Today is Poetry Friday and let's talk between us guys. Ask the average American man if he reads poetry and he'll respond like you asked him if he wears a dress. To him, poetry is for chicks, kids, and guys who whine about their feelings. You know the kind of guys I'm talking about: emo rockers. My guess is the most popular poet with Chicago males is either Dr. Seuss or that guy who writes on the bathroom stalls of their neighborhood bars. What went wrong? Why are most contemporary poems about flowers and feelings?

I blame the Romantics and their recent heirs, hippies from the 1960s. Fortunately, hippies and emo kiddies aren't the only poets. Before them, men recited poems to tell stories and to cast spells. The stories were about other guys accomplishing cool feats like winning battles and defeating monsters. These poems were called epic poems. The Greeks put the goddess Calliope in charge of epic poems. But the Norse put their main god, Odin, in charge.

Angelo Vildasol Maddox, in his book The Alphabet of Manliness (Warning: Not Safe For Work), describes Odin as "the patron saint of rearranging your face." Odin slew the frost giant Ymir and fashioned the world out of his remains. Ymir's blood became the the seas, his bones mountains, his hair trees, his skull the sky, and his brains became the clouds. Odin also selects the bravest warriors who have fallen in battle, brings them to Valhalla, and watches them kick each other's butts. He does all of this and writes poetry too.

So guys, poetry is an Odin-worthy activity. Check out some poems posted by Poetry Friday bloggers. The Old Coot published Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poems about the battle of Balaclava. Mary Lee at A Year of Reading published a poem about tools. I also recommend the book 52 Poems For Men by Jay Amberg (ISBN: 0970841604).

Coming Next Time: A message to those who shouldn't be writers.

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