Hello from Peter

[peter]

I've been reading this forum for a little while now, and recently registered and posted a couple of comments. Thought I would add a little about myself.

I've only recently begun to read poetry regularly, after a serious bout of illness, which will be with me lifelong. I quite liked Keats before, and read a biography of his, but then wanted to 'get into' contemporary poetry, and started with a book on Twentieth Century poetry. Liked a few, disliked a few, completely bewildered by others. I'm now picking up on some of the authors I liked and reading further. Currently, I'm working through Glyn Maxwell's 'One Thousand Nights and Counting' - bewilderment still persists, but generally this has been enjoyable.

I'm a computer scientist by profession, and the formal structure of poetry appeals to my puzzle-solving brain. I've been trying to put down some experiences in poetic form - it's quite pleasing to get a 'poem', with a bit of rhythm and rhyme, but I'm beginning to appreciate the gap to get an actual poem, which someone else might want to read. Hopefully I'll get there. Apart from trying to write something on an almost daily basis, I'm also reading Drury's book Creating Poetry to learn some of the techniques.

By commenting and posting here, I hope to speed up the learning curve.

[Ros]

Hi Peter, welcome! I think contemporary poetry can be a bit of an acquired taste - at first sight a lot of it is incomprehensible! Probably explains why it doesn't sell. Having a look through the Poetry Foundation or Poetry Archive websites is a good way to find poets you like, then you can look for more of those, etc. etc. If you like more formal poetry, The Rules for the Dance by Mary Oliver is good. Peter Sansom's also written a useful book on writing poetry.
We do have other computer scientists here! I hope you enjoy the learning curve.

Ros

[Antcliff]

Greetings Peter. I got into poetry is similar circumstances. Welcome to the workshop.

[k-j]

Hello and welcome, you seem like a thoughtful fellow. Looking forward to seeing your work and comments.

[bodkin]

Welcome!