Tuur Verheyde : part five

Why is poetry important?

It is a deep sigh in a breathless world. Poetry, at its best, exemplifies all the things that mainstream culture seeks avoid: ambiguity, complexity and unanswerability. While most mainstream culture works to provide simple comforts and straightforward answers, poetry is more resistant to that kind of passive consumption. Sure, as mentioned before, there is a very popular kind of aphoristic poetry that plays into that sort of thing, that advertises relatability above anything else. However, if you look at the poetry that stands the test of time, the poetry that lives beyond social media communities, I think you’ll find the less superficial kind still wins out. 

In my opinion, the most affective or interesting works of poetry do not utilise nice-sounding platitudes in a transparent attempt to court universal appeal. Instead, they dig deep into a unique universe of personal symbols, references, memories etc. They force us to engage our empathy and curiosity. They force us to tolerate the unresolved, the polysemous, the unmitigated other. They renew our imagination with distinct imagery and meaningful themes. 

Consequently, reading and writing poetry is a pastime that eludes the purpose-driven, productivity-obsessed reality of modern life and instead speaks of an alterative way of viewing the world and our place in it.

Tuur Verheyde : part four

What poets changed the way you thought about writing?

Dorothy Parker was the first poet to really get me into poetry. Allen Ginsberg convinced me to let go of faux-formalism and solemnity. His poetry really got me experimenting with register, poetic voice, sound and imagery. Then Anne Sexton, in particular her work Transformations, made me fully appreciate the potential of narrative poetry. Finally, reading Audre Lorde lead to the fermentation of my personal poetics. In particular, her work revealed to me the value of writing shamelessly idiosyncratic work that is infused with a unique sense of personality, spirituality, symbolism and so on. Basically, the poetry of Audre Lorde showed me why the most popular model of contemporary poetry, mainly the aphoristic (often generic), purposefully relatable type is one that does not appeal to me, and why I am instead drawn to poetry that is distinct, ambiguous and deeply personal. For those who are interested, I wrote a more detailed essay on this topic, which you can find here: https://www.tuurverheyde.com/post/reading-audre-lorde-in-the-age-of-poetry-as-product

Tuur Verheyde : part three

Has your consideration of poetry changed since you began?

Yes, hugely. At first I was mainly interested in the expressive side. Sure, I paid attention to sound and imagery, but getting the emotions on the page was really my priority. As my depression waned, the way I read and wrote poetry shifted. I began to pay more and more attention to euphony, effective imagery, thematic coherence etc. In my first couple of years at university, I started to formulate an informal poetics about what attracted me to poetry, why I wanted to write it, and why in English and not my mother tongue. From that point onwards, my poetics shifted from mainly confessional to more diverse and ambiguous literary aims. 

Tuur Verheyde : part two

How did you first engage with poetry?

There were some small encounters with poetry in primary and early secondary school, mostly for the purpose of recitation and reading comprehension exercises, but these never really stirred a great interest in the form. My first real engagement came from a psychological need to express myself. In secondary school, I was quite depressed and needed a way to excise certain thoughts and emotions. Thanks to the internet, I discovered the poetry of Dorothy Parker and that gave me an idea of how poetry could function as an artistic outlet for one’s most disturbing emotions. That’s how it started, but quickly it turned into something else. 

Tuur Verheyde : part one

Tuur Verheyde is a twenty-five year old Belgian poet. His work endeavours to capture the illusive, the oppressive and transgressive. Tuur’s poetry interrogates topics like spirituality, politics, philosophy and mystery, and works to engage readers’ curiosity, empathy and imagination. 

Website: https://tuurverheyde.com

What are you working on?

My priority right now is trying to find a publisher for my first collection. Apart from that, I have a handful of other projects that are in the works. Most of them revolve around further exploring themes of spirituality, folklore, mystery and so on.