Poetry Smoetry

I write poetry occasionally. I don't pretend to be very good, but I often feel compelled to jot down a description of the way I'm feeling in words that are more weighty and evocative than your average.

That being said, I dislike reading poetry that seems contrived. I have a red flag for rhyming poetry, because rhyming poetry is often the refuge of people who don't really understand what poetry is (especially people who don't write creatively very often or at all). Hallmarks of a non-poet: the rhymes are unoriginal and forced.

So what is poetry? This is where I admit to being elitist and vague. My definition of poetry is an expression or description of a thought or emotion, or an event or scene that represents a thought or emotion.

As an example of what I mean, I believe that when Keats wrote about autumn, he was using autumn as a metaphor for impending death and by describing autumn scenes, it represented his acceptance and celebration of the period of his life prior to his impending death.

Hence, the 'poem' that I received as part of my cousin's wedding invitation is not poetry. It's just a rhyme politely saying they don't want any useless junk so please donate to their honeymoon travel fund instead:

In our home we have the things
That living together always brings
Toasters, tumblers we have bought
And because of this we thought
A honeymoon would be great
If wedding guests wish to participate
So we can ski overseas or travel far and wide
But never leave each others side
And when our honeymoon is done
We will thank you all for the fun!

There is, of course, another brand of poetry, which is the poem that just simply isn't very good. I will preface this rant by saying that I KNOW poetry is a subjective thing so what I don't find very good could be someone else's shining example of poetry in its best form.

Poetry that isn't very good usually contains one or more of the following:
Rhymes that are forced: If it isn't coming naturally, then it's not really representing a thought/emotion truly
Rhymes that don't make sense: Rhyme for the sake of rhyme is a crime
Metre that is forced: Creates an ugly disruption to the flow of the poem without adding meaning
Does not represent a thought or emotion: See purpose of poetry
Does not evoke a thought or emotion: Why read it?
Words or lines that don't add to the reader's understanding or investment into the poem or poet: Good poetry says what it needs to say in the number of words it requires to say it and not one more. Good editing will fix this; sloppy poets will be revealed through redundant words and lines
Lack of awareness of form: Just like putting a bandage on a wound does not make you a doctor, writing a poem does not make you a poet. I believe there needs to be an awareness of the purpose of poetry as a means to communicate or capture a thought or emotion, even if the only person to understand that thought/emotion is the poet.

Now, I know I should say egalitarian things like 'anybody can be a poet if they write poetry' to encourage more people to appreciate the form, but it truly is an art that requires dedication and practice and I don't want to denigrate the art by calling any old ditty a poem.

So, A for effort - you can rhyme 'fire' with 'desire' - but you have a long way to go before you're writing poetry.