you want to write poetry for the birds

[revolutionrabbit]

you want to write poetry for the birds
you want to sing like a bird
you want everybody to like your song

so you write the most boring thing you can
in purpose because down deep you hate
poetry,

yes you hate it, because it intimidates you
you actually think that there are enough
boring people like you, that will be on
your wavelenght and so that is enough
to get you off your ass and think
you can write some puke that the other
pukes will love you for

but hey if you have puke make more puke
all need is pink lemons and elephants
an Ann Rand dreamer poet
and you are the cream in their coffee
yes you are, you are so convinced
that it matters that you uphold your values
and gosh darn it, there are others
that agree with your pukey proper poetry

look here comes another
and they just can't wait
because they really hate poetry too
down deep inside, where it matters
oh they love snowflakes & church graveyards
where the dead poets society is in progress
they love the idea that some handsome rich
man that reads Longfellow would dig their
garden, tee hee!

they want to be thought of as literary types
and they actually read some poetry once
when they were the apple in the eye of
some dark broody sullen deep thinker
but that was only a twinkle in a star
and now it is all far away and they sulk
and lick wounds they got from rulers
long ago from some grim english teacher
wacked em good, like they should
practice those drills writing that damn
poem by Longfellow a thousand times

oh they really hate poetry and most of all real poets

[mtmynd]

poetry within a poem
extends the head of
the writer writing words
from inside to the outside
giving birth to some thing
that will not be read but
within a cyber's blink of the eye
lost forever in the chambers of
but yet another word called poem

like the poet Bobby Byrd said
"It’s a good time to be a poet, I think, although the pay is shitty."

[hester_prynne]

Geez!
I feel like i've had a talkin to readin this, although at the same time I find myself laughing.
Thank God i'm not a poet.
But I do like to sing like a bird......
This is over my head, but I enjoyed reading it.
I could feel heat from it.
H

[Doreen Peri]

You tell 'em!

I really hate poetry.
Real poetry, that is.
I like lousy poetry better.

[revolutionrabbit]

its like if when i was a teenager and i listened to Folk music
i listened to it because, i felt the "real meaning" of the lyrics
all the poetry that really meant something to me, it all spoke
to the soul, to the struggle of oppressed people, and also it
is known that writers that use the absurd in their writing, are
more intelligent, in fact to read absurd writing makes you more
intelligent, like Kafka or Lewis Carroll, or Jonathan Swift, or
for that matter Mark Twain, but also all the best poets, have
that sense, but its not just being clever, just being clever, is
not the same as having a sense of irony, having that absurd
way with the word.That is the sense that the Dadaists felt
coming out of WWI, and the Surrealists continued with, and
later the Beats followed on.

and in the words of Groucho Marks..."a black cat crossing your path
signifies the animal is going somewhere"

and happy Indigenous day

oh, if you notice that a lot of the poetry published is published because it is written by collage graduate people with the silver spoon in their other hand, and it is written for other college graduates like them, and more often then not, the published ones become teachers and professors, not that there is any thing wrong with that, its just that the days of the Beat poets that managed to change the playing field for the 60's kids, those more open publishers, are not around anymore,or not like it was, its all back to rich university people that cater to their crowd, i mean if you ever want to find a publisher.But as far as poetry that is real good, a lot of the lucky ones are very good.I just read a lot of the more spiritual/revolutionary ones.Because i believe that poetry is the real mythology, and it takes on the masks of god, as it were.But every person that writes has to find their own way of doing that.Poetry should knock some of the cotton out of your brain, make you think, not just react.

[revolutionrabbit]

and this poem was originally written on another site.
where they are very cliquey, and pretend to tell you how to write.
you know, tell you to cut out whole parts of the poem, is if they
know better how you should write your own poem.

obviously poems need to be rewritten, but on that site, they
always think there are going to be picked for some poetry contest.
and they all get on the wavelength, if one person tells you to cut
out certain parts or words, then the others agree, very often.

i think that a poet needs to have a mentor, and in a one on one,
they learn from scratch, the hard way, to edit, cut and change.
but to have a group of people telling you, is nuts.especially
when they are in a clique, that is prone a certain way.

unless that is your cup of tea, its not mine.

[revolutionrabbit]

one other comment, i'm not sure how the definition of "lousy" is being used in this context.

i was rather referring to a snob that thinks their poetry is just wonderful.

lousy, could mean that it is crappy, and depending on how into it you are, so if you know you are lousy, and you don't care, then you may be actually humble.But that is just an example.

[hester_prynne]

I see what you're saying, totally understand.
Hope a few of the studio eighters give you the depth you seek. I know I get it here quite nicely, have tried other sites but they get like you say, too preachy and teachery. Which is cool to a point, but, you gotta have a sense about it. At a certain point it is what it is.
Anyway, I really dig your stuff, as you must know already.
H

[Doreen Peri]

It all depends on what the person is looking for. Some people want to use posting on the internet as a workshop with critiquing from their peers as they work on learning their craft. Others don't want that.

There ARE tools of the craft and it's good to learn them. I'm not much for anybody trying to rewrite my stuff, though, so I don't go to those sites which are primarily about critique.

I just like to write. Though I've been doing it for many years, I continue to work on my skills and craft.

I was just just joking in my last post. I thought that would be obvious.

I'm not too fond of egotism, myself. I don't like egotistical snobs in any art genre. Turns me off bigtime when I know someone thinks their work is better than others. Humility rules.

Same with musicians or dancers or painters or any other type of artist. If I see they're egotistical about their work, I usually stop liking what they're creating for some reason. An artist who's a snob and elevates his or her work to some lofty place not only loses me in the audience but loses the possibility to learn and grow. We can all always be learning and growing. That's as it should be.

[mtmynd]

publishing is a cruel business and getting more so. poetry sells less than any other genre in the u.s., so it's best to not hold up any hopes for getting one's poetry published by a major publisher. that's where PYO (publish your own) comes in... the ego press, for those who simply want to have their words in a book format just like their heroes. nothing wrong with that... and a decent way to pass on one's words to family and friends and maybe make a couple of shillings to help pay the expenses. but even those ego presses can rip off the unsuspecting by offering deals of large quantities of books at ridiculously low prices which sounds good to the novice who can get bogged down with 500 copies of their soul to deal with. but we all know that around this board... and why this board is a good place to vent and talk about such things. isn't it?