I may be a reactionary revolutionary but after reading all of this discussion I want to say, just write in a form which is so convincing the reader has to go along with it. It's what painters have been doing for a century or more. Sure it's good to use the restrictions of form just like a painter is restricted by the shape of the canvas but ultimately, unless the poem is more than a demonstration of skill and actually touches the reader in some personal way, who cares? I'm talking about form, not free verse.
Form is as plastic as a poet can make it. A poem dictates its own form in most cases. Expressive form is like orchestration. It can be the soul of the poem.
Personally, I write to be read aloud in the mind and sonics are very important in my mind.
Last edited by Janet Kenny; 03-21-2009 at 08:06 PM.
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