Bad poetry finds homes in Blogland

Jungles and malaria are typically linked together.  Unfortunately, blogs also have their malaria, namely bad poetry.

If bloggers occasionally posted their bad poems they might go unnoticed, sort of like a small beer belch in a noisy bar.  But no, that’s not the way it happens.  Instead, bad poetry comes in wave upon wave, a veritable chorus of belches, farts and off-key saloon karaoke. In Blogland, the worse the poems, the more frequently they appear. 

When I began composing this criticism I considered editing (ripping to pieces) a typical bad poem.  I decided against doing that simply because I don’t want to encourage bad poets with the notion their work is salvageable.

Good poems can be spontaneously written and they can be labored over for hours and days.  But there’s one requirement for either style of writing - the writer needs talent.  In the case of blogs, and using a music metaphor, most blog poets have tin ears and are devoid of rhythm and composition.

Blog poets write labored pieces with layers of cuteness, hackneyed symbolisms, unnecessary connective words and they use too many worn-out clichés.  Blog poets don’t paint with words - they smear, hammer and shoot saccharin directly into one’s cortex.  Generally, blog poets are not tortured souls - they are the torturers, the carriers of plague, the dull knife - the standard bearers of literary ineptness and incompetence.

I’ve considered listing a few blogs as representative of bad poetry but that would be the same as singling out several ugly pebbles on a beach where the entire beach is composed of horrid, misshapen rocks. 

Blogs are often written in a diary fashion and aren’t intended for critical review or professional publication, I know that.  The problem is, too many hack poets actually believe they’re good, so good in fact they self-publish their crimes against literature and then they pat themselves on their backs and sell their blog-crap as if it came off a Gutenberg press. 

What's also pathetic are the comments regarding these terrible poems.  It seems anything on a bad poetry blog is praised.  Are these followers that ignorant of good poetry?  It seems so because they leave insipid comments, dripping with oohs and aahs, sounding like rubes at a county fair after seeing a three legged chicken.

To those with the urge to write poetry about their hot cocoa, long dead 3rd cousin, their garden and their kitchen ... please, don't do it.  But if you must write your grade school drivel, don't blog them.  Instead, keep a private notebook which has a message on the cover stating, "Warning: Gag reflex poetry".