Poetry

[Fishmanic]

What happens when you retire?
You really don't have to inquire -
No job and no phone
There's no place but home,
And your checkbook's about to expire!

 

[Fishmanic]

A flea and a fly in a flue
Were imprisoned, so what could they do?
Said the fly, “Let us flee!”
“Let us fly!” said the flea
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

 

[Fishmanic]

I once had a gerbil named Bobby,
Who had an unusual hobby.
He chewed on a cord,
and now - oh my lord,
now all that's left is a blobby.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I wrote a lot of poetry through my angry and depressed teenage years, but I love the classics like this one...ahem...

Ode to a Goldfish

Oh, wet pet.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

A long time ago, Mrs. Badger used to give me a limerick challenge: She'd give me a topic and I'd write a limerick about it. I think my best one was "sniffing glue." (She was teaching at a special-needs middle school at the time; it was a thing)

Sometimes I don't know what to do
and life can be stressful, it's true
Not saying I'm licked, but it looks like I picked
the wrong day to stop sniffin' glue.

 

[Colin_T]

I found the following four limericks on the net
No authors were given

There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket
His daughter, named Nan
Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

We had a much ruder version of the man from Nantucket going round back in the 70s. I can't remember it properly but the only line that would be allowed on the forum is the first one.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I posted this before in another thread. But this onbe did not exist when I did it, so

Resumé​

By Dorothy Parker

Razors pain you;
Rivers are damp;
Acids stain you;
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

 

[GaryE]

We've drifted far from the point @JuiceBox52 raised.

I used to play on a ball team where to be on the 'roster', you had to be a published poet, fiction writer or screenwriter. We would go to a restaurant/bar after the games - your basic rough place poet's hangout. There was always one, moving as the students found it and ruined it. After one game, we were in there with about thirty other people when someone loudly named a poet who was approaching the front door.
I missed her name, but was too cool to ask who it was. I knew I was supposed to recognize her face. What followed was amazing.
She stepped through the door and the entire bar stood up, silently. Not just the writer's ball team, but the junkies, the people having a bite to eat, the stalking students. She stopped dead, really not sure what to do, and everyone applauded for a moment, then sat down. In seconds, the place was noisy and normal. Everything she and her friends ordered was paid for before it got to her table.
I've met a few serious poets, and a few really good ones. Leonard Cohen used to drop by our table (he always wore a suit and was too cool to play ball). My respect for these people is high. They work very hard to try to express ideas we can respond to, just like visual artists, musicians, and other creative people with a craft that has to be learned.
We've sidetracked into showing stick figures when discussing painting.
Juice, a fish forum isn't the place to share or workshop poetry, but you go for it. It doesn't pay, but it does sometimes create beauty.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Poetry is good for the soul. Money cannot buy that.

But is is quite difficult to make a living as a poet.

When I did write poetry I did not do it for others, I did it for me. So. I say to Juice, keep on writing. What you write is a lot like how one sets up a tank, The only person whi has to like the tank is the owner and the only one who has to like a poem is the writer. If it also has an effect on those who read it, all the better.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

We've drifted far from the point @JuiceBox52 raised.

We've sidetracked into showing stick figures when discussing painting.
Juice, a fish forum isn't the place to share or workshop poetry, but you go for it. It doesn't pay, but it does sometimes create beauty.

Agreed. Discussions of poetry tend to devolve into silliness. And silly poetry, like silly songs, can be wonderful. Sometimes those silly poems are actually quite profound, as with some of Carl Sandburg's (I especially enjoy "Little Word, Little White Bird" and "Papa Loved Mama," which was later "borrowed" by Garth Brooks). Serious poetry, especially free verse and blank verse, requires some work on the part of the reader, and thus most people avoid it like the plague.

The analogy with painting is right on. A well-written poem is much like a well done painting, each word chosen for a specific effect at the service of the overall emotion or experience. I used to enjoy that when I wrote a lot of poetry, and I still do with song writing: Every word serving its purpose. Nothing wasted, no rhymes for the sake of rhyme. When it's right, it feels right.

 

[GaryE]

I think spoken word poetry has evolved, and often poets are songwriters. Some even have singing voices.

I used to write songs for a defunct band that never recorded (clearly, not the best songs), but every rhythm had to be just right, while not going away from the meaning I wanted to express. It's a wonderful puzzle.

A lot of the talented poets I knew when I was younger turned into academics, and had to get very competitive and nasty. But on the flip side, I know poets who work in all kinds of different jobs , and can probably still turn a phrase when they want to. In Celtic cultures, a great insult was to call a person an "ex poet". That was an awful put down in a culture that valued the ability to play with language and have a quick wit. You had a great and valued talent and you wasted it. Ouch.

Writing poetry for yourself can be a release, or can be cathartic when you are under pressure or in pain. It helps a lot of young people to focus their thoughts and try to get to the heart of what's wrong. It's when you start writing for other people that the going gets tough. When I ran after school poetry workshops for High School writers, I heard a lot of very obscure, very personal images and 'in joke' ideas, often wonderfully expressed but deeply personal. When I worked in creative writing workshops for adults, you could feel the straining towards making other people understand the idea expressed, and the poetry tried to be shared ideas more than internal monologues said out loud. It was interesting to see how the writing changed with life experience.

Poetry can be funny too, and hit with the finesse of a brick. It's a lot like singing.

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I've been rustling through some old boxes and found an old book I used to write my poetry in as a teen. Reading through some of them was super cringe and also quite sad as a lot of them expressed a huge amount of pain that adult-me had forgotten about. I came across this one though, I thought it was pretty good and one of the more positive ones, so wanted to share it....

Inhale, breathe deep the sun
Listen to the birds while they sing for fun.
Run, fast without care
Feel the wind on your face and through your hair.
Just take a look around, drink it all in.
Soak it up into your skin.
See the horizon? That's where you started
There from the pain you parted
It smarted, but it's over and done,
And only now can you see how far you've come.
The fight near killed you.
Ready for defeat, but you're strong!
Picked yourself up
On your feet where you belong.
So let the rain quench the rage,
You made it after all.
For your life story, it's just another page,
And you're left to stand tall!
Just smile and breathe deep the sun,
Then listen to the birds while they sing for fun.

 

[Death by Fish Tanks]

As I have been able to paint less, I’ve taken up some poetry. I think I’ve grown quite well in it

Anyone else here write?

Poetry, no. But I'm writing an ebook care guide on how to take care of Platies.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Poetry, no. But I'm writing an ebook care guide on how to take care of Platies.

Make it poetic and you're on to something.