poetry
"Poetry is like putting new wine in old bottles."
"Poetry is like Hyman Roth in The Godfather: Part II. It is always dying, in theory. But if you want it to stop walking around, you have to send a guy to meet it at the airport."
"Poetry is like a dance. When you first learn a dance step it can feel awkward and strange. But once you learn the steps you are dancing with a natural ease."
"There are always claims upon poetry, but poetry keeps resisting. Why? Because poetry is an inquiry into definition itself. Poetry is like a dictionary that contains only definitions for the word "dictionary." Defining poetry is like defining the known universe within the multiverse: we must consider the dark matter. "
He grants that poetry is "impassioned truth" but says that can't be all it is, because that is a description of eloquence, which is also present in philosophy, among other things. The difference, he suggests is that "eloquence is heard, poetry is overheard." Eloquence is specifically meant to move an audience while poetry is like hearing private thoughts, and here he uses a gorgeous line: "Poetry is feeling confessing itself to itself."
"Poetry is like the glittering pink ocean. It sounds beautiful and delectable, but you really have no idea what is going on."
"comes when it pleases,
stays, if you are gentle with it,
leaves you at once if you're rough. "
"Poetry is like a river. Each river is unique, sometimes placid, pleasing to view, even boring at times. In other places it's dirty, mud churning, wild and angry, demanding your full attention. Many different crafts journey on a river, sometimes unsuited, sometimes purpose built."
"Poetry is like the nerve endings of society,"
"Poetry is like an onion, the reader decides how deap they want to go. I write poems to let out ideas and emotions that are too entangled to explain in a normal paragraph. "
"Poetry translation is like playing a piano sonata on a trombone."
" The best answer to the question came from Syed Shamsul Huq during the Crossing Cultures poetry reading session where he said, "Reading poetry in translation is like kissing a girl in a photograph."
METAMIA is a free database of analogy and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search. The subject matter can be anything. Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged. The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with the stark literalism of a relational database. Metamia is like a girdle for your muses, a cognitive girdle.