Serious question.

[amaril]

Cheese is a powerful tool. Ideally a poem should be singular and imaginative. If you always wrap a poem up in a cliche way or if you lean too heavy on a few reliable images, your poem will feel constrained and will not be memorable as a singular work. But if you refuse to use the obvious powerful images that come quickest to mind, your poem will also feel constrained. Mix things up. Include a rose in a love poem and subvert the symbol's meaning. Better yet, write a love poem that delves into a deeper, more pressing topic. The mundane is stronger than the absurd, but there must be room for imagination even in the most commonplace scene. If you tend to subvert expectations, playing a cliche straight is the next level of subversion. 

Every poem you write is an argument. What do you believe a poem should be? What is poetry?

[Leanne]

But if you refuse to use the obvious powerful images that come quickest to mind, your poem will also feel constrained.

Sorry, going to have to call bullshit on this one.

[amaril]

Out of a whole paragraph of bs you take issue w/ the single grain of truth?!?

[QDeathstar]

It's ok to write cheese. Just be the best cheese writer their is. I'm the queen of mozzarella.

---

Out of a whole paragraph of bs you take issue w/ the single grain of truth?!?

dunno bro, any time someone goes waxing on like you did the bullshit metre goes way up.

[Leanne]

Since when did poets have any relationship with truth, granular or otherwise? But we sure do have a knack for knowing when someone's talking out of their arse.

[ellajam]

Aw, I'm a sucker for a ramble about what might make a poem work, much enjoyed Ameril's.

[rayheinrich]

amaril makes some cool points.  (I like cheese.)

               

                                    < clichéd love poem >
                                                 
                                  i was as happy as a pig in shit  
                                  when i yelled at you
                                  to get your shit together
                                  when i said
                                  that you had shit for brains
                                  when i could tell you
                                  to eat shit and die
                                  when i
                                  could go
                                  ape shit
                                  over your
                                  holy shit
                                  like a pig in shit
                                  but
                                  as they say
                                  shit happened
                                  shit hit the fan
                                  and you
                                  got off the pot
                                  and left me
                                  up this creek
                                  without a paddle
                               
                                         - - -

[tectak]

To avoid writing cheese read/crit my stuff. There's Livarot and Dairylea....
Best,
tectak

I love that you're not above begging for feedback Tom, you bloody cheese whore.

I'm not begging for crit...I'm begging for cheese....I am a chalk-whore, though....

[burrealist]

I think Amaril makes a few interesting points.

Cheese is a powerful tool. I agree. If used correctly. 

But if you refuse to use the obvious powerful images that come quickest to mind, your poem will also feel constrained. I disagree, but see what you might mean. Restrictions are restrictive. Truism.

 Mix things up. Good advice. Include a rose in a love poem and subvert the symbol's meaning. In an original way, can be interesting, but may have been overdone by now. 

The mundane is stronger than the absurd, but there must be room for imagination even in the most commonplace scene. This is only half-true. I write about mundane topics and they're only interesting to me. Mundane topics become less mundane when you twist the fabric of their mundanities.

Every poem you write is an argument. This holds a lot of truth.

So, ever-skillful and ever-pretentious mods, Amaril is not the shit, but is in fact, cheese like us.

[CRNDLSM]

Every poem you write is an argument. This holds a lot of truth.

You can even argue surrealism, can a poem be just a poem?

[ellajam]

So, ever-skillful and ever-pretentious mods, Amaril is not the shit, but is in fact, cheese like us.

Our ever-lovely and ever-devoted mods have not commented so leave them out of it, one admin takes a nibble and before you know it the whole site is lactose intolerant.

[burrealist]

So, ever-skillful and ever-pretentious mods, Amaril is not the shit, but is in fact, cheese like us.

Our ever-lovely and ever-devoted mods have not commented so leave them out of it, one admin takes a nibble and before you know it the whole site is lactose intolerant.  

I think the little cheese-stars can be misleading.

[Leanne]

So, ever-skillful and ever-pretentious mods, Amaril is not the shit, but is in fact, cheese like us.

All cheese becomes shit at some point.

[burrealist]

Every poem you write is an argument. This holds a lot of truth.

You can even argue surrealism, can a poem be just a poem?

can you write a poem about an argument that is just a poem? I don't know! I feel like if you write something, it's saying something, even the smallest thing.

---

So, ever-skillful and ever-pretentious mods, Amaril is not the shit, but is in fact, cheese like us.

All cheese becomes shit at some point.

Yes, it does...