Pinoy Poetics opening the door to poetry appreciation

I work in a world of programmers and technical writers. Texts and manuals are reread and re-edited to make sure the reader does not stray from the intended path of click here, enter password there. Programmers write lines of logical paths, flow charts, loops, and repetitions. There is input, there is output. If we've done our jobs well, the output is predictable. The words we write must mean exactly what they mean not allowing our readers freedom of interpretation.

I was having coffee with one of my clients and I mentioned that I was looking to organize a couple of launches for Pinoy Poetics. So I brought my copy of Pinoy Poetics for him to peruse. He stops by the cubicle later and confesses that though he's done a lot of technical writing, he's never really been able to get poetry. He reads it and he get nothing out of it. Though if someone else reads it, he might get something. There was a bit of lament in his voice as if he really wanted to be able to see what other people are seeing, like staring at those scrambled posters and waiting for the 3D image to emerge.

We got into a discussion about how we are first presented poetry in school often doesn't quite foster its appreciation. When poetry is more about reading comprehension and counting meter and syllables, it becomes a task especially when your teacher shoots down your interpretation of a poem. For him, poetry reading was a struggle, a fight, a battle. You have to "get" it and if you don't "get" it then you're dumb or if you don't think that the classic canon of writers are fabulous then there's something wrong with you. As a writer, this is disheartening to hear.

I guess I was lucky. My first introduction to poetry was writing haikus in first grade about trees and flowers. My high school English teacher was herself a writer and poet and I began to see poetry as something more than a school assignment but really as an expression of life. There was no "stigma" to reading poetry or even creating it.

And yet, the man can appreciate a fine glass of wine. To some extent, appreciating poetry is like appreciating wine. Part of it is being able to open up your senses to allow yourself the experience. I admited that I didn't think my senses were tuned to appreciate wine as much as I'd like to. Then again, a dozen people will come out with a dozen opinions of the same wine.

Even as a poetry reader there are just some poems I don't "get" even from writer's I love. Or I might reread something I didn't "get" 2 years ago, but suddenly has greater meaning for me. And in reality, the best part of poetry for me is that there is nothing to "get." There is no predictable output. As the reader you are free to interpret and wander the page as much as you want.

I'm lending him the book for a while. He said though he's not a poetry reader, he'd like to read more and plans to. That's good to hear. The population of people who read poetry as increased by at least one today.