Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

If I read one more stick-up-the-ass
comment on a so-called poetry board
about how "the meter isn't quite right,"
after it all nearly went up in flames just
a century ago or so, then I swear...

glad to be at the old S8

Yes, the Dada station, real nature. All the grief and guilt about fighting endless Roman and European world wars, and a planet about ready to burn, yet you get the same tight-ass quibbling about poetry as it probably occurred four or five hundred years ago.

In- credible..

Are you talking about that tyrant on that Algonquin's table.

No it's just the general attitude I've run across.

i belong to a face-to-face writers' group. We meet monthly and I get there when I can. We bring poems that we want to workshop. There's only one meter policeman in the group and he's there to suggest that if a person attempts a rigid format, one that is defined by meter, then that person should abide by it.

Is he the main voice? No. but he's there. When such suggestions are given with love and slight apology, it's easy to hear, and to consider or not.
Atmosphere is everything.
And, by its nature, a writers' group is for bringing works in progress and for receiving suggestions.
Different situation when a writer's asking for critique. (and when in real life, you can see the other's face and read the spirit of the suggestion)

Luckily, on this online community, we've agreed to read content and to respond to messages.
Truly a one-of-a-kind site.

I don't exactly know why I have such an aversion to it, but yeah, if one wants to write that way, then yes, follow the rules I guess.

And yes, atmosphere means a lot. The old tyrants need to go. It just gets absurd at times.

Meter? What meter? I don't have to show you any stinking meter...

Meter is what feels good, like the click of pullman car on the rails on a long journey, punctuated by the occasional clack and thump that add to the drama. Compelling, relaxing, and nothing metric about it...

Meter gets in the way of poetry.

meter
i dunno
measure - sounds of music- i dunno why there are people everywhere that want to harness creation and ride it like an old horse
listening is the best determination of 'if it works' if it is bumpy and odd=well maybe check the formula or lack of it

Where?
Peter meter?
Meater
Eater
Is it really that important?
E
What are we measuring?

Meter meter on the wall,
who's the stuffiest of them all?
caged in pentameter parameters,
and stilted archaic trochaics, iamb,
iamb, iamb, therefore I'm dead...

(Not that there's anything wrong
with that sort of thing...)

I woke up
The sun had laid her plans on my skin
I felt like a new person
There was no turning back

But the meter was running
And I had reached my limit on parking tickets
The meter had become reason to think about anxiety medication
Measuring time and rhythm
Like a dynasty reawakened
The meter determined what food I could eat
Where I would go
Who knew what I was up to?
The meter maid came by on her three wheeled city car
Writing up tickets and chalking tires
All awaiting the meter to expire

[quote=creativesoul post_id=1987

What are we measuring?
[/quote]

I told them I don't write in meters. I write in inches.