Salutations and Explanations

"I am KAKOFONOUS A. DISCHORD, DOCTOR OF DISSONANCE..."
"What does the 'A' stand for?"
"AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE,..."
"But who would want all those terrible noises?" asked Milo.
"Everybody does. They're very popular today. Why I'm so busy I
can hardly fill the orders for the noise pills, racket lotion,
clamor salve, and hubbub tonic. That's all people seem to want
these days.
"Business wasn't always so good," the doctor continued. "Years ago,
everyone wanted pleasant sounds and, except for a few orders during
wars and earthquakes, things were very bad. But then the big cities
were built and there was a great need for honking horns, screeching
trains, clanging bells, deafening shouts, piercing shrieks, gurgling
drains, and all the rest of those wonderfully unpleasant sounds we
use so much of today..."
"This is my assistant, the awful DYNNE," said Dr. Dischord.
"What is a DYNNE?" asked Milo...
"You mean you've never met the awful DYNNE before?" said Dr.
Dischord in a surprised tone. "Why, I thought everyone had. When
you're playing in your room and making a great amount of noise, what
do they tell you to stop?"
"That awful din," admitted Milo.
"When the neighbors are playing their radio too loud, late at
night, what do you wish they'd turn down?"
"The awful din," answered Tock.
"When the street on your block is being repaired and the pneumatic
drills are working all day, what does everyone complain of?"
"The dreadful row," volunteered the Humbug brightly.
"The dreadful RAUW,' cried the anguished DYNNE, "was my
grandfather. He perished in the great silence epidemic of 1712”
– “The Phantom Tollbooth”

If you have read the abovementioned book you will have no doubt noted both the title of this blog and the signature I have adopted are characters from the work. If you haven’t read the book, I chose to “borrow” because the theme is relevant to the purpose of this blog and because I really think it’s an amazing book and I wanted to give it some publicity. Like the main character in “Tollbooth” I am interested in finding ways to keep things interesting, staying out of the Doldrums so to speak, especially in regards to poetry. Hopefully I can provide some compelling and catalyzing information and insight regarding poetry as a genre and its role in today’s very un-poetic society. I really want to open up the conversation and let other, perhaps less traditional voices speak about poetic imagery, form, language and function. So check out the links, argue, agree, rave, rant and otherwise comment on the posts and try some interesting forms of poetry yourself on the site!