Poetry...best read drunk or not at all

Since I am a creative writing major someone decided along the way that all creative writing majors should have to take at least one poetry class, which includes reading and writing it. That's a terrible idea, 98.2% of the creative writing majors here are prose, meaning fiction and non-fiction writers. Poetry makes us run in terrot. I mean there are a few poets that I like, Lord Alfred Tennyson and Edgar Allan Poe make my list of decent poets, William Blake's poems may be tough to stomach and understand but the dark over tones make it an interesting read even if I have no idea what's going on. But most of the modern stuff we are forced to read made me want to drown myself in a sea of ice beer, and not good ice beer either, at the time I was drinking Mickey's Ice which tastes like the end of a sewage drain.

Poetry is tough thing to swallow. Sometimes you can never understand what the author wants you to interpret from their writing. Sometimes it's amazing and other times its a jumble of words that makes no sense. Sometimes poetry can amaze you and make you go wow! Other times it will make you want to put a gun to your head in frustration. Been there many times, take that Coleridge and Frost! Just kidding... Poetry can mean whatever you want it to mean whether the author likes it or not. My preference if you are going to make us take poetry classes, make it simple and encourage free verse. Rhyme and Rhythm only bring frustration to the masses.

As for Chapbooks (I had to go look that word up thank you very much), a pocket sized book or a Hallmark card? Well the cards are cheesy, and cranked out by a bunch of Monkeys in an underground cave, then I'll have to take the pocket sized book of poetry known as a chapbook. Also I tend to stay away from the sappy, love sick poems. Ick.

Well its Thursday and I'm off to have a few beers somewhere.