Bowling Green's Underbelly

[ADUnser]

Ok, but if i want to read a news article i generally go to a news website, so your justification really doesn’t work for me. A poem needs a little color, spice, perfume.  A poem isn’t an idle collection of words. Drugs are bad, you could have just said that.

I think you're being a little too strict with your definition of poetry. A poem can be about real things, I used an actual scene to establish credibility. By your logic I guess Tupac's entire career as a rapper was pointless because he could've just said "don't be racist, drugs are bad, poverty's bad, etc..." If you haven't lived in poverty or been affected by drugs then you don't really have the right to tell me what to say about them, because I have. I wrote this because nobody pays attention to the way drugs and poverty are affecting smaller towns like Bowling Green and I want to improve my skills so I can do something to bring attention to it. Criticize the poem for its quality all you want, but don't tell me what I can or can't talk about when you haven't experienced these things. Poetry is about self expression, it isn't strictly what you want it to be.