Poetry Corner

I don't tend to write a lot of poetry, mostly because I think it's exceptionally difficult to write well.  Anyone can throw together some purposeless rhymes or free-form nonsense and call it poetry, but it will rarely be of a quality that qualifies it as art. Quality poetry is the literary equivalent of surgery. Every single letter, punctuation mark, and space should mean something or contribute to the overall meaning.  It's an exercise in the beautiful economy of words, not words wasted to excess. So, I rarely take on this challenge. However, I found myself in a class where I was forced to write poetry to pass.  Most of it was no good, but I did crank out a few pieces that gave me pride.   One of them was published when I entered it into a competition.  So, while I doubt that I will ever be a full poet, I have had some successful efforts. - ACN