Straddling the Zone

Me too, Rett....believe it or not..it seems the our poetry does give us wings though.... we seem to be able to *straddle the fence* as it were... THANKS, Moonman... Hugs, ~A "Speech is blasphemy. Silence a lie. Above speech and silence is a way out." I-tuan.

Greek, Syrian, German, French Canadian, Native American...and who knows what else. And you're welcome for whatever feedback you found useful. You folks here at Neopoet have made me feel welcome and invited to participate. I'm amazed at the positve engagement of poets here...it's a community with an amazingly good-natured love of eachother, poets and poetry. To say such athing is pretty rare is an understatement. Reading your poem here again I have ot say it's my error to suggest a balck or white apporach to rhyming or not. Your internal rhyming strucure is sibtle, complex and so effortless it seems almost unintended. I'm reading and re-reading mor eof your poems with that new perpsective and enjoying it even more. It make sme wnat to stretch and do something in some formal or semi-formal rhyme structure. And by refinement I didn't mean words with more pedigree, and I'm sorry if I implied that. I meant to see if it could be tightened up a bit, but that's just me. And as for education, I am a firm believer that school is WAY overrated. I got myself an education (and continue to do so) despite school. School is one my greatest regrets, or, at least, one of the more annoying neccessary evils I've endured. I only went to school to jump through the hoops I needed to get the licensure I needed to do my current work. My wife and I essentially homeschool our kids, and I never really needed anything but a library card (no internet in those days). It's awalys struck me that the word "education" comes from a latin word that means "to draw out," while the word "instruction" comes from a word that basically means "to shove in." we are each teachers and learners simultaneously, and real education is about helping eachother to draw out what's already in us. What we get at school is a lot "instruction," a lot of useless crap information, ways of doing things, and reasons for doing them shoved down our throats. There are many gifted teachers in our USA education system being mangled to hopelessness and ineffectiveness due to an educational system and institution that does much more harm to our culture than good. In my opinion, our current educational system is past redemption and needs ot be scrapped and completely rethought. Yup, this is a passionate subject for me. : ) So, I guess I'd say, after reading some of your poetry and experiencing your understanding and wisdom that way, that your education is worth a lot more than most. I think it's what we do with our our knowledge than how much of it we accumulate that counts. A couple of interesting books about the subject of real education and following one's calling come to mind...Dumbing Us Down by John Gatto...and The Soul's Code by James Hillman. Theres a short but potent scene in the movie Peaceful Warrior where Nick Nolte's character, about to wash a car's windows at a service station, says to his young cocky charge that knoweldge is knowing how to do something while wisdom is doing it. Anyway, before I break another soapbox... Michael