ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

The Poets Ran Out of Ideas...

There once was a time when the world just shone
With the images each bard held in his scone,
But the grey matter shrivelled between the ears...
And the poets ran out of ideas.

A frantic eruption, a furious race;
Each fought for his own piece of cyberspace,
Striving to win the respect of his peers...
But the poets ran out of ideas.

The TV beckons. The PC calls.
A traitor's lurking within our walls.
The consummation of all our fears...
The poets run out of ideas.

Perhaps it's yoga? Chess? Mahjong?
Guitars and banjos, the world of song?
I'm just calling it as it appears...
The poets ran out of ideas.

Over all, there falls a frost.
Perhaps the passion has been lost?
Too many whiskeys? Too many beers?
The poets ran out of ideas.

A wicked curse? A vicious hex?
Re-discovered, the joys of sex?
Too many bulls, and not enough steers?
The poets ran out of ideas...

Fade the lights. Pull the curtain.
What to do? Of course it's hurtin'.
Howls of anguish. Floods of tears.
The poets...
Ran out of...
Ideas...

I think it is a truism from John Whitworth that poems are made from words not ideas, there are plenty of ideas to draw on, I think the tragedy is if poets run out of words.

There are plenty of words, too.

Now Stephen,

The fact that you can write a ditty about having nothing to write about disproves your point. I have also seen a poem about having nothing to say and I have written several pieces about the poem I didn't write and after forgetting to bring my poem one week to IBP, I wrote one called 'The Poem I Left At Home.' If I haven't posted it before, I will. Also I recall a recent dissertation about 'nothing; in the general chit chat section.

So poets running out of ideas..... I don't think so. However ask Leonie, she feels there are no new stories, only different slants on the same old ones.

PS: 'The Poem I Left At Home' is already on the site. posted previously.

Too true Stephen, plenty of words. But can the poets find the best words in the best order to express the ideas in a new and surprising way ? Let's hope they can.