My sister is a prize-winning poet.
She has won more awards for her poetry
than I could win in the rest of my life
if I lived to be a hundred years old,
and I don't WANT to live to be
a hundred years old.
If I make it to ninety,
I want to be shot
by a jealous husband.
I will be totally innocent,
of course, but just let him
shoot me anyway.
Anyway, my sister once
had a critic say this about
one of her poems:
"This is not poetry;
it's just pretty prose."
That brings up a huge question
in my mind. Who is to say
what is poetry and what is not?
There are people who have posted
thousands of "poems" on Poem Hunter,
but many of them, to me, are not poems
at all. (They are not "pretty prose" either) .
Anyone can write anything
and say it is poetry. They just say
that it is "free verse".
I like Wes Vogler's definition of
free verse. He says that free verse is
"prose on a poetry site".
Wes says that he is of the old school,
and that if it doesn't rhyme,
it isn't poetry.
Yet Billy Collins has been Poet Laureate
of the United States twice, and he hardly
ever uses anything except free verse.
Back to my sister and her critic. I can't see
how "pretty prose" could NOT be poetry!
You are absolutely correct, and I almost fell off my chair laughing at your jealous husband remark!
That brings up a huge question in my mind. Who is to say what is poetry and what is not? Yet Billy Collins has been Poet Laureate of the United States twice, and he hardly ever uses anything except free verse. I have composed FREE VERSE since I was born all read it 1100 +- each day check the internet IT IS POETRY FRIEND
read this with interest and commend you for the remarks.. Too many6 ranters calling themselves poets. Consequently the term 'poet' becomes meaningless and valueless
Wes, old buddy, old pal! Thank you so much for reading and commenting on this prose on a poetry site!
Why did Poem Hunter censor my reply to Hank by deleting the word P.A.W.N.? What in the world is wrong with that word?
It's hard to say. Some words are profanity in another language. When the company I worked far spun off a new company they had people all over the world checking to see if the name offended anybody. But that's interesting since they post profane poems as poem of the day periodically as if the site is run by a robot. Or maybe the word was just too English.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Kim, An interesting point of view! ! I completely agree. Enjoyed seeing you yesterday at the Thai Food Fair! !
Thanks, Hank! You clobbered me in that game of chess when I tried that weird opening! My favorite game was when I forced a draw against Lee by harassing his queen with my rook. There was nowhere he could move that I couldn't threaten his queen again. Although he was a ahead, he had to agree to a draw!