Do you enjoy poetry that makes you stop, think or changes the way you look at things, something profound?
Or, do you prefer something that requires less commitment, gives you a little mental respite, a light distraction, something fun or just smile worthy?
And, don't say both or sometimes. Which do you love more than the other and why?
Please Read My Latest Story (Click on the Banner):
I dont care much for the snall distractions. Becauze that is all that they are and once that moment is over, you're back in reality, and I just dont find it so enjoyable.
I much prefer having a poem that i am left thinking, feeling, and wondering what could I do. And not just for poerty but stories as well. And I love nothing more then hearing people telling me how my writings inspired them, I guess in a way I prefer making the readers sit and cry over their beloved character then having a hallow happy little story.
That is not a question I can answer with a simple choice. I prefer poetry that stirs something in me. Sometimes that something is just a smile, and sometimes it is the urge to stop, think and reconsider things. I need both from time to time. And to me poetry should be readable. When I need to translate to normal english first, it looses it's appeal. Just showing off language skill isn't poetry to me.
If life seems jolly rotten
there's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing
from Monty Python's "Life of Brian"
The thing is, you can't just say "thinking or smiling?" because those are such opposing extremes that there's not much comparison. It's like comparing a sonnet to a limerick. Both are valid forms and both make you think, but just in very different ways.
Thinking is fine and dandy, but why does poetry have to make one think? It's just another way of telling a story, really. Why does it even have to adhere to rules? I think rules, though useful sometimes, can stifle creativity, especially in poetry. I'll bet that most poetic forms were stumbled upon, not really designed, but accidentally made.
I'll take laughing at, with or about a poem any day, thanks. I don't like being burdened with other people's heavy thoughts; mine are heavy enough as it is, without having the extra crap of someone else.
I like very deep and loving poems, very sad and heartbreaking.
I love love poems and sad poems, because I enjoy and can relate the most. Or because I feel the most with them.
i love the poems that make me think and feel.
i love passion. i love to read and get so involved with the words that i cry and hurt and laugh with the person.
i want to feel sad, happy mad, and all the feelings of the writer. why they wrote it and what it means to them.
i love words. words that touch the soul as well as the heart is wonderful to me.
This is how I feel:
For "serious" poetry, what I crave is to have someone put words together in ways I have never experienced. It never ceases to amaze me when I find that in an author, and I view that talent with a kind of awe. With serious poetry, it is more the word placement than the poem as a whole that I appreciate. And it only works with poetry or very short stories. When an entire work is that intense, it is almost exhausting to read.
I also love to laugh. With humor, I don't have the yearning that I do with serious work. With humor, I just want to enjoy and laugh. When something is funny, I don't analyze like I do with serious work, I merely view it as something "funny," although there are works of humor that go beyond funny into brilliance.