Of all the programming on TV, I watch a handful of shows. I go to a handful of movies a year. I like less than half of the books I read. And as for poetry, I read so much really bad unvetted stuff online that my average is probably way less than one percent.
And, as you can see from a couple of posts down, I seem to think that’s a terrible thing. I complained about Jimmy Stewart’s poetry, but I’ve never complained about bad Jimmy Stewart movies (okay, I have complained about “Shop Around the Corner,” but it’s Margaret Sullavan who makes me want to suffocate myself). I don’t complain when some celebrity writes an autobiography, or a cookbook, or a children’s book, or a Star Trek novel. I don’t generally read them, but I don’t complain about them.
Why poetry then? I asked as if I couldn’t understand why they were thinking they could write it, instead of asking why I was thinking they shouldn’t bother.
When I read “unpublished” poetry posted on the internet, I’m reading the equivalent of an agent’s slushpile. There are gems, but there are lumps of coal, too. Many more lumps than gems. Thousands more lumps than gems.
What I see on TV has already been winnowed. Yes, I’m mixing my metaphors. Shoot me. What I see in a bookstore or a theater has been winnowed. And then I take it further. I winnow winnow winnow until I get down to my handful of movies that I’ll even try. And then I still don’t end up liking all of them.
Why, then, did I seem to expect poetry to be different? I read a journal and am disappointed when I like a handful of poems, even though that’s huge. I won’t even see 1 in 50 movies, but I can like 25% or somewhere like it of published poems. To then be disappointed is a foolish and hurtful double standard.
It seemed to be a slam to say, “Oh, I liked one or two,” when really it’s something of a miracle to be able to say, “You really nailed this. This suits me very well.”
The secret to life: low expectations. I have high expectations of myself when it comes to following this principle. Perhaps that’s why it never works?
Ha!
But I think it’s more that a great baseball player can bat .300, and if you get over that, it’s all gravy. Unless he bats .300 and never gets on base and has a slugging percentage of .300, too, but still!
I just think it’s unreasonable to expect more than a good batting average from the arts. More is super, less is a shame, but good is good, not disappointing.
I figure it’s money well spent if I find a handful of really stand-out poems in a chapbook or collection.
Now I’m struggling with my favorite genres–science fiction and fantasy. I used to read anything and everything and enjoy the ‘ride’. Now that I’ve started writing in the genre, I get so frustrated by the overall poor quality of so many published books.
Sigh.
best,
Lisa
Hey, Lisa.
Yeah, I know what you mean about writing in a genre and thereafter reading it with different eyes. I didn’t know you wrote fiction. Fantasy is a favorite of mine, though I’m on a mystery kick at the moment.
Yup, Julie–the fantasy novel is complete and I’m doing the rounds of querying agents. I’m about 1/3 through a thriller, and in the process of outlining a YA horror novel.
🙂
Call me obsessed.
Lisa
Excellent!
Hey, have you taken a look at my publishing links? Quite a few agents have tips. Oh, and if you haven’t been here, check this out. I haven’t used it, but it looks extremely useful:
http://agentquery.com/default.aspx
Julie–I follow a number of the blogs that you reference and Agentquery is my bible. 🙂 It’s also really helpful to check out what Preditors and Editors have to say about a particular agent/agency.
I’ve got 5 queries going out in today’s mail. And 5 more next week. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
In the meantime, I have my day job and I keep writing. 🙂
Lisa
Best of luck, Lisa.
I’m pushy, but do you have any excerpts online anywhere? I’d be interested in them. I’m a big fantasy fan.