Poet influences

[MacAllister]

Y'all may have done a thread like this already.

I was just thinking about poetry that I think has influenced how I think about and read words, though.

Richard Hugo is a poet like that, for me. In particular, the poem "Degrees of Gray in Philipsburg." (http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/Richard-Hugo/1467)

Because poetry has to be so very tight and every single word pulls so much freight, the mind-set to consider someone else's poetry is very much the mindset I try to bring to writing.

But mostly, I really love this poem, and wanted to share it with you.

[zarch]

Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Countee Cullen...


I like to think of myself as a neo-Harlem Renaissance poet. And I'm a jazz musician (though my day job is English teacher), so music influences my poetry, too.

[scarletpeaches]

I like to think personal experiences influence me more than other poets' work, but I'd have to say I love Wendy Cope and Roger Gough. They have a way of injecting black humour into verse in such a way that you read it and say, "Yeah yeah, I know exactly what you mean! You've gotta laugh..."

So hopefully when I write, people read it and think I am realistic but amusing at the same time.

You've gotta laugh, haven't you?

[TemlynWriting]

I always read Neruda. (The love poems)
I love Neruda's poetry.

[scarletpeaches]

And Pam Ayres. I bought a book of her poetry today. Gotta love Pam Ayres.