CHAPTER 8 FIRST A CONFESSION THEN - HOW POETRY TRANSFORMED MY LIFE

Dare I confess that before engaging in my memory quest, I did not really like poetry.

Being a relatively fast and impatient reader, I never took the time to digest the words, to ingest their simplicity, to comprehend the spirit and the meaning flowing from verses; the writing of which had consumed hours of concentrated effort.

Churchill at the beginning of the War asked his Chief of General Staff to summarize his plan for victory on one page. Imagine the task. Well he accomplished it!

An author (Oscar Wilde?) excused himself for sending a three page letter, arguing that a simpler, shorter missive would have taken too much time to compose.

Poetry condenses thoughts, facts and events into short, often lyrical, sometimes metaphorical, always apropos, verses, if they are any good. The better the poet, the more universal her message and his reach.

I, however, was blind to this. I never could have imagined that thirteen years later:

first: I would adore poetry;

second: because of poetry I would rarely feel lonely;

third: because of poetry I would become infinitely more patient, when waiting in line;

fourth: poetry would help me immeasurably in my endurance sports;

fifth: my endurance sports would increase the poetry learned;

sixth: my vocabulary would increase, by at least 10%; and most important of all:

seventh: my memory would triple because of my learning poetry.

Let me elaborate.

First: I now love poetry

I love poetry, partly because I now appreciate its simplicity, beauty and spirit; also because, in contrast to my youth, the verses are not imposed by a teacher:

I select the poems and only memorize verses which appear to me as beautiful; enlightening; or particularly apropos to a situation or mood. For every poem chosen, I will have skimmed through 30 or 40 more.

At first, my choices were limited to the greats: Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Byron and the like.

I avoided anything connected with death or aging.

Interestingly and indeed surprisingly, for me, all the poems about winter proved inevitably sad and distressing; the reason being that, until the invention of the motorised snow plow, ice skates and ski lifts, winter was indeed depressing, as it confined people to their houses, for weeks on end.

13 years later, second: because of poetry, I rarely feel lonely;

Of course, like all of us, I am alone from time to time, but when confronted with a feeling of loneliness, my mind starts trying to identify an opportune poem to warm my heart.

Identifying one will lead to finding others and slowly but surely my mood will change and I will go on to PBS, or NPR, or a good CD or a stimulating internet site...

Some poems will have induced a smile; and some a laugh; others will have made me reflect...

13 years later, third: because of poetry I am infinitely more patient, when waiting in line. Really! What's the point of fretting over lost time, when I can have fun recalling my favourite poems.

13 years later fourth: poetry has helped me immeasurably in my endurance sports. When you're running several miles, it's pretty easy to get caught up in the pain; or the time remaining 'til the finish; or the cold; or the wind and the rain!

If you focus instead on recalling some favourite verses you forget the pain, the wind and the rain, making your running that much easier.

Fifth: my endurance sports have helped my memory. Well that's the converse of the fourth. My poetry helps my running and vice versa.

Sixth: my vocabulary has increased, by at least 10 %, through my frequent exposure to new words; as poets invariably seek to use synonyms and metaphors to enrich their text; and most important of all:

Seventh: as stated in the introduction, my memory has tripled.

But my point in all this is not that I'm anybody special.

My point is that we can all do this, given a level playing field, a bit of luck and persistent effort.

Five minutes a day

An ex associate of mine, Cecil Altman, a PHD in economics from Harvard, communicated one of his secrets to me.

If you choose to learn something, study it a minimum of 5 minutes a day.

Why 5 minutes? Because you can't possibly find a reason not to devote 5 minutes to a discipline.

You can study for 5 minutes in bed, in the bathroom, after breakfast, at teatime, in the bus, the subway or the car.

If you do five minutes of memorizing, that's good.

If you do 15, that's better. If you do 30, that's great.

If you do an hour, that's fantastic!

But you need only devote 5 minutes a day to memorization. If you do: you always feel good about yourself.

Contrast this with methods that purport to teach you Italian or Spanish in 90 days. The first week, you may study an hour a day and feel terrific. The second, you may do the same. But inevitably something comes up: an accident; or a family obligation; or a health impediment; and then, more often than not, you will get discouraged and give up...

If your minimum daily obligation, however, is only 5 minutes, you will always feel positive about yourself; positive about your performance. And there will be no reason to ever stop.

You will always meet your objective. You will be happier.