Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site tekgds.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!tekgds!ronb
From: ronb@tekgds.UUCP (Ron Blair)
Newsgroups: net.poems
Subject: Blank Verse (Opinion)
Message-ID: <1379@tekgds.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 18-Sep-83 14:59:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekgds.1379
Posted: Sun Sep 18 14:59:29 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 19-Sep-83 15:56:13 EDT
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 21


Blank verse is OK.  It is not reasonable to expect THE great poem
to appear in this net.  Poetry here expresses a person's perception
of something.  It is not required to rhyme that perception.  Form of
any sort forced on a poet (fledgling or not) is a type of censorship
or at least intimidation.  Since most poetry is quite personal, this
intimidation only serves to keep some people off the net.  We might as
well discuss GOTO's.  The real proof is whether or not the poem *works*.
Does it communicate the perception motivating the poem?  I, for one,
am very interested in these perceptions because the people generating
them have much in common with me by virtue of the net and all that
implies.  I encourage constructive criticism of my poetry just as I
encourage the same of my computer programs - perhaps it will help me
better succeed next time or correct a flaw.  However, I doubt the
worth of someone telling me I HAVE to do something his/her way.  It seems
to close creative doors. Even if s/he is right there is sometimes a need
to make mistakes in a non-threatening environment.

My assumption is that this net is such an environment.  Wrong?

(tektronix!tekgds!ronb)  Ron Blair