Entry 383 — Another Throw-Away Entry
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The most important element in a poem is its subject matter, but the most important determinant of a poem’s value is the effectiveness of its author’s use of poetic techniques (for non-Philistines).
It’s sort of like the difference for a play between the stage or other performance area it is performed on and its words. Can’t have a play without the first, but other than making a play possible it’s near irrelevant. Granted, a poem’s subject matter is more important for a poem than a stage is for a play, but the comparison isn’t that far off
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The above has already drawn a moron-response at New-Poetry, where I posted it earlier (except for the third sentence). I replied to the author of the moron-post, then posted the following:
“An Idea for the Release of Anger at a forum not allowing candid remarks: a folder labeled ‘Morons’ to which you can move posts that make you angry–for those few here who are politically incorrect enough to experience such a base emotion, even as briefly as I sometimes do.”
Trivial and childish, yes, but people like me need trivial, childish outlets when dealing with the number of mediocrities and sub-mediocrities there are in poetry.