By Hector Arcadian

Recently in Montreal, I read an article in Ici magazine in which Jane Birkin said that she had a great amount of consideration for poets who used the minimum amount of language to create great images; she was saying this comment in the context of her new record. I myself have a definition of what a poem is, and based on this definition, I can more or less say whether I will like a poem or not. My definition is not necessarily everyone else’s. Let me explain...

Growing up, I was educated by Robert Graves’ The White Goddess when I was 14 or 15 years old; Graves was the traditionalist’s rebel. Then somewhere along the way rock and roll, grunge, Riot Grrrls, and avant garde music all influenced me a little, followed by mythology and surrealist art, while on my bookshelf you would find The Brontes, Frost, Plath, and Carson.

So I am drawn to these kinds of poems and art forms, and ask myself:

“What is a poem?”

“Could I be a poet?”

“Am I a poet?”

To the first and last questions I reply, “I don’t know”, to the middle question I say “No.”

You are either born a poet or not. I think most poets would agree with me on that one. There is something about a poet that is not quite like the average person. Most people won’t just write things in verse for professional reasons or for the need to get it out. Most people find it kind of eccentric that one would write poems even though there’s a halo around the word ‘Poet’. In fact, today, it’s unusual to see someone pick up a pen and paper for fun, let alone see someone experiment with a quill or other arcane writing tools…

Robert Frost did not publish his first book till he was 41years old; William Blake made his own chapbooks but no one bought them; the Brontë sisters only sold two books of poetry when they first published their works; Emily Dickinson was rejected and never tried again to submit her poetry. Unfortunately, she never did see the popular success that her poems would become. Even Margaret Atwood would lug her books around. It was one of my closest friend’s chapbooks that became my raison d’être to want one day to make my own poetry collection...

I still have 30 copies of From the Honey Pot sitting in a box in the closet collecting dust. Most of the original 400 copies were given away to anyone and everyone who had only so much as glanced at them just as long as they at least promised to recycle the books when they wanted to throw them out. This ‘freely giving away of the copies’ was done in a fit of excitement at having my own ‘book’ printed; I hadn’t had much luck being published in magazines. Translation: I haven’t been published in magazines.

There are those people who say my poems are good, and those moved by my writing. Others clap uncomfortably and some don’t get them, while others have said, “Your poems suck.” Yet more still haven’t even said all that much—I’ll get back to you as to which of these is hardest to bear.

“Am I a poet?” Man, I hope so; I’d like to be, but if I can’t become a poet, then I hope I am one already. I’d like to think that I create with words: Words, letters, language, and communications are my materials for art. If anything, I’ve been intoxicated at Grossman’s Tavern with the hopes of catching a whiff of Al Purdy vibes.

Some people believe poetry is about emotions and feelings. Others say that it’s about art, and then there are those who believe poetry is both. The definition of poetry is so relative sometimes that there’s no certain way to make a distinction. Poets come in all shapes and sizes; poetry is just as diverse. We could spend all day listing the diversity of poetry styles: There is slam poetry, haiku, beat, classic, lyrical poetry, villanelles, sonnets, etc, etc, etc. There are good poems and there are bad poems, and in the spirit of camaraderie and scoring karma points, this statement is the worst thing that can be said, but nonetheless is true: Most poets have been subjected to bad poems even as they themselves have subjected others to bad writing and/or performances.

They say that once you hit your thirties you develop confidence. Then that makes this question, “Am I a poet?” juvenile - note, confidence is not the same thing as egotistical arrogance - but nonetheless this question is essential for sifting out the poets.

Poets will continue with their craft and be consumed by it in such a way that their craft becomes a language that brings out the best in their work. A poet will spend time on his poems because he believes them to be poems. A person who dabbles in poetry will write as the fancy strikes her; however, she is not necessarily committed to her work. A poet writes poems because that’s what poets do; to write a poem is not to just sit there and say:

Roses are red, violets are blue,

These are the lines that poets use,

So therefore I’ve become a poet too

I apologize to all the poets for bringing forth this triviality (I swear to God I just came up with that one the spot!) but I hope you understand that I had to make a point here. For a better example of what I’m saying I’d like you to recall that scene in Reality Bites when Janeane Garofalo is ‘toking’ from a Coke can and says, “Pass the can… man. I’m a poet and I didn’t know it...”

Because poets use language in a way that most people do not, theirs is a creation of language. There is a dedication to the art of writing; most poets do not just write something and leave it at that. Words are crossed out, certain verses inspire others verses, then the order is re-arranged. Poets that I know will look at their work not just once, but twice or more, literally becoming consumed by the work. This is why poets are known for being ‘fiery’. A piece of poetry is literally the poet’s piece of art.

I wrote most of From the Honey Pot between the ages of 20 and 24. I think I wrote ‘Butterfly’, one of the poems in that collection, when I was 25 years old. I didn’t get to finally print the work until 6 years after I had started it. During that time, the original manuscript went through so many changes, in terms of subject matter, order of the poems, and the way of presenting the work.

A writing teacher once said that a piece of writing becomes a part of our lives because of the time that we spent writing it. I now think of that book as one of my greatest accomplishments - the euphoric sensation I felt when I looked at my work in print was like nothing else. At the same time, however, I can’t help but notice how the book could be improved. For the time being though I do not want to adjust anything in that book. I do want to take what I’ve learned from the experience of writing and putting together that little chapbook and apply it to my next piece of work.

“Am I a poet?” There’s a lot of weight in the word ‘poet’; many times I’ve shied away from taking that on because I do not want to insult the craft. Then just as I was beginning to get a little comfortable with the idea that I might be a poet, in swept A.M. Klein. Think of him as the guy in the leather jacket who you’ve always wanted to be or with whom you wanted always to chill, but who tells you, “I’m too cool for you, poser!”

I remember being in college taking Canadian Literature classes and having to read Portrait of the Poet as Landscape in which Klein railed against the pseudo poets, the ‘wannabe’ eccentrics, those followers of the posers, and their clueless interpreters and teachers of the craft, and of course against the social apathy to poetry. There was no way in Hell one could even begin to satisfy this proverbial patriarch of the word.

Having recovered from that trauma and having developed a little more confidence for the first time I will declare, “Yes, I am a poet.” How do I know? Because the language of poetry has consumed me so much that, in the attempt to create and to communicate a story, it has become an art form for me.

• Hector Arcadian is Honorary Youth Editor of Chapter and Verse. His collection of poetry entitled From the Honey Pot was published in 2006. He is currently working on a second collection.