Poetry has to say something. I’ll take a well-placed "fuck" that hits the mark over a clumsy metaphor any day. Sounding like poetry isn’t the goal, communicating is. If your reader can’t get from A to B, what’s the point?
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Indeed. There is a lot of poetry that I just don't get at all; the clunky curve ball stuff that I think you are referring to. And other winning work that really does look no different from the stuff I read here. 🤔
I once had like 7-8 fucks in a stanza. In my defense every one of them earned its place though. Lent itself better to being a spoken piece than written but yeah. If I ever post it I'll let ya know, I think it's raw for the right reasons. That or I'm demented 😅😝
I absolutely agree.
Metaphors are slippery, they can have different meanings for people and that means that just sequencing them is the way to get lost at the edge of the wood
By cozying up, & playing the game? By getting lucky? For the most part prizes mean nothing. Nominations are a brag - but if that drives you - it's laughable.
I'm running my own next year, I'll pick three poems and pay a top dollar award. But it won't mean the poems are amazing - it'll mean I liked them. It won't mean this person should get a book deal.
If that's important to you - fine 😊 But it really isn't to me. When we #SouthportPoets won the Dreich alliance comp - we got work published. That was the only driving factor. We produced work we were proud of, and it found a home.
That seems the same to me. I don’t mean that only a prize is that validation but the publishing, having 200 people listen to me read, that all said well done, we hear you, we were koved, thank you. And so it Wasn’t Wasted (as my ex always told me it was).
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Metaphors are slippery, they can have different meanings for people and that means that just sequencing them is the way to get lost at the edge of the wood