What is poetry?

Something sunny for a sunny day

 I don't know about you, but if I don't have a book on the go, I get jumpy. I finished the last book on Saturday, and knowing I am going to the library today, I decided not to start another off my pile, but wait until I can choose something from the library. But the agony of not having a book to read! So I decided to catch up with all those Poetry Society Journals and read other poetry books I have.

As I read I came to a stark conclusion. I know nothing about poetry! Of all the poetry I read, I realised that a lot of it I didn't understand, or it didn't appeal to me. The poetry I liked was something that I could identify with. Am I so out of it that I am nowhere near where I need to be to make it as a poet? 

One poem that made me laugh, after I realised that it was a spoof on a Villanelle. At first glance it was just letters related to a bee buzzing....buzzzzz etc. I thought, what the hell is this? How can this be poetry? And then I looked at it again, at the form, and then it twigged, and I laughed out loud. How clever, Silly, but clever. Experimentation gone wild!

It made me think that poetry can be fun. And we should have more fun in poetry. There's lots of serious, angsty poetry around, but amusing poetry is rather looked down on. I think I have mentioned this before. I follow a couple of fun poets. It all rhymes, but there is an art to writing funny poetry. I'm out of the habit of writing this type of poetry because I've been struggling to write the serious stuff, but people like Brian Bilston sell loads of their amusing poetry books. And the public love them. So who are we writing for? Well, I always write for myself. I don't follow trends. Some of my work is experimental enough to get published, though I call it fun poetry, as it usually is! So, out of all the poetry I read over the last few days, the poem that stayed with me was the buzzy bee spoof. Reading it out loud might be a challenge, but a lot of laughs.

Talking about reading things out loud, I will be reading at Carshalton Eco Fair on Bank Holiday Monday, around 1.50pm. If you are around come and say hello. I will be with other members of Sutton Writers and I will be reading two climate poems. I was trying to post a link, but the Fair's website is down. They do have a Facebook Page, so go take a look. Meanwhile, I'm off to the library to find a book to read.