Home » Poems » Roy Jerden » One Hit Wonder

One Hit Wonder

How deadly this sweet drink of praise, 
that sipped, decays the thing it lauds. 
A sly deceiver, 'tis, oh yes, 
this chronic craving for applause. 

A first place prize, the kiss of death,
to art original and free. 
But now is surely lost I fear,
in muddy mires of mimicry.

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Suzanne Delaney

Date: 10/3/2021 4:01:00 PM

Great line….in muddy mires of mimicry. Best, SuZ

FJ Thomas

Date: 12/20/2017 1:41:00 PM

Perfectly stated. This is one every attention hungry poet should read! Excellent!

Patricia Cresswell

Date: 8/30/2017 11:52:00 AM

Yes I understand. Talk about hitting nails on heads. superb!

Patricia Cresswell
Date: 8/30/2017 11:55:00 AM

I just thought should I erase the praise bit? Stick with I understand?

Arlene Smith

Date: 1/20/2017 1:26:00 PM

Bullseye my friend.. Hope you are well, and would love to see new poems..

Skat A

Date: 7/7/2016 2:19:00 PM

Ha, good to read, Roy. SKAT

Mark Peterson

Date: 5/10/2016 1:53:00 PM

A sly and perceptive devil you are. I had never thought of how fraught with peril the number one can be. Inciteful, and I'll go back and read with pleasure all my number 2s. Well, some of them are probably just number 2.

Timothy Hicks

Date: 3/30/2016 12:13:00 PM

I understand what you're saying here, Roy. And I dig. For me I love the contests because it's like a never-ending pool of inspiration, that battles against the dreaded "writer's block" ... getting high marks, of course, is always a treat, but I mainly just like the excuse to try something different and new, that I probably wouldn't have written in the first place (like your spoonerism contest ... lol)

Roy Jerden
Date: 3/30/2016 2:15:00 PM

The poem is not directed toward poets or Poetry Soup contests, but to all forms of art entered into a competition. A good analogy is a "one hit wonder" in which the follow-up is a pale imitation of the initial success instead of a new creative effort in a different direction. In the case of Poetry Soup, there are several poets whose work I can identify almost immediately. Their style, tone, choice of form and subject matter varies very little. It's good to have more than one arrow in your quiver, as they say.

Timothy Hicks
Date: 3/30/2016 12:17:00 PM

... personally I'm not the biggest fan of the onslaughts of "congrats", unless it's mixed with a real comment inside, which is typically what I go for. Anyway ... I'll stop the ramble train before I go off the deep end. Somehow I feel like I shouldn't "praise" this poem ... don't wanna give you the kiss of death ... LOL!

Leo Larry Amadore

Date: 3/23/2016 6:32:00 PM

Nicely done.....and certainly contains at least a modicum of truth (most of us are definitely here hoping to wallow in the "mire" of praise.....and, I must admit, it feels -- when received -- fantastic.)

Jan Allison

Date: 3/23/2016 6:30:00 PM

The very clever title pulled me in Roy - I much prefer one genuine comment to a host of cookie cutter comments and as for contests they are merely a way of getting more exposure to our work:-) hugs jan xx

Roy Jerden
Date: 3/23/2016 7:02:00 PM

Most folks will not see the irony in praising this poem, Jan. You, of course, did. ;)