“Red dye runs down the drain/Blue eyes cry out the pain/Green-eyed monsters keep you sane/How many times must you find yourself?”

Just a few hundred years ago, phrases like that would be a common occurrence, but today? Not so much. Poetry is a form where, with media and music, its purpose is becoming lost in translation, unfortunately leaving our generation blind to its merits, and perpetually confused as to how to write it, and what its purpose is.

Today’s average individual is used to instant gratification. Like, retweet, hashtag: done. They know exactly how they feel before the respond. This is the issue people seem to have with poetry, that I have noticed; they want to get the meaning, the concept, immediately. A concrete opinion, a clear picture in their mind- but this is not how poems always work.

If you feel something, even if you cannot name what emotion it is exactly, then the poet has done their job. Also, your perception of its meaning is not concrete; it can change each time you read it. It doesn’t matter if what you take away from the poem is different than the author’s, how it makes you feel, no matter how mixed the reaction, that is the correct interpretation.

One might argue that poetry is alive and well, that music, English classes, and those daily inspirational quotes floating around the internet are all types of poesy in our current society. That might be true, but those all represent a polluted form of the craft.

Most mainstream music is hyper-sexualized, and often contains lyrics that are shallow, generally ranging from getting the girl/guy to partying too hard. Is there really any deeper emotions to discern from this, or does it just inspire us to all “have a good time?”

My point here is that poetry, true poetry, is dying and being misconstrued into something else. It’s not a difficult beast to understand, or necessarily being embodied by the latest pop song; as long as it makes you feel a certain way, makes you think, then that’s poetry.

All I’m asking is that you enjoy it- before it’s gone for good.