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

[derawr.livejournal.com]

I pretty much hate poetry. I think, though, that I only feel that way because people view me as the perfect sounding board for their writing. Because I won't say anything critical or "mean" to them. When people come to me, they rarely want constructive criticism -- they want pats on the back. I've learned to hate poetry.

I literally feel like puking every time somebody shows me a poem filled with rhyming couplets. Sometimes I wonder if people think that's the only criteria for a poem.


(I do like some poems though, and it always surprises me.)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

When people come to me, they rarely want constructive criticism -- they want pats on the back. I've learned to hate poetry.

Oh, there's a Pavlovian response for you! I'm sorry that's the outcome, but I can't help but laugh. Yeah, I would like to be the harsh critic of poetry. "Childish. Schmaltzy. No."