re: Good Poetry

I would have to disagree.
whether or not True/False is a good poem is a matter of opinion, so i won’t try to defend it. but it needs to exist and does because it is unlike other poems; the poet took a chance.

Why does no one anymore write like Shakespeare or Dickinson or Poe? Because they already did. those poems have been read and their style written to death. I hope i never read another poet like Shakespeare or Ginsberg or Dean Young. how terribly boring would that be.

to wish for old trends to reemerge is like praying against progress. yes, the poems already written should be studies and learned from. but then, after a writer has salvaged what they deem worthy from those words, they should throw the rest away. forget it. sometimes, they should even forget those rules that they hold dear. cause if anything worthwhile is going to be written the poet needs to look at all those who came before them and say ‘this is what you did wrong, this is why your words are not mine.’

in closing:
any sort of ‘standards’ that require a writer to possess a degree, or statement of credibility or any previous knowledge of literature whatsoever in order to be published (i think recognition is really what is being discussed here actually) is something i hope is never seen. for someone to be a writer, they must do one thing only: write.

(on a related note:
(i heard once that Prince only listens to his own music. On one hand this is kind of commendable: If he is truly writing exactly what he wants to hear, what he thinks needs to be written, then it should follow that he wouldn’t find any more enjoyment from anyone else’s music then he would his own. However, Prince hasn’t really been topping the charts as of late.) living in a world were only work that is deemed to be ‘worthwhile’ is paid any attention leaves little room for something worthwhile to come about. )

-wes edmond