ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

a friend of mine in our poets group wrote this after a professor at a lecture he attended told his class that "What Malcolm wrote was amusing but was not real poetry. it is doggerel populist verse that has no value". the next week Mal asked if he could read a poem the professor reluctantly agreed.


I am the peoples poet
I make my verses rhyme
It's easy when you knowet
I do it all the thyme.

But even I get stuck sometimes
and run out of idears
So up into my bed I climes
until inspiration appears.

I admit my grammar is not so hot
and I torture my syntax a bit
but I'm quite content with what I've got
'cos at least I make the words fit

I did a poetry course for the rank amateur
but I was totally lost from the start
What the hell is iambic pentameter
I thought poetry came from the heart.

Should I make it a terza rima ?
a Rondeau, or a villanelle ?
Is it easier using free verse ?
Will anyone be able to tell ?

I think I'll just do it my way
technicality is killing the muse
Poetry is for all the people
the rhyme's ours to use or abuse.

Mal read the poem out laid it on the professors desk walked out and never returned.

Stephen Fry must have had Mal in mind when he said " So much easier to say that everything you fail to understand is pretentious than to learn to discriminate between the fraudulent and the authentic "

Would that not be true of the statement as well Neville.

"What Malcolm wrote was amusing but was not real poetry. it is doggerel populist verse that has no value".

Respect is earned and is not a God given right.

Bob

Bob Pacey wrote:it is doggerel populist verse that has no value".

that bit is unfair, and illogical because if it is populist then it has value, to someone anyway.

Unfortunately the piece that Mal read out did nothing to dispel the accusation of doggerel.

I don't think so Nev I think Mal has got it in a nutshell,

We all know that there are people out there who write for their own and other peoples enjoyment.

I myself have experienced similar criticism on occasions but know myself that a poem that may well not fit the " Rules " can still be a piece that is enjoyed by the general public.

Sometimes a bit of encouragement rather then offhand criticism can be the little thing that leads them to explore this wonderful world of poetry more as we ourselves have seen on the Site.

Bob

Right on Bob ....

Neville Briggs wrote:that bit is unfair, and illogical because if it is populist then it has value, to someone

Sounds like the smart arsed professor has more arse than smarts ...

my bit,

And often the more educated (but not necessarily smarter) use fancy words to try to bamboozle the lesser qualified. I suggest we think on who is more fraudulent, the professor (who espouses free verse) or the student (who writes from the heart) who takes the time and effort to in rhyme and metre.
And is it all just a matter of preference.

Please ask your mate Mal if I can use it in the Magazine Bob if you would. As you say - it's a bit of fun, and even if it is doggeral that's more than fine with me , it's readable and will give people a laugh and it entertains and is not pretentious. I think the readers of TAT Poetry will love it .... if Mal will share it with us.

Sent you a message Maureen Mal is keen.

Bob