Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and this goes for everything. With meaning created by the individual, what may mean the world to one person, may mean nothing to another. As an artist, I try to see the beauty and art in everything around me. As a poet, while I’m drawn to a certain style of poetry, I look at all different artforms of expression with a loving and accepting mindset.
Aug. 18 marks Bad Poetry Day, but is there really such a thing as bad poetry? The holiday is meant to encourage individuals to write a poem, regardless of it being good or bad. It is meant to be a day to encourage poetry writing, but what really makes “bad poetry” if it’s written with meaning and comes from the heart? I enjoy writing poems that have a rhyme to them — perhaps it comes from my love of Dr. Seuss. However, while I have a preference for this style of poetry, if I stumble upon a poem without rhyme and I can connect with it, then it’s just as good as a poem with rhyme.
Writing, whether poetry or a story or anything else, is a lot like painting, drawing or even creating music. They are all forms of art and all art is valid. No matter how “bad” or “awful” the art piece may appear to one person, it can appear beautiful and meaningful to dozens of others. As long as what you do has meaning to you, that’s all that really matters.
When you look up “bad” poetry, you’re presented with a plethora of “bad” poems. However, upon reading some, I found them not to be bad at all. Perhaps they were about things that did not really interest me or give me meaning, but I’m sure they meant something to the writer and poet who had the courage to post it online, even if they were then labeled by a critic as “bad.”
One can argue that what makes bad poetry is awkward language, lack of thematic unity or inappropriate language, but isn’t this all in the eyes of the reader? Some critics have said that William Shakespeare’s “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” is an example of bad poetry. However, this poem is known globally and is one of Shakespeare’s most recognized pieces, regardless of what some have to criticize about it.
You don’t need anyone to validate your poem in order to feel like it is good — as long as you connect and feel good about it, then it is good, and this goes for everything else. With that said, I encourage you to write a poem today. The topic is entirely up to you. Just know that, regardless of what you write, if it speaks to you and you can find meaning in it, then it is a good poem, even if it may be “bad.”
