Poetry for Amateurs

There's nothing like shocking news:

I became the Junior Poetry Editor for Argus, our student literary journal.



I know.

Since when am I a poet?

(Since now, apparently.)

I figured that if I am to be a decent editor of poetry, I should also be a decent writer of poetry. So I sat down one day, and began work. I felt quite proud of myself that I managed to write a poem I thought was deep and brilliant. I posted it here originally, but after rereading it... Well, it was nasty. Everything about it. I realized it was a poison to my nowhere-near-perfect-but-always-dreaming blog of free expression, so I removed it from the post.

Next I tried to set a goal to write a small poem every night, but I couldn't write a single word. They say poetry has infinite possibilities--art--and yet, sometimes even the most freedom can be the tightest confinement. It's counterintuitive. Or is it logic, the enemy of all art forms? Perhaps.

So maybe I'm not a poet. But lucky for me, I don't have to be. I just have to recognize good poetry well enough to make a decent editor. Since I do that easily with other forms of writing, I'm hoping it will be no problem. If not, there's always plan B.

(Run away as fast as possible and hope nobody finds me!)

Well, here goes being the Junior Poetry Editor! Wish me luck.