Thursday, March 26, 2009

"Good Poetry"

After reading the poem “True/False” by Dean Young, I can’t help but feel worried about future literature and the advancing poetry of the modern day. Reading “True/False” was a concrete example that anyone can write anything, and if the publisher likes what you have written then they will publish it in hopes that others will enjoy it just as much as they did. There is no “standard” that someone who is going to be published must follow. In other words, someone who wants to be published doesn’t have to have a certain degree from college or have any kind of credibility beforehand. The poem, “True/False” is a simple list of statements that the reader must deem as either as true or false. There is not much more to that. Sure anyone can read it and think that there is a “deeper psychological” meaning hidden in the words. But for some reason I don’t feel like that at all about this poem. It is more likely that this poet had been previously published and wondered if he just wrote random thoughts down, would he be able to get published. And he got what he wanted. He wrote down random facts that he thought was clever, numbered them, and called it a poem. And behold! A poem is born. But in all honesty can we call this poetry? Is this real skill? Hell, I could write a list of things I did in a day and call it “My Day,” and say it’s a poem. If the publisher likes it, then he’ll do his thing. But if he doesn’t then it dies there. But really why aren’t more people writing like Shakespeare, or Dickinson, or Poe? Because it’s hard and takes true talent, which unfortunately not everyone has. It’s good to write because you enjoy writing. It is however ridiculous to think that everything you write is an amazing piece of work that will affect society. Just because you have a pen in your hand it doesn’t mean that you are a good writer. The sooner people realize that, the sooner we’ll get less of what people deem “poetry” and get real works of literature.

Now I’m not saying all poets have write in flowery English but they should at least have the training of what is universally considered “good” poetry and be trained in the classics before they develop their own style. Once you have the fundamentals, you have the building blocks to make your own work good.

*Donya Botkan*

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