jim Morrison. It seems almost a cliche at for him to 'blow your mind' when it comes to poetry, and truth be known he doesn't have a whole lot of poetry. 'Celebration of the Lizard' and 'American Night' are his two best poems.

I've been writing poetry since 1997, when I first heard The Doors' debut. What got me into writing poety (random, odd imagery which was really cool) it turned out I wasn't very good at. I still cannot capture the qualities that made Morrison so appealing to me in my own work; for years I haven't tried. To quote Mr. Eliot, bad poets borrow, and good poets steal. Well, I can't even borrow from Morrison.

This is fairly narrow definition of poetry. Unable to do what Morrison did so well (read Celebration of the Lizard to get a sense of his style and imagery, which is what I most wanted in my own verse), I went through a few styles until I found one very suited for myself. This style is highly abstract and for many can be alienating. Also, several of my poems can be rather long; my masterpiece (a word I do not use lightly and apply ony to one of my own works, both fiction and otherwise) is over 8,000 words.'

Poetry to me is both plexing and preplexing. The 'poet' is a very effeminate figure that is very easy to poke fun at. I care nothing about those Romantic-Styled poems, those Hall-Mark character sketches, or the self-conscious "Angst" poem (I hate myself I want to die nobody cares I'm so miserable blah blah blah). Real poets, such as Eliot, Morrison, and Dylan, are the exicting and challenge writers; the rest often fail to illicit any positive response.

For a good cross section of my poems, I recommend "The Man-King," "Rain. Shade. Sleep.," "Breaking the Waves," "Sand Paper Villians" "Art's a Fish," "Curiosity Card," "Man with the Guitar," "Tribal Devil with Her Imitation Catholicism," and "Kings Without Queens."

The best are the first three, along with "The Explosion of Sound."