You Know Why A Lot of Modern Poetry Isn’t That Good, Right?

Edgar Allen Poe said poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words, but he didn’t see the poetry on the internet

Girl playing guitar with glowing butterflies, because beautiful poetry is art and music and has rhythm illustration licensed from Deposit Photos

“Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words.” — Edgar Allan Poe

There’s a lot of bad poetry today. Let’s just say that out loud, okay?

Some people blame the times. Wail that omg, “modern” poetry is so bad, point to Instagram and social, shriek like Donald Sutherland at the end of that zombie movie. Show four line screencaps to prove their point.

Nah. It’s not the times.

There was bad poetry a hundred years ago too. Just — no one was posting it online because there was no internet. There’s really good poetry today, too. Killer poetry. Poetry that makes me weep, thatcrawls into my bones.

Just — that’s not most of it. Sorry. It’s not.

And look, poetry is subjective. You like what you like. But also?

Poetry is an art form that’s been around forever.

Poetry was originally performed orally before the invention of writing. Often, with music, like the poems of Sappho, a Greek poet that lived six hundred years before Christ. Because good poetry…