Killing Poetry? ...{ An Opinion, Is All In Prosaic Verse } Poem by Frank James Ryan Jr...fjr

Poetry is like space...There are no Limits, no Ends,
no one perfect piece, yet it provides queries, quest
and opine that fosters mediocrity to raise the bar
and commit to maximizing ones sleeping potentials
that when tapped, is a keystone to empowering ones
best efforts in replacing mediocrity with meritable
craftsmanship. Almost anyone can write a poem. Only
a fistful, at best can be regarded as established
Poets. Even fewer, Poets of Merit. To make matters
worse, unfortunately, the consumer demand for
the Literary Arts has been plummeting since the early
1970's, and with lack of interest so goes lack of profit.
Personally, I place the majority of the blame for this
on our Education Systems, as our children are studying
the very same literary styles that I did and my Father
did, and more than likely my great-great grandfather
did! Shakespeare...Longfellow, Millay, Etc. Yes, of
course these individuals were superior bards of their
time and then some...but none of them, or any of our
Classic Poet's serve any longer as textbook paradigms
for todays Contemporary poetic requirements, which
in my opinion represents Poetry's last chance to make a
marketable comeback, and perhaps even thrive as it
did in the 1950's, the 60's & early 70's. The great Poet's
and prosemasters of centuries past were the pioneers
of an ornate, yet polished style. But that style was
then, and theirs. To be influenced by certain aspects
of these old time wordsmiths is fine, fun and can be
beneficial. However to employ them as your literary
foundation by attempting to clone their far out-dated
style in todays demand for the unique and abstract
would be poetic suicide. Poetry is not dead...not yet,
however its condition is critical and rapidly approach-
ing Life Support status. There are many naysayers who
would love to be Poetry's proxy and pull the poetic plug.
Me? I'm a Pro-Lifer, be it for person or poem. My only
suggestion in closing is that any writer or poet on this
site who is absolutely genuine in their desire to compose
and post only their best quality work...do so, and look into
the opportunities of vanity publication where many of our
successful Contempo Poets began their quest to literary
notoriety. Be cautious in your choices as there are many
scam Vanity Presses out there who will charge an, arm, leg
and torso for publishing your work, and without quality
appearance. Recommendations from those you may know
who have done this, is the best way to make your decision.
One last note...If you are someone who is into seeing how
many new poems they can post out in any 24 hr. time frame,
than this is NOT a suggested endeavor for you. Quality lit
that is worthy of either Vanity or Professional publication
requires time...drafting...re-drafting and virtually flawless
structural movement. As an example, the famous Poet,
John Donne wrote 99 drafts before being satisfied on his 100th
draft, and releasing for comment and criticism his poem,
''Death Be Not Proud''. I rest my case, for if John Donne took
100 drafts to compose this well known masterpiece, who am I,
and who are any of us here to at least question the importance
of patience, dedication via drafting until you know you have
tapped and maximized all that you have onto paper for public
display and critique.


FjR-MMXVI