yes, but practice with the forms is not the same as writing poetry. even a
prose statement can reach to the highest levels of poetry, because it
encapsulates the profoundest poetic thoughts. whereas a rhyming, scanning
quilted piece can leave one feeling as if one had been slapped in the face
with a raw salmon. I think we could begin to ask ourselves the question
'what is poetry' in order to narrow down the kinds of things we are looking
for when we read each others work. For me, there are no limits to this
answer, but I do know that the inclusion of poetic form does not necessarily
result in poetry nor vice versa. --Paul
*
Again, I must disagree. You have not said so, but I read into your words
that an element of "quality" must be present for their to be poetry. For
example, that a bad sonnet can not be poetry. I do agree that there are no
limits to the definition of poetry, only to what each of us likes or
dislikes. I know a great many who intensely dislike haiku, not a few who
retch at William's wheelbarrow or cummings' mouse. And in both cases, state
that these are not poetry. Quality should not enter the definition, so that
even the most angst-ridden verse from a high-school freshman is poetry,
albeit the worse of the worse.
David, I have to disagree with you too, but only to a point. I do not think
you can become a passable poet, until you have explores rhyme and rhythm,
even if most of your work does not contain pure rhyme and meter.
Grass, Sally was probably telling herself to shut, not you.
Smiles.
Gary
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