I was adding a new poem onto PPB just now ("Nocturnal Reveries" by Anne Finch), so I went to the policy page on adding poems to secure the template. In the process, I discovered this poem I wrote just to use as an example.

But now I'm thinking that I might put it into my next print book, and I'm interested in feedback on it.

A Poem

This is a poem.
It is not a great poem
Or even a good poem.
All that it is
Is just a poem.

- George J. Dance, 2012

On Friday, May 21, 2021 at 1:52:33 PM UTC-3, George J. Dance wrote:
> I was adding a new poem onto PPB just now ("Nocturnal Reveries" by Anne Finch), so I went to the policy page on adding poems to secure the template. In the process, I discovered this poem I wrote just to use as an example.
>
> But now I'm thinking that I might put it into my next print book, and I'm interested in feedback on it.
>
> A Poem
>
> This is a poem.
> It is not a great poem
> Or even a good poem.
> All that it is
> Is just a poem.
>
> - George J. Dance, 2012

good and funny G.D.

On Friday, May 28, 2021 at 5:48:31 PM UTC-4, Terry Stomp wrote:
> On Friday, May 21, 2021 at 1:52:33 PM UTC-3, George J. Dance wrote:
> > I was adding a new poem onto PPB just now ("Nocturnal Reveries" by Anne Finch), so I went to the policy page on adding poems to secure the template. In the process, I discovered this poem I wrote just to use as an example..
> >
> > But now I'm thinking that I might put it into my next print book, and I'm interested in feedback on it.
> >
> > A Poem
> >
> > This is a poem.
> > It is not a great poem
> > Or even a good poem.
> > All that it is
> > Is just a poem.
> >
> > - George J. Dance, 2012
> good and funny G.D.

Thanks. That's the main intent.

There's a serious undertone, though. There's been an ongoing debate on Usenet over the definition of a poem. One place area of disagreement is between those who advocate a purely descriptive definition- a poem something written in a certain form - and those who want a somewhat normative definition: a poem has to do something, and it has to be good enough to do that, or it isn't a poem at all.

I do agree that a poem should do something, and it should be good enough, but that's not a matter of definition. On that, I'm all for the descriptive definition. There are good poems, and bad poems; they're all poems, and the people writing them are all to that degree poets.

I could have written that all as a prose manifesto; some would have read it, and of them, those who already agreed would have agreed, and those who didn't wouldn't. I don't often get my mind changed from prose manifestos. So I wrote it as a poem, the way I think that a poem would work: rather than tell the reader any of that, I wanted to communicate the epiphany; give him the situation, and let him think those thoughts for himself.

On Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 12:55:06 PM UTC-4, George J. Dance wrote:
> On Friday, May 28, 2021 at 5:48:31 PM UTC-4, Terry Stomp wrote:
> > On Friday, May 21, 2021 at 1:52:33 PM UTC-3, George J. Dance wrote:
> > > I was adding a new poem onto PPB just now ("Nocturnal Reveries" by Anne Finch), so I went to the policy page on adding poems to secure the template. In the process, I discovered this poem I wrote just to use as an example.
> > >
> > > But now I'm thinking that I might put it into my next print book, and I'm interested in feedback on it.
> > >
> > > A Poem
> > >
> > > This is a poem.
> > > It is not a great poem
> > > Or even a good poem.
> > > All that it is
> > > Is just a poem.
> > >
> > > - George J. Dance, 2012
> > good and funny G.D.
> Thanks. That's the main intent.
>
> There's a serious undertone, though. There's been an ongoing debate on Usenet over the definition of a poem. One place area of disagreement is between those who advocate a purely descriptive definition- a poem something written in a certain form - and those who want a somewhat normative definition: a poem has to do something, and it has to be good enough to do that, or it isn't a poem at all.
>
> I do agree that a poem should do something, and it should be good enough, but that's not a matter of definition. On that, I'm all for the descriptive definition. There are good poems, and bad poems; they're all poems, and the people writing them are all to that degree poets.
>
> I could have written that all as a prose manifesto; some would have read it, and of them, those who already agreed would have agreed, and those who didn't wouldn't. I don't often get my mind changed from prose manifestos. So I wrote it as a poem, the way I think that a poem would work: rather than tell the reader any of that, I wanted to communicate the epiphany; give him the situation, and let him think those thoughts for himself.

Cool...