Comments on: Old Friends Revisited

By: Beppie Harrison

Beppie Harrison — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:15:39 +0000

Jill, isn’t it nice to know that those years add something more than wrinkles? Makes aging seem worth it –

By: jilljames

jilljames — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:36:57 +0000

I’ve reread Gone with the Wind several times over the span of years and each level of maturity I achieve adds an added flavor to the story.

By: Donna Kowalczyk

Donna Kowalczyk — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:09:39 +0000

Beppie, I’ve never been big on poetry, but my father was a poet. When he died he left his black notebook that was full of all his poetry, certificates for contests he’d won, etc. He wrote several poems about me and my brothers (especially me being the only girl). Something I look forward to passing on to my daughters one day.

By: Amy Talley

Amy Talley — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:44:23 +0000

Well, I think everyone can do that – how many times did you sing a song as a kid and then listen to it as an adult and think, “That’s what it meant? Yikes!”

But I never miss a moment to talk poetry because I love it! Love to read it, love to write it, love to analyze it. It’s my best teaching tool for vocabulary and comprehension and it doesn’t take too long to read (unless you are reading Eliot’s The Wasteland).

By: beppieharrison

beppieharrison — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:24:56 +0000

Yes, Cyndi, that’s exactly what I mean! Doesn’t really matter what the object is — poetry, prose, film, whatever — but it’s amazing to realize that we are changing even when we think we’re still the same person we were all along.

At least it’s amazing to me!

By: ArkansasCyndi

ArkansasCyndi — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 16:07:56 +0000

I’ve never been a poetry buff. Can quote a few lines, but nothing ever really hit home with me.

But I’ll jump on Keri’s comment (BTW- I just hated Pretty Woman. IMHO, it’s a man’s fantasy movie more than a woman’s. Whore in the bedroom, lady in public). For me, I’ve seen Gone with the Wind a million times (ok – maybe not a million, but you know what I mean). The last time I watched it, I saw so much between Scarlet and Ashely than I had as a teen. I understood Scarlet’s determination that Ashley would come to her…he as much told her that. I think age and life experiences made me view the film through different eyes.

By: beppieharrison

beppieharrison — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:59:10 +0000

Amy and Keri, I don’t think it’s necessarily poetry as such — it’s just experiences (even like Pretty Woman) that we’ve had years ago and then discovered are deepened just because, I guess, I’VE deepened and grown up over the years.

Strange. I guess it caught my attention because it’s not often that I can see myself changing over the years, however logically I know I must have. I know, for example, that I was a different mother with my last two childen (who happened to be very close in age) than I was with my first two. Or so the older two complain, loudly. According to them, about half my rules went out the window with the younger ones. Maybe they’re right! Maybe my rules (and my brain) softened!

By: Keri Ford

Keri Ford — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:21:16 +0000

Not much of a poety reader…but to stay on course, I’m going to switch it to the movies. Specifically, Pretty Woman. Loved the movie as a kid. thought I knew what was going on.

Then I didn’t watch it for a few years and when I did, boy did I ever understand and thoroughly enjoy the movie then!

Oh, WAIT! Homer is poetry, isn’t he? He’s not all lyrical and sweet, but I do enjoy him.

By: Amy Talley

Amy Talley — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:26:07 +0000

I always find something new when I approach poetry. I think we apply our lives to it and since we change year after year, one can’t help but take something different away each time. Nor can one help greeting the old feelings they still stir like as you say meeting “old friends.”

I am a huge fan of Edna St. Millay, love Dickinson, Plath and some of Whitman. I like experimentals, so I like ee cummings. And the Harlem poets are pretty darn good too. Funny, as much as I love British Lit, not a huge fan of their poetry. I know, you are clutching your heart In poetry, I’m pretty much an American girl.