You're going to actually discourage some talented young poet from being creative because everyone here has such relentlessly conservative aesthetics

I’d be interested to see some counter examples

Have you read what I've posted here before? Because while my grand project at the moment has most of its inspirations in the too-neglected past, I'm perfectly happy to go much wilder and more avant-garde when I feel like it. Besides, if you're a "talented young poet" who wants to be "creative", you'd probably be posting in Instagram or Reddit already, rather than in some more serious place. If you're already creative enough and you just want to get good, then some amount of discouragement and conservatism is required, otherwise you're not writing poetry, you're just wanking into some paper.

The validity of this argument entirely depends what you mean by 'stodgy' and 'conservative'.

IMO there's a basic rule. Because the written word is a vehicle for communincation, any piece of writing should make sense to the reader on some level without their having to struggle for that meaning. If not, they quite reasonably won't give it the time of day. I hope that's not stodgy or conservative.

(10-30-2026, 07:45 PM)Luckieman Wrote:  The validity of this argument entirely depends what you mean by 'stodgy' and 'conservative'.

IMO there's a basic rule. Because the written word is a vehicle for communincation, any piece of writing should make sense to the reader on some level without their having to struggle for that meaning. If not, they quite reasonably won't give it the time of day. I hope that's not stodgy or conservative.

I wonder if this qualification would include nonsense poetry, which certainly is poetry and enjoyable but meaning-compromised?

Though I guess "She's just being silly" is a level of sense...

(10-30-2026, 01:42 PM)matsunosuperfan Wrote:  You're going to actually discourage some talented young poet from being creative because everyone here has such relentlessly conservative aesthetics

All anyone can do is call it as they see it. If you find other members' critiques discouraging you can counter it by being the voice of encouragement.

For me personally, even when a critique is discouraging I can usually get over it and hack at that poem until it's at least somewhat improved.

This isn't a mandatory writing class where the occasional standout poem needs to be lauded and I don't think a talented young poet brimming with ideas that need to be expressed can be stifled by the opinions of a handful of others that read and write poetry.

As an under-educated hobbyist poet I found the critiques by members who stuck by their concepts of what works and what doesn't interesting and helpful. The poem stays my own but it's interesting to play with other techniques. Nobody forced me to take their advice.

Young poets need to say thank you (outwardly) and fuck you (inwardly) in equal measure. If they need to be a poet they will be a poet.

(10-30-2026, 10:00 PM)dukealien Wrote:  

(10-30-2026, 07:45 PM)Luckieman Wrote:  The validity of this argument entirely depends what you mean by 'stodgy' and 'conservative'.

IMO there's a basic rule. Because the written word is a vehicle for communincation, any piece of writing should make sense to the reader on some level without their having to struggle for that meaning. If not, they quite reasonably won't give it the time of day. I hope that's not stodgy or conservative.

I wonder if this qualification would include nonsense poetry, which certainly is poetry and enjoyable but meaning-compromised?

Though I guess "She's just being silly" is a level of sense...

Even nonsense poetry has to have some anchors to meaning if it's going to work at all. Even if the words don't connect with each other in a sensible way, each word has intrinsic meaning, so images arise in the mind of the reader. I don't personally approve of handing the main burden of interpretation to the reader, but it can result in at least subjective meaning. Total nonsense (strings of random letters) just passes in one eye and out the other.