the poet.

Posted on 1 June 2016 by what sandra thinks

the poet.

This post is an adaptation of a comment I originally posted over on Fabulous Lennon’s blog. But I felt it was somewhere between funny and true and deserved its own post.

This is all in fun! Huge generalizations and exaggerations. I’m sure they apply to my own poetry at times. Please please please do not be offended! That is so far from my intention it’s not even on the same planet.

divider dots. red.
I began writing poetry about seven months ago. (I know – who writes such brilliant poetry when she’s only been doing it for seven months? Ha! I am full of it…) I have since encountered many poetry-posting bloggers and I’ve read many many poems.

I have concluded that there are three major categories of poets. (And of course, this is just me… my crazy thoughts… my brain… completely subjective…)

-1- Cool—interesting—fun—beautiful.
I relate to the work of these poets. I get their message, I like their stories and I appreciate their humor. They paint beautiful pictures with words. This is the ‘stuff I like.’ (As I said, totally subjective.)

-2- One Trick Pony.
The poetry may be good. It may be amazing. I may enjoy it. But the next one sounds the same. And the one after that is pretty much the same. And so on. Oh, no, not literally the same words… just so similar that when I read, I feel like I’ve already read this one.

-3- Rambler.
There are lots of words. They need not all be used in every poem. There may be twenty ways to say the same thing. They might all be in the draft. But they shouldn’t all make it to the final piece. The Rambler drones on and on and on. I probably lost interest after about 20 lines but Ramblers seem to find themselves fascinating.

divider dots.
Of course, let us not forget the two other poetic phenomenons – which may coexist with any of the above three categories

 » the Downpours.
The poetry may be amazing (or it may not). But a bazillion posts each day can cause a bit of a flood. Sometimes, as a reader, I begin to drown.

 » the Pretentious.
There’s no need to cram as many ‘big’ words as possible into every single poem whether those words truly fit or not. I get it, poet-person – you know big words. Glad to hear it… but I don’t need ‘proof’ in every single line.

dots.
Whoever you are, whatever you write, you are all brave souls sharing pieces of you and I admire anyone who can do that. I’m still surprised I can.

©2016 what sandra thinks

About what sandra thinks

Sandra is a writer, sometimes blogger, poet, artist, emotional disaster. She thinks far too much and sleeps far too little. Sandra lives in the Northeastern U.S. but dreams of an oceanfront home in Italy, but she would settle for a non-oceanfront home in Italy. She loves books, brutal honesty, coffee, and the color black. She hates insincerity, beer, whipped cream, and facebook. And she is uncomfortable talking about herself in the third person.
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64 Responses to the poet.

  1. Al Lane says:
    1 June 2016 at 7:57 am

    Sounds pretty accurate to me!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Miriam says:
    1 June 2016 at 8:08 am

    You’re definitely a poet
    with awesome words to show it 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. Tiegan says:
    1 June 2016 at 8:33 am

    There are, I admit, certain blogs I’ve stopped following because of “The Downpours”. Don’t do it, guys 😛

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  4. ladieswholunchreviews says:
    1 June 2016 at 8:40 am

    Lots of truth in there. Many times I feel like the one trick pony and have to force myself out of my comfort zone to write something different…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  5. The V Pub says:
    1 June 2016 at 9:46 am

    It’s a bit different with song writing, at least as far as rhyming is concerned, as well as tempo and length. So there.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Dr Meg Sorick says:
    1 June 2016 at 11:21 am

    This did not show up in my reader! I had to go looking! And yes, I love this and totally agree! I am not by any means an expert in poetry either, at least writing it… But I’ve been reading it for a long time (don’t ask how long) and I know what I like as well! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. Pingback: One Trick Pony… – Meg Sorick writes (better than she dresses)

  8. MindandLifeMatters says:
    1 June 2016 at 11:57 am

    Oh this is brilliant! I think I fall into the One trick pony category! 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      1 June 2016 at 12:36 pm

      Everyone keeps saying that and we kind of all are a little… everything we write is written by us… we all maybe have our particular style but I think what makes a one trick pony is always the same form of poetry AND the same theme, too. Like if I’m reading and I think I’ve already read it….!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  9. A.C. Melody says:
    1 June 2016 at 2:21 pm

    I belong to a poetry contest group on Goodreads and I’m always surprised when a “Rambler” wins the monthly poll. I’m like “But that wasn’t a poem, it was a short story! Where are the guidelines?” Maybe that’s why so many turn to Haiku? 😀 Good post!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. gigglingfattie says:
    1 June 2016 at 7:11 pm

    I remember when we started that poetry course together and you were very nervous about it -but now I think that you’ve found your niche. Your poetry is so beautiful and raw and I enjoy reading every single one! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • what sandra thinks says:
      1 June 2016 at 7:32 pm

      Aww… thank you so much! Aren’t you sweet to say that! Yeah, I was so nervous. I thought I was going to make a complete fool of myself! Sometimes, I still worry about that.

      I think it’s easier, maybe, for me to “bare my soul” so to speak with poetry than anything else… maybe because no one really knows if I’m writing truth or fiction. And often, neither do I!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • gigglingfattie says:
        1 June 2016 at 7:59 pm

        I think all of us are scared to bare our souls for the world. Especially on such an open forum as a blog. I have some posts that are private, and some that require a password, just because I’m more protective of that information. But it is easier to share to strangers I think, and much easier when they can’t tell if it’s truth or not 😉 either way, keep up the beautiful literature!

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  11. fictionalkevin says:
    2 June 2016 at 1:43 pm

    Like Meg, I can relate to the one-trick-pony. That’s one of the reasons I don’t write poems…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  12. Pingback: the poet. (revisited) | what sandra thinks

  13. Peter's pondering says:
    12 July 2017 at 6:17 pm

    I’ve stepped back in time to agree wholeheartedly with this clever 8 year old. If other readers think I’ve lost my marbles, they’re probably correct!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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  16. Captain Q says:
    19 November 2017 at 12:32 am

    I followed your link to reread this… now I’m trying to figure out which one I am… 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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