The Write Way: Tips & Advice for Writers

I Might Be Crazy

But is it a bad thing that I hate poetry?

I've no idea when this happened, but somewhere along the road of life I began to r-e-a-l-l-y hate reading other people's poetry.

I'm not referring to the kind of poetry that appears in songs or chorus lines in music. I am referring to the kind of poetry that doesn't rhyme, doesn't flow, contains more imagery than a landscape of flowers and for all intents and purposes is really someone's emotional angst put into words.

A while back some guy on a dating site sent me a poem IM and added that if I gave him a topic he'd write me a Haiku. Yeah, cheesy I know, but I thought what the hell? I'm bored, so I did and he did and I still wasn't impressed. I replied that I didn't like haiku's - never had, yet he didn't believe me. Said I just hadn't given haiku's a chance. Uh, yeah right. Whatever.

I honestly have never liked poetry and although I read some during my self-directed writing education, I never understood why anyone would want to read it. Never mind write it.

For me, poetry is someone else's emotional angst or pain or joy hidden behind flowery images that disguise or filter the truth of an experience to the point that the reader has to guess or imagine what the author is getting at. It doesn't matter what the author is trying to portray, the response I have every time is one of annoyance and irritation.

If you want to share an experience that's fine, but don't flower it up with fancy imagery that attempts to make it more memorable than it really is.

Everyone experiences strong emotional events at some point in life but does it really need a poem written about it?

I think not.

Yeah. That's it. That's all I've got for this chapter. Don't really have much else to say. At all. About poetry. Rhyming or not rhyming. Rhythm or no rhythm. Flowers, bugs, trees or hearts. Yep. No more to say about poetry.