Thoughts on Poetry:

Thoughts on Poetry:

Poetry forms like couplets sonnets

of which there seems to be dozens

and ballads cinquain soliloquies odes

haiku and epic makes my brain erode. 

Forced rhyme happens all the time

not an effort or time spent for mine

here and there and never sublime

just a simple case of a guilty crime.

Free verse can be terse

like abrupt 

or quite long winded in structural flow and vague in meaning 

causing me to ask what's up.

Enjambment  if you use it can carry

a thought from one line to the next 

or maybe further. Which can be scary

or confusing if careless with your text.

Aged sophisticated poets of verse

seem never to need to rehearse

as they often parody the lymeric

when I read their lines in reverse.

No, I don’t enjoy many and much

but I’d choose Carroll, Dickenson

Silverstein, Mitchell but not Poe

if I had to read just a small bunch.

Author's Note

I do not claim to be one - I do enjoy them - but I'm not very well versed in them ( sorry, yes, pun intended) -carl

Reviews

[Richard🖌]

Gosh, Carl! 😳

What a brilliant poetical discourse on poetic forms you've composed for us to marvel over and consider. Most every aspect of form, it seems, is covered throughout all your lines and stanzas, and in about every typical rhyme scheme, including monorhymes.

Ya know? During my tenure studying, writing, and teaching poetry, one of the most phenomenal aspects of this glorious art is that there is a form that best fits almost anything imaginable, and a form or multiples of forms for every kind of poetess or poet imaginable. So many, in fact, that it's not likely anyone could learn them all. I've mastered over 150 forms and haven't even begun to try them all.
One writer claims this form or that form is the best, another their favorite, and there are those who are so rampant about it they even rave against some forms, tearing down those who compose in their favorites that are different than what they favor.
The truly wonderful part of our art is that there is something for everyone that best fits their needs, their choices, emotions, likings, dislikes, on and on there is no end to the variety of poetic formats.

And, so many seem to have conflicting opinions about what poetry even is or isn't.
In my world, poetry seems like a smorgasbord of free grammatical candy, where the selections are so many I simply cannot get enough. While listening to poetesses and poets write about their choice(s) of forms or against others', I'm left to wonder why, with such a broad selection, one should find it necessary to do this; to limit themselves and stifle their potential to one or two or three forms. I mean, why not spread one's poetical wings as wide as possible and soar as high as they can take their skills?
What most do not realize is that all poetry is composed in some sort of poetical form. Elsewise, it would not be poetry, but merely common diction/talking/prose … not to be confused with poetical prose.

LOL! Your poem has me up on a soapbox, while I should be concentrating on how I perceive your poetical skills or offering what I believe will help improve, etc.

First, I could not agree more with you that anything "forced" in poetry (rhyme, rhythm, timing, musicality, beat/tympo, Syntax, diction, poetic, etc) definitely is not correct, that it will require proper study, learning, understanding, and practice to overcome … thing is, not many are willing to put forth the effort to truly reach their potential, mastering any form of poetry, or to find a skilled teacher before forming poor habits that will become tremendously troublesome to overcome and prevent them from being able to adequately and vividly express what it is they are striving and struggling to, but just cannot seem to. To my mind's-eye, poetry should not be this way … divisive, but rather drawing us together as artists -- especially, or even when different from one another.

After reading V2 I couldn't help but giggle, and one thing is for certain, this poem is definitely not your first rodeo … you're simply too well adroit not to know it, 'cause your verbages show it! : )

Your final stanza is the most ironic, because every poet mentioned in it is a master of structure, iambics, and rhyme, except Poe, whose mastery is trochaic beat.

Hah!
Looking back, I realize how much I really got into your "Thoughts On Poetry:".
Thanks, Carl, for sharing this brilliant treat from a true craftsman's knowing pen.

Kudos! ⁓ Richard🖌

[carl]

thank you for your thorough communication - So much to read and consider here it will take me a while to sort it out. I am going to look at the site address you sent in the other message. I will glean what I can and try to absorb as much as possible and attempt to put it to good use. The piece here was written in Nov of 24 and was intended as a kind of tongue-in cheek comical commentary on what little I really know about poetry. There are a few things in there that float. More recently I expressed a more serious and shorter piece called Poetry Alone which is for me a more sincere piece and also is more of how I wish to try and be more concise with my words. Again thank for the encouragement and interaction I do greatly appreciate it all - carl

[carl]

I will need to look into the trochaic beat (?) concerning Poe ( he is way too dark for my mind to handle ) I wanted to include my most favorite poet of all time Mr. Bob Dylan but thought that might be pushing it for some folks - carl

[Richard🖌]

Well, Syr Carl....

In my humble estimation, anyone who doesn't regard Bob Dylan as one of contemporary poetic history's top versifiers, has not yet read him and/or listened to enough of his poetic majick set to song.

And, not that I'm uninterested in what others think or feel, but I wouldn't be too concerned about pushing "some folks"; or, any folks, for that matter, when it comes to Dylan … just sayin', and I don't think we're alone here by a long shot! 🤓

[Soren]

Not only a fun read but instructive as well. I too weary with many forced verses as I am sure others do of mine. Every once in a while a spontaneous burp emits a nice verse and I have to remain satisfied with that. Loved your creative wording and rhyme in this most entertaining gem.

[carl]

Thanks for the time to read and review, much appreciated and encouraged by your response. -carl

[AYVID]

I think after 12 years of writing poetry, I have come to realize that we write mostly for ourselves. It's the way our brains are wired to seek the kick. It's very rare to be able to write something that resonates universally and I think the era of great poets and poetry is long over. As for the forms of poetry, people mostly do them nowadays to prove a point to themselves or others, same goes for rhymes. No wonder it all sounds like a crime. Enjambment, iambic pentameter, heptameter etc scare me. I'm not well versed enough in poetry writing to attempt them effectively. Poetry, in the end is just whimsical, self-amusement with very subjective outcome. And with a very niche market. Thank you for sharing this poem. I loved it and enjoyed sharing my thoughts on it.

[carl]

I find your review to be most enjoyable and agreeably sound. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I will weigh your insights against other art with the anticipation at the moment that they will also hold true. In the mean time I hope we will all write on, for it is a self gratifying exercise and one which we can share with one another. thanks again -carl

[Fabian G. Franklin]

My own early influences were Wordsworth, Longfellow and Rudyard Kipling. I later gained appreciation for Walt Whitman, T.S. Eliot and ee cummings. My mother used to read Dickinson to me and a few others. I read a Complete Anthology of Poetry by D.H. Lawrence once which was fun. But I love to read. To rhyme or not to rhyme? I like a good rhyme that's not forced and lends clarity to the logical progression. But I'd rather read a freestyle poem that is beautiful than read a rhyme that is done for the sake of rhyme. Cool poem, Carl. I enjoyed the read.

[carl]

agree with "I'd rather read a freestyle poem that is beautiful than read a rhyme that is done for the sake of rhyme."

[Arundass TP]

Extremely great presentation on poems. Keep it up friend

[carl]

thanks for your time and review, much appreciated - carl