AllPoetry
by cricketjeff on December 26, 2009. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
Some people don’t care to improve how they write,
That isn’t the reason they’re here.
You tell them “I liked it”, they swoon with delight
That’s all that they’re wanting I fear;
But there are a few who’d move Heaven and Earth
To write down a poem of genuine worth.
I didn’t believe when I came on this site
That writing could matter to me,
I’d penned a few verses and thought them “all right”
More doggerel than true poetry.
But then I encountered some talented folk
And something long hidden inside me awoke.
I read all their writing I strove to find more,
So much I did not understand.
The best of the bunch knocked me down on the floor,
Till one or two took me in hand.
I thought what I loved in the poems I read
And listened to voices I heard in my head.
Remembered the rules they had taught me in school
And dug out some books from my loft.
Some poets who read me said “you’re not a fool”,
Though maybe their brains had gone soft.
I badgered a few of you day after day
And some didn’t tell me to “just go away”.
I analysed meter and listened to rhyme,
I mimicked the styles of the great,
I begged them to criticise time after time,
I worked myself into a state.
Now maybe I’ve written a verse worth a read
And hope that in time I shall get up to speed.
I’ve even tried teaching (I think I’ve a cheek!),
I hope that my help’s not a curse.
A few say my words have improved their technique
And no-one says I’ve made them worse.
Now since this is written on AllPoetry
Please read it and comment with blunt honesty!
English