Hi guys,
First, I'd like to acknowledge that we are all drawn to different styles of poetry in much the same way we are all drawn to different styles of music -- as was recently pointed out on the poetry board.
Still, regardless of style, subject matter, what have you, there needs to be the basic employment of craft. The use of poetic devices, meter, musicality, originality, etc.
For me, I am basically open to any subject matter, from toilet seat covers to mom's apple pie, so long as the writing makes me look at these things in a new/different light. I largely feel that, with a familiarity and control of language precipitated upon us from our rich literary canon, there is an infinite jigsaw of possibilities. We, as poets and writers, in general, are obligated to create that which has yet to be created.
Now, I've been here since the birth of YWS, and I have seen poets come and go from our forums with an unsettling ease and disregard/disinterest in making themselves better writers. I think there are only two things that annoy me:
a) Folks who write very emotional poetry but have few technical skills and become deeply, flamingly offended when YWS members suggest that form (which exists even in free verse, I do believe) is as important as content.
and
b) Folks who really believe that there's some kind of in-crowd here, and that you can garner heaps of praise and write whatever you want as long as you're popular with it: The YWS as Junior High theory.
But I'm just a cranky old thing, so I'll stop here and invite responses. I want to know: where is the place of the subject in the poem? What of subjectivity? There are clearly some direct links--that is, without a voice, a subject, there is nothing. But does this subjectivity ultimately blindside any objective features of a poem, which would render critiques and comments alike ultimately useless?
I believe it was Leonard Cohen who said: ""Art is not a declaration; it's a verdict."
Take care,
Brad
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