Writing Meta: Why don't I get poetry?

[amanuensis1]

During insomnia night this week, I read a professional insititution's glossy creativity publication that had been given to me. The photos were pretty, the essays...not as horrible as they could have been, the poetry I thought was appalling. Schmaltz, doggerel, sentimental claptrap. Amateur pirouettes on a page, terribly proud of themselves for showing off their cut-apart structure and boring as spit. These students didn't even know how to write limericks; there was a two-page spread of them and not one of them had the correct scansion of a limerick. God. I read through the book thinking, what the hell did they reject?

Is it just me? I always admit that I don't have a poet's soul; I have no inclination to write poetry other than funny doggerel, and very little poetry resonates with me. Sometimes it does. The moments are rare, but wonderful. Is it just me, is most poetry dreadful cloying crap? Just because you're grieving or in pain, that doesn't mean you can create good art.

Comments

[dmlpacker.livejournal.com]

Right now, I'm in a Modern Lit class, 80% of which is poetry. I admitted to the teacher straight out that I have no particular liking for poetry in general, but especially modern poetry. There are truly beautiful, resonant pieces out there, but most are too contrived for me. The classics I could at least appreciate because of the rhyme and intricate structure. But sometimes, it seems to me that modern poetry is all about "breaking rules". Writing simply for the sake of creating something new or investigating a "taboo" topic (not because you care).

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Eh. I bet there are plenty of critics ready to expose bad modern poetry for sham. At least I hope so. ^_^