what makes a poem good?

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

bumping for jbj

perhaps you'll enlighten us all

You'll shit if I do enlighten anyone cuz youre another sad troll who harasses anyone who crosses over your lil bridge without a MOTHER MAY I appeal. Lets accept our mutual dislike for each other and let socializing go as a bad idea.

 

[Trixareforkids]

I like this topic, it's so wide open being based on nothing more than what a particular person likes.

Any poem I connect to is a good poem, IMO. Sometimes it's creative use of language, sometimes it's humor or cheekiness. Then there's the times someone manages to capture the essence of a state of mind or being with a few simple lines and language anyone can understand. That to me is the best of poetry because it connects with the most people. I also enjoy some pieces that use one concept to convey another. I personally am not much into the epic pieces though there are passages from some long pieces that will grab me.

I think perhaps this thread would be more enlightening if people gave examples of pieces they thought were good to accompany what they think makes a good poem.
And now I'm off to dive into my poetry library to find some examples

 

[butters]

You'll shit if I do enlighten anyone cuz youre another sad troll who harasses anyone who crosses over your lil bridge without a MOTHER MAY I appeal. Lets accept our mutual dislike for each other and let socializing go as a bad idea.

i wasn't making an attempt at socialising, and your defensive attitude speaks volumes.

the thread's here for you to expound on your theories of what good poetry is. use it or not, up to you.

calling me a troll is just silly.

 

[greenmountaineer]

I like this topic, it's so wide open being based on nothing more than what a particular person likes.

Any poem I connect to is a good poem, IMO. Sometimes it's creative use of language, sometimes it's humor or cheekiness. Then there's the times someone manages to capture the essence of a state of mind or being with a few simple lines and language anyone can understand. That to me is the best of poetry because it connects with the most people. I also enjoy some pieces that use one concept to convey another. I personally am not much into the epic pieces though there are passages from some long pieces that will grab me.

I think perhaps this thread would be more enlightening if people gave examples of pieces they thought were good to accompany what they think makes a good poem.
And now I'm off to dive into my poetry library to find some examples

One my favorites for reasons highlighted, Trix:

Meditation on a Grapefruit
BY CRAIG ARNOLD

To wake when all is possible
before the agitations of the day
have gripped you
To come to the kitchen
and peel a little basketball
for breakfast
To tear the husk
like cotton padding a cloud of oil
misting out of its pinprick pores
clean and sharp as pepper
To ease
each pale pink section out of its case
so carefully without breaking
a single pearly cell
To slide each piece
into a cold blue china bowl
the juice pooling until the whole
fruit is divided from its skin
and only then to eat
so sweet
a discipline
precisely pointless a devout
involvement of the hands and senses
a pause a little emptiness

each year harder to live within
each year harder to live without
Source: Poetry (October 2009).

 

[HarryHill]

I like this topic, it's so wide open being based on nothing more than what a particular person likes.

Any poem I connect to is a good poem, IMO. Sometimes it's creative use of language, sometimes it's humor or cheekiness. Then there's the times someone manages to capture the essence of a state of mind or being with a few simple lines and language anyone can understand. That to me is the best of poetry because it connects with the most people. I also enjoy some pieces that use one concept to convey another. I personally am not much into the epic pieces though there are passages from some long pieces that will grab me.

I think perhaps this thread would be more enlightening if people gave examples of pieces they thought were good to accompany what they think makes a good poem.
And now I'm off to dive into my poetry library to find some examples

.. oh, I've got some good examples but I cant post them yet
ETA: sorry for posting over you gm, you wernt there before

 

[Trixareforkids]

One my favorites for reasons highlighted, Trix:

Meditation on a Grapefruit
BY CRAIG ARNOLD

Very nice GM, reminded me of one of my favorites, also about fruit and more...

Eating Cantaloupe
Midge Farmer

I scrape the seeds
from a halved cantaloupe
pare off the thick
veined rind, cut and hold
a wet orange slice. I eat
standing over the sink.

Juice runs across the back
of my hand, drips from my wrist
forearm and chin
even though I quickly suck
and lap as I bite off
each chunk.

The brash color, variegated
texture and gush of juice
from the fruit give me purpose
for this day.

I am the fruit
seeds gone, wrinkly shell
peeled off to reveal
soft flesh covering muscle,
electric-bright mind
and life-juice still rampant
still far from being sucked
away.

 

[greenmountaineer]

.. oh, I've got some good examples but I cant post them yet
ETA: sorry for posting over you gm, you wernt there before

No problem, Harry, anyone who likes poetry will scroll this thread.

 

[greenmountaineer]

Very nice GM, reminded me of one of my favorites, also about fruit and more...

Eating Cantaloupe
Midge Farmer

I scrape the seeds
from a halved cantaloupe
pare off the thick
veined rind, cut and hold
a wet orange slice. I eat
standing over the sink.

Juice runs across the back
of my hand, drips from my wrist
forearm and chin
even though I quickly suck
and lap as I bite off
each chunk.

The brash color, variegated
texture and gush of juice
from the fruit give me purpose
for this day.

