August 18 is Bad Poetry Day, a day to celebrate verse or prose that someone, somewhere, considers inferior, unwarranted, or nasty.
I don’t believe there are such things as ‘bad’ poems.
Yes, there poems that are naïve or juvenile, certainly immature, or undeveloped, just as there are misguided, pompous, or overly-technical poems. There is a lot of shitty poetry where the writer obviously stopped trying, or tried too hard.
Of course there are poems that are unengaging, nonsensical, lifeless, flat, or underwhelming, but even those poems are not “bad”. Not really.
The art, craft, or pursuit of poetry involves an uncanny strength of self. Hell, I’d even call it bravery. If someone undertakes to make a mark on a page, to use common language to express emotions or events, they are to be lauded for the attempt, courage, and execution.
Even a bad poem takes initiative.
Even bad poetry says something. The only poems that say nothing are those that remain unwritten, and even they are not ‘bad’; they have simply not been given a chance.
Take the chance to write, even read, a poem today. Appreciate all that poetry is. You have nothing to lose, and everything to gain.
08/18/2018 j.g.l.
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