What is Poetry
But a quest
And a question
Without an answer.
***
But, yes. Seriously. What is it? Anybody who bothers to read my mostly silly posts will note that I frequently resort to very simple little rows of rhyming lines in order to get attention. I’ve been doing it since I was about twelve and have never really grown out of it. I have never matured into a poet, in other words. So I am reluctant, for the most part, to refer to this stuff as poetry, though it does, by some standards, fit the definition. Just for the record, though, rhythm is far more important to me than rhyme.
But I am not a poet. I aspire to be one, perhaps. But not one who writes poetry. If that makes sense.
So I am a bit confused with stuff I read that just seems to be rows of lines with no obvious rhyme or rhythm but rather more defined by not being presented as prose. As though hitting the return key at the end of every sentence (or even mid-sentence, better still) and omitting a word here or there to add some obscurity transforms a page of words into poetry.
I’m sorry.
It doesn’t.
It might not be prose
But that don’t
Make it poetry.
Most likely though I am missing something. I would like someone to explain it all to me. I’m serious.
Have a look at this …
Three o’clock in February
All the sky was blue and high
Banners and bunting
And people bunched up between
Greetings and sadness
I did not write the words above. I wish that I had. Is it beautiful? Sad? Thought provoking? I believe so.
But is it poetry?
No, it is not.
It is, in fact, the very first paragraph of a book written by J.P. Donleavy.
With the return key interfering.
If I had actually written those words I would be some way to considering myself a poet. But I would not claim to have written poetry.
Richmond Road 
I’ve never understood the “rules” of poetry. Give me lines that rhyme or a Haiku… that, I understand. It’s why I stick to rambling monologues.
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And monologues are good. Haiku I’m not so sure about. I suspect that it is another bit of eastern culture/philosophy/expression that we in the west have latched onto without really understanding. Buddhism is another one.
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But, to get back to your use of the word ‘understood’ I think that goes to the heart of what I am saying. It is hard to understand things that are meaningless.
Try this …. https://youtu.be/nI6dQMR4P2Q
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Very cool! Thanks🤗🥰
I’ve done that with song lyrics, just goofing off. I love words. I like to accent words differently and I like to make up my own words.
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who said poetry has to rhyme? I rarely rhyme, but I still consider what I do as poetry. it’s what you say, and how it suits you and your readers, not necessarily because it rhymes.
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I agree. It doesn’t have to rhyme. In fact there should be no rules attached to anything you write. It is all about getting a message across.
My issue is with applying the word ‘poetry’ to stuff that clearly isn’t (or maybe it isn’t clear at all) and hoping that it implies a certain credibility.
But, of course, it doesn’t have to rhyme. Some little jingles I do rhyme a bit, but that’s because, as I have said, I’ve never really progressed beyond the 12 year old boy passing notes to the girl 2 desks away.
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My words don’t always
agree to rhyme.
They do, by mistake
from time to time…
Not really poetry, yet
not your usual prose,
what I actually do
nobody really knows…
But they are there
and they are free
building bridges
between you and me…
Taking me places
of my very own,
where I can grow wings
or wear a shiny crown…
I reckon that with words
I can be quite clumsy
but all I have is words,
and all they have is me!
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That’s like when I asked my husband if he loved me, 39+ years down the line. “Love is the morning and the evening star” he replied, not from original writing but from “Elmer Gantry” which irritated me to no end.
Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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Love is the morning and the evening star. But it can never really flourish in broad daylight. It needs a bit of shade, at the very least, to keep it mysterious.
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Too late now.
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It’s all your fault. I was going to sleep and thought of your post here and have my answer in Etheree form, I hope:
Po
Etry
Written words
Beguiled and paused
As author sees fit
It may not be rhymed
And not posed as a prose
But whoever reads and writes a
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Not finished….🙄😳
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No “a” meant there
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Okay, completely goofed up, will start again….😱
Po
Etry
Written words
Beguiled and paused
As author sees fit
May not even be rhymed
But may have certain time
Might not be passed as a prose
But taking the effort to write
Deserves certain respect if you please
Not all is supposed to rhyme– not my style
**That’s harder than rhyming and I would say forget it, but you’re probably dine by now anyway 🙄🤪🙈🤢
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Ha ha! No, that’s very clever! And let me stress again that I don’t think it has to rhyme. Rhyming seems a bit childish, somehow.
I just worry when people give poetry far more credit than it deserves.
And it’s not about being clever, either, of course.
I think it’s about expressing something that cannot be adequately expressed in any other way. And I’ve certainly never achieved that.
I don’t know what it is really. But I have a fair idea of what it isn’t.
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Just delete. And never tell me you write a bad poem. An example of tired horrid form is above.
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I am so embarrassed and can’t find the way to delete the above garbage I wrote. I should have just kept the first two lines.
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I’ll stop now🤐
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And now I’m digging a hole for myself.
It’s just the ‘Oh, wow! Far out man! That is so deep, man. Like it’s got like three different meanings!’ When the reality is that it doesn’t have any meaning and it’s not even pretty.
And who is this Rumi dude? Oh, please, give me a break ….
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Im the one that dug the hole. But thanks for that….I still use man, neato, cool, amazing, and I use great way too much, when I want to say something is very good.🤓
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Neato!
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😊
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Who really cares what form it takes anyway? It’s our words to use how we want.
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I’m sure we’ve all written bad poems. It’s going to happen, right? I’m trying to remember my worst poem… well, there was a haiku I wrote:
Frosty lit a match.
It’s called snowman suicide.
Drip, drip-drip… drip-drip.
HA HA H AH AHA! Ohhhh nooooo!!!!!!!!!
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Love it!
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