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poet first

poetry written is for poet first
only person who must be pleased

stretching words thin
tantalizing them to mean
what they mean
beyond what they mean

word play --
not a contact sport
but for firing neurons
skipping electro-chemical light
in darkness of skulls

critics pick and pull
poet's words
stack opinion upon opinion
losing meaning
perhaps only poet knows

poet just keeps writing
for him or herself --

most ruthless of critics.

About This Poem

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Direction: [This option has been removed]

About the Author

Country/Region: USA

Favorite Poets: Wallace Stevens, D. H. Lawrence, Charles Bukowski, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Percy Bysshe Shelley, T. S. Eliot, E. E. Cummings, Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, Pablo Neruda, Joni Mitchell, William Shakespeare, Basho, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kelly Marie Hayner, Susan Wydville. D. Phillip Caron, Elizabeth Bishop.

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Comments

Frederick Kesner

Frederick Kesner

14 years 8 months ago

Victorclaude

This must be made part of the community guidelines. A very pertinent reminder to us all that create poetry. Thanks for sharing.

themoonman

themoonman

14 years 8 months ago

Victor ...

Since you've selected the "I don't want any critique" button,
I won't offer anything, perhaps that is your intent, especially
considering the content, which seems to be a statement made
against interaction of any kind other than "I love it".
If a poet is writing purely for themselves, then why would they
feel the need to share, and especially on an internet workshop?

Richard

Tonya

Tonya

14 years 8 months ago

I was not asking you to change

the meaning, Victor, merely to define it. Poems are part of the author. We pull from our
experiances in life and what we see, hear, smell, touch around us.
Even when writing for yourself, don't you want it to make sense? When thought is not
clear, how does the reader know your intent?

"critics pick and pull
poet's words
stack opinion upon opinion
losing meaning
perhaps only poet knows"

What good is it to write with the intent to share if you don't care if the message is also available to the reader?
When we, the authors write, we maybe critical of our own work. Oft times we can not see the flaws because the meaning we think we are getting down maybe clear to ourself, but may take someone else to actually see where a change might help.

Peace to you Victor. I will not critique anything else you write. I apologize for not being the kind of person that just says, "I love this, this is brilliant, I see your point....with no actual comment to support their claim." I'm fairly intelligent and pretty good at comprehending most writers. The aspect of the workshop is not what you are looking for.

With all sincerity,
Tonya

Geezer

Geezer

14 years 8 months ago

Chow!

It's all dogma - food anyways. ~ Gee

Race_9togo

Race_9togo

14 years 8 months ago

Victor

"poetry written is for poet first
only person who must be pleased"...makes for pretty lonely poets.

"Consider your audience":
First words
when adding new poems;
poetry is writing
writing is for audience,
audience must be pleased
for poet's satisfaction:
why write and publish
rhyme and rhythm
otherwise?

I do like the structure of your poem, though - it flows extremely well.

K

Kailashana2

14 years 8 months ago

Horatio, I knew him well.

Horatio, I knew him well.

Real poetry is not for intellectual deadheads. It's too full of flaws, just like real living.

~A

S

scribbler

14 years 8 months ago

poet first

As an attempted poet I've found that if I'm pleased with a work, no amount of criticism will change my opinion of it. This doesn't mean I don't appreciate ideas as I do, but that I then see all accepted changes as an improvement on an already good work. If this makes me seem conceited or aloof you're just not listening.....scribbler