Kooser and Accessiblity: I broke the rules

When he was Poet Laureate, one of Ted Kooser’s main messages was accessibility. He argued that good poems should be accessible. He used the analogy of the glass bottom boat. The poem is a glass bottom boat the reader looks through or reads to enter the poem. Kooser argues putting an object on the glass or dropping an object on the surface interferes with the understanding and enjoyment of the experience. This interference can be anything from using 5 instead of five or an & instead of and.
I argue that Kooser misses an entire aspect of poetry and of art. Modernist painters learned that the picture was the illusion. Painters strived for centuries to make the painting look as “real” as possible. The frame itself, is a replica of the window frame to create the illusion of looking outside at a “real” scene. In the 19th century, painters begin to realize the picture is the illusion. The “real” is the paint on the canvas. A painting is an arrangement of lines, colors, and forms on a flat surface. This arrangement can lead to or trigger emotions, concepts, or ideas, but the reality is the paint on the canvas.
A poem is an arrangement of words and symbols on a page. How these words are arranged can lead to emotions, meanings, stories… Pound and definitely cummins realized a poem is words and symbols on a page. Sometimes dropping an object on the glass is part of the poem. The poem is about the arrangement as well as or even instead of the narrative.

The previous posts were some poems I have written over the last few years which clearly disagree with Kooser's opinon.

Poem: Gadfly

GADFLY

Gladly gadfly
Happenstance randomness
Goals unknown
No cares declared
Lives tomorrows today.

Poem: A Poem Self-Referential

A Poem
Self-referential


1 1
The first line
is itself
a one;
5 and a 5 the fifth
at five
The stanza break:
why?
a new thought?
10 or arbitrary for form?
Meter, verse, and rhythm?
word choice?
Planned or happenstance?
The theme, the subject?
15 a narrative?
ode or tribute?
lyric?
The poem itself
will conclude
20 at its volition.

Poem: To do list Today

TO DO LIST, TODAY


Nothing...

Poem: The Back of the Sock Drawer

THE BACK OF THE SOCK DRAWER

Mateless commas on the bedspread
Useless halffunctions of whatoncewas
Lost in process
Onceunits going in
Orphans coming out
Time passes
As they take up space
And eventually
Forgotten with nopurpose

Poem: Imeego

Imeego

Imeego
egomeI
Fathersonholyghost Fathersonholyghost
IChristI IChristI IChristI IChristI IChristI
meChristme
egoChristego
Godisdead
meisdead
egoisdead
Iisdead
Christisdead

Poem: I AND ME MEET SHE (cummins tribute)

I AND ME MEET SHE

when I and Me
met She
It was love at first sight for three
I and She dated
as did Me and She
and I and Me remained friends
though both loved she
Me was injured when
a car veered wide
I and She cried
when their friend died
and found the love
for I and She; and
Me and She; and
I and Me; and
I and Me and She;
could not last
without Me
so I took to drink
and lost himself
and She took men
like children with candy
as Me slowly rots
the three now alone.