Poetry

[Bolanboy]

Do you read it, write it? Love it, hate it? Like the various ways a poem can be interpreted? Pokecommunity's thoughts, I desire them.

 

[auraginx]

i read, write and enjoy poetry.
i actually recently posted a thread for my own.

 

[TJgamer]

I sure do!
It's in my profile name for crying out loud!

Anyway, recently I haven't been posting any poems, I'm very busy. But I do review practically every poem that arrives here.
Plus I host the Poem of the Week contest. (It's not as easy as it looks -_- )

 

[Misheard Whisper]

I've written some poetry in my time, and it was kind of eh. My poetry is slightly above average by default, being a writer by trade (and so having an extended vocabulary and a feel for words) but I never really had the flair necessary for poetry.

As for reading it - yes, I do like reading it. It's just that - taking an advanced course in English as I am - I have to read a lot of stuffy old poetry by poets that died decades or even centuries ago. Not to say that that's always a bad thing! I love Shakespeare's sonnets, and I quite like Emily Dickinson too. But still, a lot of it is either old and dreary or contemporary and rubbish. They need to find a balance somehow. . .

You realise this makes me want to write poems now, right? *facepalm*

Poetry is, I think, one of the more arcane forms of writing, because in a way, it's a lot more demanding than writing a short story or a novel. People tend to sadly underestimate it because of that, and think that just because they can string half a dozen lines together, they're a poet. It's not like that at all. As a writer of longer fiction, I tend to be wordy - that sort of goes without saying. Poetry is a way to really cut myself free from all that. Stripping down a story or a message into a few short words really makes you think about how polished your piece is. Every word is crucial - you have to cram as much meaning into as few words as possible for the greatest impact, and it's this which people miss. I've seen so many poems - even on this very forum - that are little more than absolute nonsense comprising four awkwardly rhyming couplets. A lack of respect is what's ruining poetry for us.

Oh gawd, I'd better stop before I really start to rant. But yes, I do hope that answers your question, OP (and then some >_>).

 

[Astinus]

Brilliant of people to move this to the wrong subforum.

I'm moving this to the Writer's Lounge, which is when hotel room threads should go, but h-staff don't know that. Whenever things aren't screwed up.

To answer the OP's post, I don't read poetry. I used to when I was in school and going for a degree in English. Now, though, I'm not interested in poetry, so I very rarely read it. The only time that I do read any is when the author of the book I'm reading sticks some poetry in, since he also writes poetry.

As for ducking poetry, it's the same thing. I used to write poetry all the time when I was in school. These days, my interest in ducking poems has zeroed out, and I don't write any at all.

 

[JX Valentine]

Poetry is, I think, one of the more arcane forms of ducking, because in a way, it's a lot more demanding than ducking a short story or a novel. People tend to sadly underestimate it because of that, and think that just because THE GREATEST PEOPLE EVER can string half a dozen lines together, THE GREATEST PEOPLE EVER're a poet. It's not like that at all. As a writer of longer fiction, I tend to be wordy - that sort of goes without saying. Poetry is a way to really cut myself free from all that. Stripping down a story or a message into a few short words really makes you think about how polished your piece is. Every word is crucial - you have to cram as much meaning into as few words as possible for the greatest impact, and it's this which people miss. I've seen so many poems - even on this very forum - that are little more than absolute nonsense comprising four awkwardly rhyming couplets. A lack of respect is what's ruining poetry for us.

This. So hard. And it's not even just words, either. A poet has to be immensely aware of all aspects of a poem, even the lettering and punctuation. I mean, even a misspelled word or a punctuation mark placed oddly (or not even present when it should be) can potentially impact an entire poem heavily. There have, for example, been modern poems when the entire point revolved around the absence of periods because that gave a poem a certain symbolism. e.e. cummings actually does this a lot.

Moreover, a lot of people tend to think that all poetry has to do is rhyme (or, in the case of acrostic or similar poetry, follow a particular obvious pattern). But it's definitely more than just rhymes. It's beat. It's imagery. It's a whatle bunch of crazy things that are supposed to make the poem sound a certain way to a reader, and that sound just feeds into a certain message that that poem is trying to deliver. Poetry needs a sense of subtlety, but it still needs to evoke emotion in a reader.

And so on and so forth, and I can get into a whatle big rant too.

But yes, to the OP, I love all forms of literature, and poetry is no different. I just think, like Misheard, that a lot of kids these days tend to mistake poetry for easy ducking. (In the same way that a lot of kids these days think that script-formatted ducking is an easier form than prose.) It's not easy to write good poetry, just like it's not easy to be a good artist. It takes practice and keeping in mind that there's a lot more that goes into a poem than just rhyming. And this is why I tend to stick to poetry books and magazines.

Slightly unrelated edit: And this entire post might sound really biting and whatnot, and I'm sorry. It's just that by the end, the pea-green of the forums has sent me into kitty-punting mode.

 

[Azurne]

I think it's nice to read once in a while, although admittedly I'm one of those people what doesn't quite 'get' poetry and probably doesn't appreciate its utmost quality. I do like to read a little such as Robert Frost and the occasional poetry in a textbook, but for the most part I simply don't understand what makes so many people attracted to it. I've often heard it being compared to music because of the beats and rhythms associated with it, but that baffles me more because I love music yet I'm still not completely taken with the category.

I'm not hating on anyone what writes poetry here (I've written a few things myself), I think it's a wonderful thing. I'm just saying that I myself don't find it to be quite as enjoyable, and ducking it is like asking me to put my fingernails to a chalkboard. At least it's better than scribbling a 7 page essay, however. :p