To The Technocrats, By Brian37 (AKA Brian James Rational Poet on FB/META and @Brianrrs37 on Twitter/X)

You talk of tercets
You talk of sonnets
You may sing of bonnets
But you can lose the message
Of the sunsets if it is too coded

You talk of iambic pentameter
To build a parameter
To create a diameter
But you can lose the corona
If it is too coded

The filet mignon
Can be overdone
The simple cheeseburger
May be more fun for some

Simplicity even when odd
When there is no rhyme
Can be the rise in the morning
The cup of coffee
In the sunshine.
(end)

I have no problem with people who pursue any style of poetry. I only get down on others who get snobbish and think poetry should be one style always has to be set to a meter. It does not. It is not music, it is poetry. It can be set to music sure. But it also can be simply read.

I have been reading and writing for over 30 years. I have seen poetry from people like Anne Sexton’s “Wanting To Die” and Sylvia Plath’s “Mirror” that don’t rhyme and yet are very powerful.

If you want to be a great poet, the most important thing is to BE YOURSELF. If you want to follow a pattern, go for it. But that pattern won’t mean anything to others if it is so coded it lost on them. Some of the best poetry I have read can also be simplistic Ig “I Am Nobody, Who Are You”, by Emely Dickinson.

Be encouraging to other poets. But never be an involuntary critic. If someone wants your advice they will ask for it. If they ask for it, then it is ok to give it.