Today I was flipping through a nice book/anthology Making your Own Days by Kenneth Koch. I was in the anthology section reading certain poems when I re-discovered Guillaume Apollinaire(1880-1918 ) and his strange form of poetry.

He, as I am sure some of you know, wrote his poetry in shapes(and French but we will try to get around that) And his Coeur Couronne et Miroir are written in just those shapes. Heart (Coeur) is shaped in your classic valentines day heart and, in Kenneth Koch's own translation reads "My heart like an upside down flame." That's it, one sentence. Crown I found a bit more interesting, "Les Rois Qui Meu RenT Tour A Tour Renaissent Au Coeur Des PoeteS" This means(again according to Kenneth Koch) "The kings who have died one by one are reborn in poets' hearts." Miroir is written in an oval with his own name written in the center. It states the most out of the three, "In this mirror I am enclosed alive and real as you Imagine angels and not like the reflections."

Now my descriptions can not really show you what the poems are really like and the poems themselves are not very good. One, maybe two sentences without punctuation. If anyone wrote down "My heart is like an upside down flame" they would not be published in the anthology of an established poet. He managed to get his points across in a new way and said it well also. So, with the combination of the interesting form and the carefully chosen words he made it to fame, anthologies and inspired me to come and write about it on Read and Find Out.

Apollinaire called these poems Calligrammes. Calligraphy telegrams. I find this an accurate description. I like how he added art, however basic, to poetry and found his poems, however basic, interesting and fun.

Seen any of his poems?




Edit by Legolas: Maybe your descriptions can't show what the poems are like, but this picture can.