Poems give me the “ick” AIBU?

[Nevergotdivorced]

I saw an estrangement thread on Gransnet, the OP had sent her estranged daughter a card with a poem she had composed.

My immediate thought was NO!

I then thought I was being a bit harsh and some people would find it moving.

I think it’s really cringy.

Also hate most poetry. No writing is improved by turning it into a poem, with the exception of the works of AA Milne.

Good poetry is fantastic.
Bad poetry..... not so much. I would be extremely wary of a card including a poem that someone had "composed" themselves!

… this I love, makes me a bit weepy, will have it read when I die at my funeral I think!

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.

A well written poem by a well known poet is great

bog standard, take a break shite nope.

I quite like Seamus Heaney though

I read scaffolding at Dh funeral, always loved the poem and it meant a lot to us

I dunno , I’m one of those odd people who likes a bit of poetry, I’d never write my own though, that’s just cringe 😂

I like some poetry. Actual GOOD poetry.

Most "poetry" I hate, because it's crap. Most people are very bad at it. Although sometimes it's so bad it's good - like William McGonagall.

I've (very occasionally) written poems for people for special occasions, but then I am actually a published poet and can write one which is decent enough. Nobody has ever written a poem for me, and to be honest I'm very grateful to them for that.

I have yet to come across a line of poetry that is more cringey than this :

Into the middle distance, my tear bedeemed eyes are peering

Enid Blyton. From a children's novel about a teacher who wrote bad poetry and tried to pass off one of her student's offerings as her own after telling the student what she'd written was a load of crap. The line above is written by the teacher (and clearly EB having a bit of fun). Can't remember the title of the book, but that line lodged in my head and never left. [Shudders.]

But...good poetry is great. Loss by Wendy Cope seems very appropriate for MN:

The day he moved out was terrible -
That evening she went through hell.
His absence wasn't a problem
But the corkscrew had gone as well.

I like the Beats but other than that I can’t really be doing with poetry, especially when it’s read out loud, and especially when it’s written by untalented members of the public.

I write close relatives a poem on landmark birthdays, but they’re not saccharine sweet , they are warts and all poems, and usually raise a laugh. They all expect them now. I’m a poor man’s Pam Ayres!

Can’t stand poetry, absolute bollocks.

Absolutely this! One of my friends is a published poet (she has other jobs too!) and her work is incredible. It’s not rhyming couplets and twee sentiments- it’s art, making insightful commentary on the world and the humans in it. Good poetry is often uncomfortable, always emotive in some way. It engages your brain and you have to read it several times to feel the full impact and grasp all the perspectives being offered. When done well, poetry is powerful and moving and one of my favourite art forms. If you accept that music is an art form, you have to accept the same is true of poetry- especially when it is performed to an audience.

Some people are really tuned in to visual art- they feel something when they look at a painting or a building. I have never had that connection to that type of art, but music and poetry, yes. I’m very switched on to sound and that includes language- the sounds that people make when they communicate- it’s fascinating. Poets take time to choose the right words- not only semantically but acoustically. Use of different types of sound can be really effective.

And much like music, there is good poetry and shite ‘poetry’.

So yes, YABU. You’ve just been reading shit poems.

How much have you read? There are so many styles. I bet you could find something you liked!

If it’s the one by Marella, I thought it was lovely.

But poetry is a HUGE spectrum.

I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than read the Romantics, but perfectly happy to read ee cummings or Michael Ondaatje.

Home written poetry is invariably crap though.

I don't get poetry at all, the secret meanings, the weirdly laid out sentences and random word on a line by itself.

Spoken poetry has that same arse clenching embarrassment as watching amateur dramatics, except with a layer of smuggery.

Someone on Facebook posts very long 'poems' for people's birthdays, shit like 'such a lovely face,
You sure do jolly up the place!' but FIFTY lines long.

Surely all poetry starts out as home written?

Fair point @Allseeingallknowing .

Just had flashbacks to trying not to howl with laughter whilst reading a telly awful poem at a wedding.

Same. People who enjoy reading poetry aloud seem to really enjoy it, and I find their earnestness makes me feel awkward.

I think we know the same person!

I think it would have been better for the mum/nan to write her message in the card in normal prose. But I can understand that she might have struggled with that and found the mechanism of a poem an easier way to say what she wanted.

But yeah, if I received a badly written poem from someone I was estranged from I doubt it would win me back around. It would be hard not to make it clunky and full of cliches.

I like a crude limerick

I agree OP. My friend’s MIL wrote a poem for her and read it out loud at her 40th birthday party. It was cringey and pretentious

The only thing worse than poetry is listening to people reading out their poetry.

See also musicals. I was once taken to see Dreamgirls and I don't think I'll ever be over it. I can't even watch them on my own at home.

(Even famous poetry by famous poets. Sorry.)

The only poetry that hasn’t given me the ick is WW1 war poetry and This is the Place by Tony Walsh. I absolutely hate most poetry!

When I was about 20 a guy sang a song he'd written for me (he was playing the guitar) 😱

Yes! The "earnestness makes me feel awkward" hits the nail on the head for people reciting poetry. I blame childhood speech and drama. And the ChatGPT rhyming poems feel a bit ick.

But I love well written poetry. And I often come back to this video of Séamus Heaney reading Scaffolding.