Poetry is Alive and Well

To many people, poetry remains a part of some regular English class in High School studying American and British poets or perhaps a creative writing class taken as an elective. Then life happens and poetry is, in effect, dead.  I would disagree, and say that poetry is alive and well.
The unofficial Lambda Sigma Chi fraternity was created at Ball State University to maintain the purpose of poetry throughout the lives of the members. The fraternity is expanding and I hear rumors of perhaps another member this year.  I am a writer and a musician.  I really like lyrics, which are a form of poetry.
In the Bible, the Psalms are lyrics which proclaim the love of the Lord to His people.  My songs would have the effect they have without words, and as a youth minister, impact is important to me.  You can ask just about any career singer or musician and they would probably agree that the lyrics in country, rock, rap or pop music are important because they tell the story.  People like Bernie Taupin make a nice living with just words for songs. The story is more important than any poetic device, like rhyme, since rhyme is merely a tool to get the story across.
I applaud Elias Tobias for his efforts to not only promote his style of poetry, but poetry in general.  The LSC guys are getting popular, and there are several ways poetry is promoted on the World of Words by Elias Tobias. These include poetry First-Aid, poetry writing tips with links for extra help, the Free Open poetry Forum, where people can submit their own poems, the International Poetry Link Exchange program, an article about how to start your own poetry blog and an article about how to get published .  There is a page with even more link to poetry-related sites.
Anybody can write poetry.  Abraham Lincoln wrote four poems in 1844 while he was campaigning for Henry Clay when he returned to Indiana, where he lived in his child hood.  Leonard Nimoy, best known as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock,  has written several poetry books including You and I, Warmed by Love, Will I Think of You, These Words Are for You,  and Come Be With Me.
Sports figure even are getting in the writing game. USA Weekend in December 18-20, 2009 had an article where three people were mentioned. Rashard  Mendenhall, a star running back for the Pittsburg Steelers has written more than 100 poems and raps and plans a books in the future. Etan Thomas, a forward-center for the Oklahoma City Thunder has written More than an Athlete and blogs for The Huffington Post.  Outfield Fernando Perez, who helped his Tampa Bay Rays to the 2008 World Series, has a degree in American Studies and blogs for The New York Times.  “I’m writing everywhere, and I’m losing pads of paper in my baseball pants.  I’ve been playing pro baseball for as many years as I’ve been writing poems,” he said in that article.
To me, I remember Elias Tobias as Olan Dey Gabona, the pen name that Michael Hall was using in 1980’s. By the 90s, he returned to Ball State to get his teaching license. While there, he used several of his “blocks” of space on the mainframe VAX computer, the system the school had then, to create The Poetry Club.  His club got more people involved with writing poetry through his bulletin board service (like a website now) which allowed students to read other people’s poetry and students to submit poems of their own. With the help of his computer science friends who also wrote poems, a combined poetry and short story function became the Ball State Literature Foundation on the school’s computer system by the time Hall finish in 1991. Any current faculty or staff can now participate as a writer or reader or both for free throughout the year.
A search on the Internet will demonstrate that there are tens of thousands of poetry web sites around the world, each with their own purpose and style.  It is clear to me that poetry is not dead. It is, in fact, is alive and well.

Peace be you with always,

Rev. Paul Abernathy

Contact Paul Abernathy at paulabernathy@gmail.com.

Want to know more about the members of Lambda Sigma Chi? Click here to meet the members of the unofficial fraternity.