The Writing-Practice Journal

Poetry: The Great Unknown

         Vain people that we are, as soon as we put the pen to the paper or type and click to see our mumbo jumbo of some sentiment on the screen, we think we’ve made it as poets. Sometimes it gets even worse. A person writes a ditty and calls it poetry.

          “My blue-eyed Jeanie
         Is sometimes a meanie”
is not poetry. Cute and lovable verse is not a poem. Neither is “Simple Simon met a pieman” or “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall”, just as street burlesque is not the same thing as Shakespeare’s comedy.

         Poetry is not an insignificant art one could exhibit at a roadside fair. Poetry is the finest art of words, eloquence, ideas, thoughts and feelings. Poetry, through its insightfulness, touches the internal workings of our experience that are impossible to put into words. Poetry, to me, is verse that I enjoy reading, that leaves me moved in some way, that may present me with a discovery or a re-discovery of something within me, that is surprising in every line, that is to the point, that has excellent word choices, that has music, that is capably and expertly written after some study and thought. Each poem needs to be unique and inimitable in order to be called a poem. If we think of anything that is cute, lovable, sweet, and expressing cheap emotion in verse form, as poetry, then we are mistaken.

         This piece is from Dylan Thomas’ poetry:

         . . In the sun born over and over,
         I ran my heedless ways
         My wishes raced through the house-high hay
         And nothing I cared, at my sky blue trades, that time allows
         In his tuneful turning. . .

         Can this be poetry also?

“I ran after you in May
To roll in the yellow hay.”

         I say, “No way!” This is a ditty and a cheap one at that. And please forgive my rhyming tendencies.

         Poetry is an art form and should be studied as such. Being aware of formal and informal poetry forms drills our poetic prowess. Poets who succeed creating real poetry write and study for a lifetime and still feel they haven’t achieved enough to be called poets.

         Does this mean we should get discouraged and stop trying? NO. NO. NO. Writing bad poetry is better than writing no poetry. Believe me, I know. I write bad poetry all the time. Sometimes I get lucky and I even write good verse, I think. But then, maybe not even that. :)

         In case we don’t make it as poets, poetry still hones our skills as writers, clears our thinking and opens our minds to possibilities. A bad poem shouldn’t discourage us. They say every good poet has at least one bad poem. Also, through writing bad poetry we learn about good poetry. And then... Who knows? Maybe someday, we’ll get lucky. :)

Today’s tip:
Do not mix proof with evidence. Proof is the result of having enough evidence.

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