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Marcos, Dominique A.

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The Music of Poetry

It is often said that music is poetry. Not only is there a certain structure for the form of

literature, but it also is a different form of story-telling altogether. Unlike the usual novels we come

across and read, this type of art is more lyrical and less direct to the point. In addition, as mentioned

by Cirilo Bautista, poems are not only meant to be products of print, they are meant for “oral

discourse with necessary cultural configuration.” I realized that poetry is such an important

literature form because it allows writers to express themselves in ways they want to without being

direct to the point about it or even having to express it in lengths as long as essays. Poetry gives

words so much life in a way that they need to be heard on the same, if not more, level that they

need to be read.

After reading “Of Water and The Art of Poetry” and “Stalking the Great Heron,” I learned

how great poetry is attained through revising and revising until satisfied. Although poetry when

read can be seen as somewhat flowing and rhythmic literature, the writing process in itself takes

more than jotting down a few lines and calling it a day. As seen in Cirilo Bautista’s drafts, there is

importance in the selection of each word when it comes to poetry. Although it is not as long as a

Harry Potter novel, the same if not more effort is given in writing poetry even if it does not even

reach a quarter of a book’s word length. It is the same with Evasco’s “Heron Woman,” where it

took her a significant amount of time to make changes and ensure that what she wanted to

communicate with her readers was done word for word.

Even in Marjorie Evasco’s “Stalking the Great Heron,” she consulted her community of

fellow writers to read drafts of her poetry to better her craft. She says that “rereading and revision
are conscious processes, these are perhaps the only processes of the poem’s making about which

one can write more usefully. I shall then try as much as possible to backtrack to the very first draft

in August and describe what I tried to do.” With her, not only does she revise and rewrite, but she

maintains her original vision. And I think that with poetry, where it is most often writing wherein

one says something but meaning another, it is important that a writer does not get himself/herself

lost in revisions to the point of losing the real message she wants to put out with her writing.

What I like about poetry is that it requires readers to decode and give their own

interpretations of the poem they are reading. You do not only read the lines directly but you really

have to get in between them as well. Not only does it empower writers to freely express what they

want to say without being direct, but it also gives readers the power to create their own

interpretations of poems through their own experiences and translations.

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