by Scott Scherr

Created on: April 10, 2008

What is 'bad' poetry?

Is it poetry that doesn't meet traditional requirements of rhyme and meter, verse and style? Is it a poem that lacks in emotion? Is 'bad' poetry interpretational depending on who reads it? I wrestled with questions like these to first determine what 'bad' poetry was. The only conclusion that works for me is this: 'Bad' poetry is the words that fail in reaching out to another. They come back to us null and void, return to sender. No one gets it and our poem reaches no one on any level. That to me, is a 'bad' poem. I could be wrong, this is just my thoughts.

Now, from that perspective, does 'bad' poetry have value? Absolutely.

Take a whirlwind of emotional turmoil running wild within the heart and soul, then let it all pour out in floods on paper. It may be nothing but incoherent ramblings ranging from every emotion on the spectrum, but I guarantee you, to the one writing such ramblings, there is release. Sometimes our 'bad' poetry, though only making sense to self, has extreme value in adding to the healing process. We get all that junk inside, to the outside, and explore our emotionally possessed words in the aftermath. Sometimes those words won't even make sense to ourselves. But anyone who knows what I'm talking about, knows how it feels after such a poem is conceived. It feels good! What we keep bottled up inside, unable to tell another soul about, is put to the paper where the written word comes easier then spoken at times.

Have you ever not known what to say when someone asks you, "What's wrong?" Sometimes it's hard to describe to another those conflicting feelings that burn inside. That is why we, the poets, write them down. Call it an 'ode to mess' if need be, but when you're finished, you do feel better. It's like answering the question of what's wrong for yourself, and sometimes that answer is for you alone to explore.

So yes, 'bad' poetry has value, if only to the poets themselves.

Thank you for listening.

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