What Is Considered Good Poetry?
It is very much in the eye of the beholder (now there’s a cliche for ya!) I disagree that so-called “free verse” has no form. A successful poem will usually have some sort of unifying prosody; that could be accentuals, syllabics, parallels, or whatever. Also, I feel strongly that poems should utilize proper grammar and punctuation unless there is a strong motivating factor to do otherwise (to achieve ambiguity or a colloquial flair for example). I generally don’t see poems as “good” or “bad,” but rather, “successful” or “unsuccessful” and in need of further revision. Many of the poems posted here (especially by younger, beginning poets) are very, very good first drafts. The problem is that the aspiring poet thinks that he or she has expressed their “feelings” and that no more work is required. A really good book is “Poetry: an Introduction through Writing” by Lewis Turco (that is from memory, so it might not be exactly the title, but it is close). I can’t wait to see your book. Will yo
