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User	UnsentLetter | 2006-05-14 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I think poetry is something that flows from within a person, something deep, meaningful/mystical, no matter the subject. A poem on the other hand is the material substance of that (if the writer wrote it down). If that makes sence? UnsentLetter

User	Fantastic Freya | 2006-05-11 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I think "no thoughts" is at epidemic proportions at the moment. "Poet" is a term that’s thrown around fairly lightly today, probably due to the devaluation of poetry itself. It seems anyone who scribbles down a few lines in a diary can call themselves "poet". It would be a pretty interesting world if anyone could pick up a scalpel and call themselves "doctor". I’ve heard rugby players described as "poetry in motion". Now there’s an oxymoron for you.

User	DavidHirt | 2006-05-10 |
Subject	untitled
Message	No thoughts?

User	DavidHirt | 2006-05-06 |
Subject	untitled
Message	and since we’ve started talking about poets, now, perhaps we should make them part of the debate. What is a poet? Is it simply someone who write a poem? The way a painter is someone who paints a picture or a house? Should we have a word for someone who simply sees the poetry/grace/beauty of the world and then communicates it no matter what the chosen medium is? The most unschooled writer who writes a rhyming piece become a poet for the moment.

User	DavidHirt | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Some would argue that’s the point, Steve. :)

User	Lost Sheep | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I don’t know, I think the words poem, poetry and poet are all tightly intertwined, A poem is a single piece of writing. Poetry (as I use the word) means a couple of things, the art of writing poems or a group of poems. A poet is simply a person that writes poetry. There are other uses of the words poetry and poetic, but they’re basically allegorical, equivalent to a tall tale or a stormy look. Steve

User	Munchie_1226 | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Poems and poetry.......are in a completely different subject then a poet. They aren’t living breathing forms. I’m just pointing out the debate.

User	Fantastic Freya | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	"Poet" is part of "poetry". Unless you have a brilliant insight which shows otherwise.

User	Munchie_1226 | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Isn’t this debate about a poem and poetry....i don’t see him questioning a poet in itself......

User	ghostknight | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	amen to that. i don’t know how many times i’ve had to run like hell from whatever i was doing to write an idea down before i lost it.

User	Fantastic Freya | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	The way I look at the notion of spontaneity is this: people can walk past the same crack in a footpath, day after day, and think nothing of it. A poet (writer of poems or not) will look at that spot and instantly see that there’s a story behind it, or something sad about a cracked footpath, or a home for an entire ecosystem -- instantly shifting focus from the mundane. Poetry involves flashes of inspiration. Those flashes do not necessarily lead to a poem, and it may take many of them to lead to anything at all.

User	mae | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I do not agree that spontaneity is absolutely necessary for a poem. I am writing an epic (as you know) and I guarantee that it is not spontaneous, but it IS a poem. Then there is Steve’s 2 to 10 hour process of writing a poem. That doesn’t sound very spontaneous to me, but I’ve read his writing and find it quite poetic. Perhaps to describe ’poetry’ in general - but even then, I don’t think spontaneity is a requirement. Grace, yes. Spontaneity, no. mae

User	Munchie_1226 | 2006-05-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I say that a poem can be written in many forms. Poetry is the outcome. It is the life of the poem. I do think that there is that small difference. Poetry gives the heartbeat. it is the emotional part. Basically: A poem is the write in itself.... Poetry is the emotional outcome from the poem.....the poetry.

User	Fantastic Freya | 2006-05-03 |
Subject	untitled
Message	David: "a quality of sponteneity and grace" That’s poetry, in a poem or not. If you don’t have that, you aren’t a poet, no matter how many poems you spew out.

User	Lost Sheep | 2006-05-03 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I noticed a comment from you along this line in another thread. I meant to get back to you there and I’m glad you brought it up here. Maybe LIB is happier over on the LIB, Munchie, Freya, Ghostnight slamfest thread. Personally that one bores the hell out of me. As to this topic, I think the second definition comes closest to how we define poetry here. The first definition wouldn’t include freeform, although it’s alos called free verse. The third definition has to do the poem-like things, not poems themselves. As to "poetry", I think definition 2 is the best definition I’ve ever seen. Poetry really is "writing that formulates a concentrated imaginative awareness of experience in language chosen and arranged to create a specific emotional response through meaning, sound, and rhythm." The keys here are the "imaginative awareness" and the "Specific emotional response". To me that’s what distinguishes poetry from other forms of writing. As to the difference between the two? Note that in the definitions a poem is a single piece of work (A composition, A piece, A creation). Poetry is a body of work or a style (Metrical writing, The productions, writing that formulates). Several poems make up a bunch of poetry. LOL Steve

User	DavidHirt | 2006-05-02 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Suggestion taken into consideration, LIB.