[French_Fri]

Anybody...like poetry, write any, read any, etc... Just wondering, if you want mayhaps write something here, if you know some good stuff, tell? If you don't like poetry that is fine to, not sure why you'd post anything here though...
*Writewritewritethreadthingswrite*

[MelancholyFae]

As a teen, I wrote teen-angsty poetry, and other poetry. As an adult, I still write, but.. eh. Some I was able to still keep (and haven't lost). One I even entered in an 'amateur poet' thing, and it apparently got published in a book. (I don't quite remember which poem that was, exactly, but I have the certificate from the publisher at least, somewhere.)

I can share this one, at least. It doesn't rhyme, because at the time, I think I was mainly writing it for roleplay purposes, as if it was written originally in another language.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Beauty that is Lunari

The Beauty that is Lunari,
She glimmers like the moon
Sunkissed golden red of her hair
Gently falls like waves upon smooth pale skin.

The Beauty that is Lunari,
Eyes twinkle like a lone star
Dark velvet, blue-violet and a bright spark within
A moonless night can barely compare its depths.

The Beauty that is Lunari
Her voice carries melodies with each breath
Her laugh is the music of bells upon the wind
Like Natures' songs in Harmony, blessed sounds she makes.

The Beauty that is Lunari,
As colorful and as graceful as the faerie
Moving with pure joy and innocent abandon
Poetry in dancing form; a rainbow in motion.

The Beauty that is Lunari,
Ethereal she is in elven form
Yet more real than all that surround her
Illusions spark reality until neither is known which to be.

The Goddess that is Lunari...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Spitfire333]

I predict maximum angst in the thread.

[Michelle]

Me too, Spit, but that's fine. Poetry without emotion isn't very good poetry.
Not sure if this thread is for sharing written work, or work that belongs to others that we happen to like, or both... but... screw it, you get to read things that I like.

I like poetry, for starters... a lot that I write creatively tends to hang in the weird spot between poetry and prose. But personally, I'm not much of a fan for anything classical - anything that is floral and verbose and purple-prosed, anything that describes with strings of clichés and adjectives... and sometimes, I even dislike rhymes. It's kinda how I feel about writing overall, but when it comes in the format of poetry, I can't help but feel that it's particularly... wanky, which can also give it that unintentional "emo angst" vibe if it's about any negative feeling at all. This is probably because poetry has a very, very bad rep for being romantic in an idealised sense.
That being said, I love "Sonnet 130" by Shakespeare:

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare."

There's a buttload about Shakespeare's work I'm not a fan of, but I particularly like it because it takes the clichés (e.g. eyes like the sun, voice like music, breasts white as snow), it acknowledges them, and then it says "fuck you, I'm going to be realistic". No one really knows what Shakespeare was actually intending when he wrote this (e.g. was it satire, or was he really hating on his mistress), but it doesn't matter. It's just a poem that was pretty modern and original for its time.

I also like "Walking by the River" by Robert Adamson because it's just a really good poem:

"He walked waist-deep
through his thoughts,
emotions, a tangle of vines
and tree-creepers.

His words were finches,
flying before him
as he swung his arms--
scrambled paragraphs.

A waterfall sounded
ahead of his walk,
chipped words cracked
with each step. He came to

a calm place, opulent phrases
in bloom: purple-fruited
pigface, the blackthorn's
blue-black sloe."

It captures that feeling of frustration when you can't form what you're trying to say, when words are just in your grasp but you can't seem to get them together. And it does it in an original way that's vivid in terms of visuals, but without relying on clichés and strings of adjectives. It also restored my faith in Australian poetry. If you ever go to an Australian high school, one of the things you'll probably have to study in English is Australian poetry. The problem with this is... they don't like to teach modern Australian poets, because no one has ever heard of modern Australian poets. So the poems they teach you are things like this, which also happens to be my personal most hated poem in the entire known universe for various reasons.

There's also "Pallor" by deviantART user Saathra, which I guess I like for the same reasons I like Adamson's work. It's original, and the feeling is relatable and well-captured. It goes on for a bit, but the abrupt ending works as the pay-off because it drives in the point of the poem; grief may seem like it will go on forever, but life does not stop for grief.

I just want to make it clear that I'm not hating on anyone who writes in a romanticised style, nor am I hating on anyone who likes that style; there's many reasons for it, and I can respect those. My opinion is just my opinion and... I hope you like these poems.

[French_Fri]

You can share things you've written or things you like, whichever Michelle : P