Introductions

Hello fellow web browsers. Being my first blog entry I thought I’d introduce myself. My name is Ian James Payson, I’m 24 years old and I’m a Leo. I’m a senior at Wayne State University and hope to graduate this year with a BA in English. I enjoy fencing, playing guitar, and writing.

I am intrinsically a poet and being as such I am usually inclined to write poetry. My artistic desire drives me to produce, as I would like to think, small works of art which fall like tiny grains of sand in the hourglass of time. I believe that words can be beautiful and inspiring, but can also be rude and hurtful. From this arises the paradox of words. Words are but symbols for objects and actions, yet contain so much power. Words tell stories which preserve historical and cultural aspects of the time the story was composed. My writing is derived more form the aesthetic beauty of words than arbitrary context. My focus is to create compositions that are pleasing to people’s poetic palate and intellectually intriguing. However, poetry is becoming a lost art. Even with the vast opportunities the internet provides for both author and reader, the people of the modern day just don’t have time. They’re too busy browsing Ikea, stalking people on Facebook, and falling victim to the commercialism of the internet. The toiling of the modern poet gets overlooked and the status of the poet in society has sunk to new lows. Mainstream society almost rejects the fundamental idea of the poet, as they turn to film stars and pop icons. The closest thing to revered poet in the public’s eye is the rock star.

This brings me to the idea of culture being passed down through oral story telling. The modern day rock song can be compared to the oral tradition of story telling. Poetic elements are used in both to aid the memory in the retelling process, and citizens gather around performances for entertainment. They also have a similar way of representing culture. Just like slave tales and peasant stories represent the cultures of two different illiterate sects of society, pop music mirrors pop culture. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize the significance these oral traditions have on society. One fact that does frighten me, however, is the insatiable commercialism that has found its way into music, as well as print culture. The art is being sucked out of writing. So, in attempt to save the lost art of poetry I am going to periodically post a poem or two. Please let me know what you think and if you could provide some constructive feedback that’d be great.