Sue, your comment about the 'perhaps' line is what I understand best -- yes, that is line is beautifully concrete, perfect timing.  But I don't seem to have the grasp you, Tom, and David have on absrtactions.

For instance, 'for beauty is nothing but the beginning of terror' which Tom cited.  Rilke'a going a long way around saying 'beauty can cause a person to be afraid' but I clearly understand it.  Yet there is a much greater contrast between that line and the 'perhaps there remains' line. 

Makes me wonder.  Are my senses just not keen to this stuff yet, or DEAR God!!  Is something wrong with MY BRAIN!!  ??

just felt myself gettin really serious there for a moment and had to break off into some ignorance -- breath of fresh air.

All for now.

(although this will bug me til I 'think' I've conquered it, lol)

I've always thought of abstract poetry as Pollack art....I see a denseness in his work, layer upon layer of motion...while others see spilled paint. It's all subjective. If the point of abstract poetry is to be vague or pointless than pointlessness has it's place too.  If it provokes thought or reaction it all works for me.

~donna

Hey Donna, didn't see your comment.  This is about the way I think of abstract things too -- they can mean something different to everyone.  It's when the artist gets all spoiled-brat-ish about it that it's not interesting anymore.

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This is how a 5th grade teacher taught her students about abstracts.
It's fifth-gradish, but it helps me understand better.  Simple minds wanna know.

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Abstract nouns poetry – Year 5

Context
The class were exploring the use of abstract nouns and wrote poems using an
abstract noun as its theme. They drafted and present their poems.

Organisation
The lesson was introduced as a whole class lesson, the children then worked
individually to create their draft versions of the poems.

Activity
They listened to various poems, which had been written by children in previous
years, being read by the teacher. Next they created their own versions in draft
format. The teacher then demonstrated to groups of children how to create a
text box using publisher and change font style, size and colour and save and
retrieve their work. The children then redrafted the poems onto the computer.
They were then shown how to add borders, clipart and background colours and
fill effects. The children then created final drafts and printed them.

Conclusion – Extension work
The children’s work was displayed in the classroom. The children were keen to
use the package again to develop other types of poem which they combined to
create a class poetry book.

Curriculum links
English
Pupils should be taught to express themselves confidently and clearly, evaluate
their own talk and reflect on how it varies, using appropriate methods. They
should be given opportunities to write in response to a wide range of stimuli
including poetry.
They should plan, draft and improve their work and
discuss and evaluate their own and others writing.

Curriculum link
Communicating and handling information - Pupils should be taught to:
Use software to communicate, share and exchange ideas
and information in a variety of forms. Use software to
organise and reorganise and analyse ideas and information.

Teacher comments
The children worked enthusiastically and were particularly keen on adding the
borders and fill effects. The teacher was particularly impressed with the overall
standard of the writing produced and the way in which the children quickly
developed the skills. Although the task took some time to complete she felt
it was well worth it.

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I'm not sure what you mean. I love abstract poetry, assuming it's intriguing. If abstract verse is not well represented here, I'd venture to say it has far less to do with editors than it does with (a) the fact that we don't have many poets on board who write verse that could be termed abstract and (b) the fact that those poets interested in abstract verse are a subset of poets in general. In other words, there aren't many out there.

If I'm wrong and there are many out there, please invite them on over!