In the old days a poet once said (Ko Un)

The front page of poets.org still has the picture of transformed Mona Lisa. True. It also, in the far corner, has a link of poems for high schoolers. Yesterday's poem came from that collection. Clicking through that and finding myself in a section for ars poetica poems I found this post's poem: In the old days a poet once said by Korean poet Ko Un.

Poems of Nature give rise to poems of politics and space and boundaries. I can see that. I, however, do not share Ko Un's pessimistic view of the poetry and poets of tomorrow: "Tomorrow's poet will say/the mountains and rivers are destroyed/our nation is destroyed and Alas!/you and I are completely destroyed"

Though I guess I do believe that the next transformation of poetry (and I think it has already happened) is to be no more with the big topics of politics and nationalism, but rather a realignment with the personal. If I were to classify poetry today (gulp!), I would say it tends to be about people's personal problems and viewpoints. I happen to think that is a good thing. No more are poets speaking in generalities, for all humankind. Now, poems seem to be more rooted in what one person (the poet) is seeing and experiencing and they are rooted in their own backgrounds and experiences. Poetry today allows a glimpse of who the poet is which is something that cannot be said about earlier generations of poets. I (perhaps unlike Ko Un) don't find this progression to be narcissistic. Instead, I think it allows for greater compassion and connections to people who would otherwise be complete strangers.

Favorite line: "In the old days a poet once said/our nation is destroyed/yet the mountains and rivers survive"