What is this thread?
Just a place to dump your poems. We used to do a Poetry Nook but due to a lack of participants both here and on the old site, they died off. So we decided to just make an OT where people can post their work, look for feedback, and share reading recommendations whether they be books, songs, or.... well anything really. Just talk about poems, whether your own or others.
But what IS poetry?
"I really don't know
Rhymes? Meter? Half-rhymes?
Just do whatever."
In all seriousness, poetry is about self-expression. There's a huge range of types from sonnets with a very strict format and subject matter to non-traditional poems that read more as insane ramblings. Poetry tends to either be very strict about its rules or so broad that you would think there are no rules. Really as long as there are lines and then breaks and it sounds kinda pretty to someone, it probably counts as a poem.
But I'm not good at poetry…
Don't worry! No one is! Poetry is still fun though. It's an excellent form of self-expression and even if you don't end up posting in this thread, I always recommend writing a few poems down when you feel like it in your own time. There's something cathartic/therapeutic about writing something really angsty in a journal and then burning the pages. But if you're feeling a bit brave, we'd love for you to drop a poem or a stanza or even a line in here just to share.
How do I get better at Poetry?
As with most things, the more you write, the better you tend to get. Similarly, the more poetry you read the better you get. I know both of those seem like pretty basic answers, so let's get difficult!
If you're looking for some more constructive ideas to work with, below is a list of old poetry challenge themes and secondary objectives. Thanks to all the old participants over the years who clearly wanted to flex their knowledge of poetry with some of these. Think of this as a list is a pseudo glossary of different types of poems. Doubly, clicking on one of the many secondary's will bring you to poetry resource site that you can explore on your own. Don't recognize a term? Give it a click and see if any inspiration hits you.
Past Themes and Secondarys
A View from Afar or from Within – Write a Clerihew poem
Society – Ballads
The Great Winter – Elegy
What Nature Reclaims – A Lay Poem
Resist! – Blues Poem
Pheonix – Enjambment (whereby a sentence is split across multiple lines)
Psychopomps – Assonance
All that is Good or Makes You Smile! – Couplets
Dying Earth – Blank Verse
Chained – Cinquain Poem
Something Lost, Something Found – Futurist Poetry
Sailing Against a Storm – Trimeric
Mosaic – Acrostic
Return – Septolet
The Ocean – Villanelle
Forgiveness – Pantoum
Non-Epiphany – Confessional
But what if I just want to read some poetry?
Well feel free to lurk and enjoy this thread. I'm sure there will be good stuff posted. But if you're impatient, below is a loose scattering of poetry books/longer poems I and others enjoy. These are a good starting off point if you're looking to jump into reading quality poems.
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Crush by Richard Siken
The Wasteland by T. S. Elliot
Vice by AI
In Memorium by Alfred Tennyson
Poems by Louise Gluck
If you've got something you think should be added to the OP, whether it be a book recommendation or an obscure poetry term, let me know!
Just a place to dump your poems. We used to do a Poetry Nook but due to a lack of participants both here and on the old site, they died off. So we decided to just make an OT where people can post their work, look for feedback, and share reading recommendations whether they be books, songs, or.... well anything really. Just talk about poems, whether your own or others.
But what IS poetry?
"I really don't know
Rhymes? Meter? Half-rhymes?
Just do whatever."
In all seriousness, poetry is about self-expression. There's a huge range of types from sonnets with a very strict format and subject matter to non-traditional poems that read more as insane ramblings. Poetry tends to either be very strict about its rules or so broad that you would think there are no rules. Really as long as there are lines and then breaks and it sounds kinda pretty to someone, it probably counts as a poem.
But I'm not good at poetry…
Don't worry! No one is! Poetry is still fun though. It's an excellent form of self-expression and even if you don't end up posting in this thread, I always recommend writing a few poems down when you feel like it in your own time. There's something cathartic/therapeutic about writing something really angsty in a journal and then burning the pages. But if you're feeling a bit brave, we'd love for you to drop a poem or a stanza or even a line in here just to share.
How do I get better at Poetry?
As with most things, the more you write, the better you tend to get. Similarly, the more poetry you read the better you get. I know both of those seem like pretty basic answers, so let's get difficult!
If you're looking for some more constructive ideas to work with, below is a list of old poetry challenge themes and secondary objectives. Thanks to all the old participants over the years who clearly wanted to flex their knowledge of poetry with some of these. Think of this as a list is a pseudo glossary of different types of poems. Doubly, clicking on one of the many secondary's will bring you to poetry resource site that you can explore on your own. Don't recognize a term? Give it a click and see if any inspiration hits you.
Past Themes and Secondarys
A View from Afar or from Within – Write a Clerihew poem
Society – Ballads
The Great Winter – Elegy
What Nature Reclaims – A Lay Poem
Resist! – Blues Poem
Pheonix – Enjambment (whereby a sentence is split across multiple lines)
Psychopomps – Assonance
All that is Good or Makes You Smile! – Couplets
Dying Earth – Blank Verse
Chained – Cinquain Poem
Something Lost, Something Found – Futurist Poetry
Sailing Against a Storm – Trimeric
Mosaic – Acrostic
Return – Septolet
The Ocean – Villanelle
Forgiveness – Pantoum
Non-Epiphany – Confessional
But what if I just want to read some poetry?
Well feel free to lurk and enjoy this thread. I'm sure there will be good stuff posted. But if you're impatient, below is a loose scattering of poetry books/longer poems I and others enjoy. These are a good starting off point if you're looking to jump into reading quality poems.
The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Crush by Richard Siken
The Wasteland by T. S. Elliot
Vice by AI
In Memorium by Alfred Tennyson
Poems by Louise Gluck
If you've got something you think should be added to the OP, whether it be a book recommendation or an obscure poetry term, let me know!
