The Age of Movements

I always find it interesting how movements are started and carried through. Naturally, everyone has a tendency to feel that they are a part of something, albeit a cause of sorts. I had never dreamed that I would actually take interest in a movement about poetry. There are so many more interesting movements out there such as OWS, or Equal Rights, so why take interest in Personism? Well the answer is simple; the movement is designed to stand for something people can relate to and connect with so that they can join their cause. At times it can be a simple thing or simple connection, or it can be a complex web of details which appeals to the prospective person in the movement. For me, it was the simple thing that struck my interest. You see, I am of a business mindset where you don’t always need to solve a problem in order to think of something new. For O’Hara, there was no problem, it was just the simple revelation that something could be done, and he did it. Personism makes poetry so much more interesting. The ability to read something, interpret it, understand it, and relate to it because of its simplistic nature is something that I would prefer to read. Forget the cryptic and secret writing, I am not a fan of deeper meanings. Sometimes things need to be taken at face value and I believe that O’Hara’s movement to take poetry and write at face value really adds more meaning to the poems which students would otherwise bash their heads over to understand. Everyone in our class can probably relate to O’Hara and his Personism movement. Things in life sometimes get too complex, and a simple poem can work miracles, especially when it is like talking on the phone with your friend. That is what makes O’Hara and Personism so relateable, and desirable. All poems should be without rhyme, rhythm, and form; they should be a simple telephone call which any person can pick up the other line and continue the conversation in a coherent manner. Its the little things that make something larger more desirable-in this case, its Personism.