"There are no simplistic rules for poets: if there were, any duffer could write poetry. There are, however, rules of thumb, and one of the best is that getting the focus off yourself gives you the best chance of tapping your personal experience".
Clive James in Cultural Amnesia writing about Paul Celan.
I disagree - I think the whole point of poetry is that any duffer can write it, just as any duffer can have a stab at prose, at blog writing, at keeping a journal, at painting, at playing bad guitar etc. The difference is between good and bad poetry, or good and bad art, (which is in itself a whole other argument of subjectiveness I won't get in to) that is important.
Which brings me to how disappointed by the lofty reputation of inaccessibility poetry as a literary form has gained. I find it frustrating that in not one of the four airport bookshops I was in recently could I find a poetry section. I know I am saying nothing new when lamenting the fact that more people don't read poetry. Surely it is the lazy reader's prose? Snippets of whole stories or momentary vignettes so packed full that you can dip in and out and be left with as much density of emotion, and sometimes even more, than a great novel can offer, but without the time commitment?
Poetry needs a new PR manager who can sell it as the bite-sized chunks of pop culture it is - the movie trailers of life.
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