discuss.

Often there is an inverse relationship.

no. ask any haiku master.

yes, I concur with Tony -just ask me

Interesting question-
my take is this:
you need to define what the word quality means in more detail.

If you have a HK and a fifty line poem together both by excellent poets
- is the quality the same?- it depends how you define quality-
quality is not based on volume- therefore however good the long poem is- it is possible no more quality than the HK.

The biggest issue- is who decides what is quality and what is not-

and more still what is more quality than another-

these are questions that are too open-massively subjective.

the only realistic answer is there is no answer.

oh no it isn't, there are other realistic answers like:

Everyone knows small poems are better and it's therefore not due their quality alone.

They usually have to prefer the short word/phrase/explanation to the long.

If it's good, it leaves you wanting more.

If it''s shit, you're glad you only wasted a small amount of time and effort reading it.

Poet fuck it
hit it duck it
lick it suck it
fit it chuck it
it it it it it it it

see, you're probably either still loving it while now you've finished it - and your brain is still speed contemplating it and rescanning it because it;s so small - Or, you're like, that was shit, but at least it was over in like two seconds and I can move on.

(Needless to say, I can be found standing around looking all smug and cool with those who agree with me after the discussion.)

I think poetry should follow the rules of a good resume. (ahahaha LOL)

lordfuznut wrote:

If it's good, it leaves you wanting more. If it''s shit, you're glad you only wasted a small amount of time and effort...

It's not always good to want more..., especially when you can't get it!

lol!

My stance is, if it's long, it better be great. If the poem goes long, I better have a reason for spending so much time reading your words, it better take me somewhere.

I have several long poems and I truly believe the length is justified in every one of them. They have a narrative style that keeps the reader engaged.

Don't know about poems that are too long- but this one proves quality doesn't have to be sacrificed for works of minimal length-
[url= www.gotpoetry.com/Foru...9702.html]
www.gotpoetry.com/Foru...html[/url]

Good discussion, and while I enjoy some shorter poems, they generally make me yawn. Unless a poem can tell a story and bring me there within it, it's not worth my time to skim the 30 seconds of 6 lines that it presents (I actually wrote a poem expressing my opinion on the shorter verse called "Ode To Six Line Poems", now my shameless self promotion is ended and I can continue...).

Prose poetry is a distinct form of poetry apart from the more structured, "Rule" driven poetry. Both structured poetry and prose poetry have their time and place. There is nothing wrong with the older strcutured poem such as haiku's or "naturalistic" poetry, it's perfectly fine and if you enjoy it and want to write it, much kudos to you. It does take talent to properly create a rhyme scheme for some of the older styles, such as haikus, and unless you properly know how to write within this structure, it will cause the poem to truly suffer. Some of the best works of poetry have been written with some type of classical "structure".

With that being said; that stuff usually bores the hell out of me.

I much prefer prose poetry that aims to present a story and use imagery to infuse life and beauty within it. Unless you can take me into the world you've created, and you can successfully create a world within your work, it's not worth the effort to me. When it takes me 20 seconds to read a poem, that doesn't give me much time to get into that world, to get into the creation of your poem. You can't (generally speaking, but not always the case) properly create a world within 20 seconds. I look over a poem that's five lines long, and usually I just skip over it because it doesn't seem like enough effort or essence is involved within it. I generally don't bother to read something that's under about twenty lines just because I don't think there is enough "meat" to it, even though I do sometimes get a short poetry kick.

Anyway, it's just my opinion on the matter...

-- j.