NunYahBidness
You can stop looking, now
So why the thread? Other than to post poems I feel are emotionally beguiling, witty, and just overall good. I had hoped with a mote of a chance that it would inspire our would be poets...to better themselves when seeing other's work.
I say again, there is no one single rule to how a poem should or shouldn't be written, but and I say this without wincing at the thought, one must at least write not because you think it's good but because it is and should be good.
The words should flow without it being inundated with hard stops, broken lines of randomness, the theme overall completes the verbal painting. And, more importantly...less is sometimes better. Long poems and I really mean long poems are great for epics, (read Homer's Iliad). But to convey lost love, hopes, dreams, death, sadness, blah blah. Anything more than 16 lines, 20 is pushing it, is redundant.
Lines with 3 or 4 words does not make a thought. Unless it's the theme throughout you are conveying...e.g.
Hard as stone.
A dying tree.
A river lone.
And I with thee.
Useless babble I've writ...and an example is all. But what is the signifance of a hard stone and a dying tree to me being with you? Don't know. IT'S AN EXAMPLE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!! sheesh
Here's a passage I'm going to use to help one who I feel is on the cusp to greatness if she so desired. Sorry Cold, but the spotlight is on you.
Smoke
I breathe in the smoke,
The noxious fumes filling my nostrils,
With a rank, despicable odour,
Making my lungs burn,
And coughing, I try to expel,
The horrid smoke from my lungs,