I am the fruit
seeds gone, wrinkly she'll
peeled off to reveal
soft flesh covering muscle,
electric-bright mind
and life-juice still rampant
still far from being sucked
away.

Remarkable IMO how similar the two poems are, poetically speaking.

The stanza

"The brash color, variegated
texture and gush of juice
from the fruit give me purpose
for this day."

is making me jealous.

 

[Trixareforkids]

LOL GM, there's another criteria for a good poem, writing that makes you jealous. I could fill a whole thread with lines/stanzas that make me greener than the Hulk.

 

[Trixareforkids]

beans with garlic
Charles Bukowski

this is important enough:
to get your feelings down,
it is better than shaving
or cooking beans with garlic.
it is the little we can do
this bravery of knowledge
and there is of course
madness and terror too
in knowing
that some part of you
wound up like a clock
can never be wound again
once it stops.
but now
there's a ticking under your shirt
and you whirl the beans with a spoon,
one love dead, one love departed
another love . . .
ah! as many loves as beans
yes, count them now
sad, sad
your feelings boiling over flame,
get this down.



I was reading Bukowski, though not this piece, as I made dinner this evening and ended up burning the bacon. I started to write a piece about Bukowski and bacon but I couldn't get it all down before life (and the next batch of bacon) intervened. This piece speaks to those moments, and the line "this bravery of knowledge" grabs me, demands my attention.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

i wasn't making an attempt at socialising, and your defensive attitude speaks volumes.

the thread's here for you to expound on your theories of what good poetry is. use it or not, up to you.

calling me a troll is just silly.

You are silly though INANE is the better word or maybe its POINTLESS.

Its wise to be vigilant around you.

 

[Magnetron]

BJB, you have about as much chance of getting under anyone's skin in here as you do with a boneless chicken breast. But, feel free to give it your best. If you find yourself fumbling for a witty comeback, distract us with some of your own poetry.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

BJB, you have about as much chance of getting under anyone's skin in here as you do with a boneless chicken breast. But, feel free to give it your best. If you find yourself fumbling for a witty comeback, distract us with some of your own poetry.

If I wanna post poems I will. But I don't plan to waste my time selling any round earth theories to flat-earthers.

 

[HarryHill]

BJB, you have about as much chance of getting under anyone's skin in here as you do with a boneless chicken breast. But, feel free to give it your best. If you find yourself fumbling for a witty comeback, distract us with some of your own poetry.

The poetry of JAMESBJOHNSON enjoy/

 

[Magnetron]

The poetry of JAMESBJOHNSON enjoy/

Pass me the industrial strength Maalox.

 

[Magnetron]

If I wanna post poems I will. But I don't plan to waste my time selling any round earth theories to flat-earthers.

Be the Poetry God you claim you are. Get back to us in Seven Days with a poem you created. Preferably one that doesn't sucketh balls.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Be the Poetry God you claim you are. Get back to us in Seven Days with a poem you created. Preferably one that doesn't sucketh balls.

More like Poem Panhandler. I know my wares, and yours, tho youre more of a Poem Flea-Marketeer than street bum.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

Be the Poetry God you claim you are. Get back to us in Seven Days with a poem you created. Preferably one that doesn't sucketh balls.

Your PMs are disabled so I'll have to point it out here in "open mic" - if you keep responding to this "person" it will just keep on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on ...................... write poetry instead, at least you can.

 

[butters]

You are silly though INANE is the better word or maybe its POINTLESS.

Its wise to be vigilant around you.

so you're not about to say what makes a poem good in your opinion. nothing to contribute to the conversation? nothing surprising but i'd hoped for better.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

so you're not about to say what makes a poem good in your opinion. nothing to contribute to the conversation? nothing surprising but i'd hoped for better.

I left thoughts elsewhere on the subject.

Bottom line: A poem reveals some truth, in a style that's elegant and appealing, and coherent and clear, and is a kissing cousin to music. Poems ought to beg to be songs.

Poems are not the laments of faggot twats who cant wear tuxedos to the senior prom. Or the victory laps of alcoholic losers treated like champions after some fraud pins a PTSD label on their chest.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on ......................

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on ......................

You act like I'm gonna dissect your wares on the table in a typical fifties home.

 

[HarryHill]

I left thoughts elsewhere on the subject.

Bottom line: A poem reveals some truth, in a style that's elegant and appealing, and coherent and clear, and is a kissing cousin to music. Poems ought to beg to be songs.

Poems are not the laments of faggot twats who cant wear tuxedos to the senior prom. Or the victory laps of alcoholic losers treated like champions after some fraud pins a PTSD label on their chest.

Reminds me of Bukowski for some reason. Am I wrong?

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I left thoughts elsewhere on the subject.

Bottom line: A poem reveals some truth, in a style that's elegant and appealing, and coherent and clear, and is a kissing cousin to music. Poems ought to beg to be songs.

Poems are not the laments of faggot twats who cant wear tuxedos to the senior prom. Or the victory laps of alcoholic losers treated like champions after some fraud pins a PTSD label on their chest.

Reminds me of Bukowski for some reason. Am I wrong?

It was really eloquent :shock 'n awe:

 

[HarryHill]

on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on ......................

hi Tess