Poetry is sexy

This is my favourite poem of all time - I first read it when my boyfriend sent it to me (who says text messages can't be romantic?).

'Knee Song' by Anne Sexton

Being kissed on the back of the knee
is a moth at the windowscreen and yes
my darling a dot on the fathometer is
tinkerbelle with her cough
and twice I will give up my
honor and stars will stick
like tacks in the night
yes oh yes yes yes two
little snails at the back of the knee building bon-
fires something like eye-
lashes something two
zippos striking yes yes yes small
and me maker.

I HIGHLY recommend the website http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/index.html for browsing poetry... The homepage doesn't look like anything much, but persevere! You can use the index to search poems by author, title or first line, AND it includes some song lyrics. They also have a mailing list which will send a daily poem to your inbox - what could be nicer?

So many people out there have been put off the joys of great poetry by having to study it at school (trust me - this ruined a lot of perfectly good books for me too, and it took me until university and a lecturer who didn't brush over all the rude bits in Shakespeare to make me appreciate one of the English language's greatest writers!). However, there is so much beautiful and accessible poetry out there that I really believe that everyone can find something they find funny or touching or cool in this written medium. Don't believe the hype that poetry has to be something overly intellectual, or incomprehensible, or needs a Masters in English Lit. to decipher. Have fun exploring, but some of my favourites include...

- 'Ars Poetica' by Archibald MacLeish
- 'Missing Dates' by William Empson
- the poetry of American poet Wallace Stevens