After all, it’s an argument, not a poem.
It has no particular form, cadence, or meter.
It does not utilize imagery or rhyme,
Nor does it use much figurative language.
It is thoughtful and organized,
But it can’t be a poem just because of that
Or too many things would be poetry.
What is poetry?
Does a poem need to be beautiful?
To evoke emotion? Thought?
Does it need to have meaning?
If I write “beep” in a very precise pattern on the page
To represent the bustle of city traffic,
Have I written a poem?
Have I written anything?
Is one word enough to make a poem?
Maybe I have created art.
Oof! This is hard.
Can anything be poetry?
If anything is poetry, maybe nothing is.
Maybe anything could be but not everything is.
That’s still not a definition.
Maybe we can’t define it;
We should just enjoy it.
There, that’s it.
We’ll just enjoy it because it’s good.
But not all poems are good.
So how do we know when one is?
If we like it? That’s insufficient.
And what if we disagree?
If we can’t define what a poem is or should be,
Then there can be no standards
And no criteria by which to measure quality.
If there is no way to judge,
How can we have comparison or competition?
Who gets published?
Are editors magically granted perfect discernment?
Perhaps the judgments are merely opinions
That reflect the values of the judges.
I wonder if Shakespeare, Frost, or Poe
Would win a poetry contest today.
Why write anything?
Presumably so that it can be read,
Which requires that it be published,
Which requires that it be judged.
But if the judging is subject to preference,
And preference is subject to values,
Then submitting to judgment Is like playing the lottery.
But a lot of people play the lottery
Because we like winning,
Or hoping to win,
Which is tough in a game with no rules.
Many will write.
How do we find the great ones?
And how will we know when we’ve found them?
If posthumous publication is any indication,
Then we don’t always get it right
When it matters most to the writer.
So how do we find the great ones?
And how will we know when we’ve found them?
Copyright © 2022 by Karen Kappen. All rights reserved. No portion of this poem may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.
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