First Post: Bad Love Poetry

Oh joys, a blog! The internet desperately doesn't need another one, but it is undeniably convenient for an aspiring writer to have a place on the general internet (that isn't facebook or myspace) to post his stuff. Besides, I tried to post an e.e. cummings type poem on facebook the other night and it just didn't work, so I'm changing venues for my poetry/fiction/random ramblings.

But before I post that poem, I want to talk about the name of this blog, because it sounds stereotypically self-depricatory, to title this "badlovepoet" and be a writer - I've written bad love poetry, with trite rhymes and everything (oh, high school and the abysmal drama! Words like "abysmal" are leftover from those melodramatic days), and even if my poetry these days isn't good, I'd like to think it's at least a step above painfully bad. I keep any angst I might still have to myself, no one needs to be tortured with that again...God, just thinking about it makes me feel bad for the people I subjected that to!

But that's not what this blog is about. "badlovepoet" comes from something I heard a published poet say at a creative writing reading once (her name escapes me, I really should have written it down). She was introducing a love poem she had written, so she said, "I don't think there's such thing as a good love poem, but I took my hand at it anyway." This was during freshman year of college, and the only poetry I had written had been the angst-ridden verses I scribbled during high school, mostly filled with obvious rhymes and images, so I agreed based on my own experience, and soon after that I would just forsake writing poetry altoghether.

After being introduced to e.e. cummings this recent Sophomore year, I started writing poetry again, only free verse this time around, and I think I've been making some progress - I won 2nd place in a poetry contest anyways, which got me $100, so I've already accomplished more with poetry than I ever thought I would. Mostly I write about love and life, just because those are the things I think about the most often. I try to involve the thematic and formal complexities that cummings is known for, but that's only part of the reason why I write love poetry, and the boring part, frankly.

Honestly, the world is probably better off without another pretentious poet passing off his love as something the world should care about. I do it simply because - well, it's love, reason hardly ever factors into love. Even knowing everything will come out terribly, we'll take a shot at a relationship if only for the prospect of that momentary embrace when the world falls away and there is only the comfort of loving someone. Sometimes a moment is precious for its own sake - a kiss can be a kiss and not some profound metaphor.

I write love poetry because I like to, because I like love, and because I enjoy thinking of love. Even if it's poorly written, it's what I feel, and I can't change that. Even knowing a love poem will be bad, I have to try and write it - who knows, maybe something will come of it after all. I'm sure that most love poetry is almost sickeningly terrible, but so long as we feel it we'll try to get it down on paper, if only to give someone an impression of the immense emotions we feel; and if we fail in our efforts? Well, like love, you pick yourself up and try again.