changing definitions

way back, decades ago, 'she' was just another eager -eyed, gawky college girl, in awe of the literary heavyweights that were her subject curriculum. hours were spent in the classroom and the library pouring over books by literary critics. and it was always a rush for bookings for any new book written by literary critics that were periodically issued in the college library.
literature and more so, poetry was a hallowed subject that elicited awe and inspiration for the poets throughout the ages. as students of literature we couldn't mess around with the existing definitions of style. line syllable, alliteration. all we were allowed was to memorise the lines of poems, the names of various critics and their quotes. these were the factors that would elicit a positive response from our professors during the examinations.
and then came the time for us to step into the world of marriage, children, obligations, jobs.
literature and poetry was delegated to the recesses of our inner hearts.
whenever i came across a poem or interesting lines, it stirred deep emotions. this was apart from the mild escapades i had into the world of writing by way of articles and of course my poems which never saw the light of day.
was it humility or diffidence that stopped me from publishing my own little book of poems?
i will never know. what i do know was that there is a poet in all of us, whether we express it or not. some of us have the gift of expression and for the rest of us it will always be an echo of our emotion when it is given the gift of expression by someone else.
recently, an incident drove home a reminder about the passage of time and changing definitions that come along with it! i happened to visit my favourite home linen store and there was a poetry reading going on in a corner of the store. the confidence of the writer took me by surprise as she read about her missing something as inane as her mom's fish curry!
and here i stood thinking poetry was all about finer emtions, romance?! definitins had changed and how!