Chasing Wattpad

You're NOT a poet and you didn't even know it.

Disclaimer: I was a trained as a police detective. Not a writer, much less a poet. I will tell you here what I told every prosecutor when I handed them over a case file without any real evidence. - Everything you are about to read could be wrong.

I have a love-hate relationship with poetry. Some days I can read poetry all day long. Other days I can't stand to read a single line. Some days I am swept away in my head with grand thoughts that will not make it into a story and I think...hmmm...maybe they can be a poem. But then I wake up and realize...hmmm...seriously? Poetry is just, well, you know, kind of like... graffiti, but with words.

Don't hate me yet poets. It gets better. I started disliking poems more when I got here. I'll tell you why in a bit. My personal library has several poem collections. From the famous to the not so famous. I enjoy Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, and Dorthy Parker. I have even purchased a few books from unknown poets.

I read a poem and like it for the same reason you do. It elicits some type of emotional response from me. But a poem is more than that. Any sentence can illicit a response from me. That does not make it a poem. Many Wattpaders forget that. A poem, for it to be a poem (at least for me, and, well, anyone with a brain), has to have some sense of rhythm or sound to it. It has to flow somehow. It can't be just sentences. It can't be just writing what you feel. It has to be more to be a poem.

There are many wonderful poets here on Wattpad (in my opinion). You can tell they put great effort into their words. They choose them carefully and place them all in the place that feels right. They think about it and it shows. The words convey a story or a meaning or something tangible. Or hell, even something intangible that can elicit an emotional response.

Poetry is easy. Good poetry is not. If you are posting poetry twice a day every day it could probably better. Oh sure maybe you are some poetry prodigy or something but what are the odds? I've read books about the famous poets. They had it rough. It wasn't easy to do what they did. And in the end sometimes the best we could do is just decide to call it poetry. That was an achievement in itself. It's not as easy as you think.

I wrote a poem once (It's in my works "Questions"). At least I think it's a poem. People that have read it called it a poem. I don't know what the hell got into me to write it but I did. And I know nothing about poetry. As a matter of fact someone commented on it once and advised me to make a change in the 4th stanza. I had to Google the word "stanza". See? I am no poet. A poet would have known what a stanza was. I wrote that thing because I could not actually put what I wanted to say in real coherent sentences. So I gave in and wrote a poem. I kind of felt like I was cheating the idea by making it a poem.

But then I realized something. Some people think in poetry. They don't need full and complete sentences to understand something. And sometimes leaving out those complete sentences gives it another meaning. A meaning that is even deeper than what could be achieved with more.

Hell, what do I know? I'm just an ex-cop with nothing to do but complain. Speaking of which, you know what really bugs me on Wattpad? I love some of you poets on here. I really do. But I hate it when you send a message that there is an update to your poem book and I go look at it and what do I find? Three sentences. Yep, that's it. I made it a point to get off my phone (I hate reading on my phone) and go open up the laptop. I log on and find your account. I go to the poem book and bam! Three. freaking. sentences. Are they great sentences? No, they are not. Even if they were they are not necessarily a poem or something worth someone's time. Put some effort to it. Don't jump the gun just to keep people coming to your page so you can get reads and votes.

Three. Freaking. Sentences!

That's not a poem. It really isn't. Who ever told you it was lied to you. Yes, there have been poems that short in the world. Maybe like 2 of them. And they sucked too. Look if it was easy everyone would do it. And if everyone is doing it easily then they are probably not doing it that well.

So, having said all that, where do we go from here? Well, nowhere, actually. Some of you poets are probably going to unfollow me or block me. Don't. If I follow you it's because I like what you write. I enjoy it. I probably wasn't talking about you anyway. And if I was? Well, get over it. If you're gonna be a poet you need to develop some thick skin. Some people will think your stuff is great and others will think the same stuff is crap. That is just the way it is with poetry. The only thing that really matters is that you love it and you love doing it. It may not make you rich, but it will make you real.