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Does Poetry Soup Need a SPOON? - John Anderson's Blog

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I was born under the star sign 'Pisces' and as the saying goes "You can't get over that". I have life-long interests in water, fish, the sea, sailing and everything wet and aquatic. I have a scientific background in the environment and fisheries. I have written extensively on many topics. I have created and manage a gaggle of websites. I have now retired and live in the 'Shark Shack' by the sea near Jervis Bay, on the South Eastern coast of Australia. I sail, fish, walk, dive and swim as much as I can with the motto: 'Diving for Pearls'. My main focus is on didactic poems. I love the poems of Dylan Thomas and my favorite movie is 'Under Milk Wood' (a radio play, made into a film). I also like Les Murray. My website is Poetry Community http://www.poetrycommunity.com. Cheers!

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Does Poetry Soup Need a SPOON?

Blog Posted:7/29/2017 1:18:00 AM

Is Poetry Soup a depository for member poems rather than a place to read poems? How do you find the lastest poems to read? OK you can scroll way down and find Poems: New (All) Poems: New (PM) etc. and see fearured poems at the bottom of the page, but these items are buried in the soup.

The top of the page is all administration stuff for members. There is no POEMS link at the top of the page!!! It is even worse on mobile devices and for various forms of poetry. I defy anyone to quickly see all the latest haiku poems for example, or sonnets. [your time starts now]

Don't get me wrong I am a lifetime member and fully committed to the site. BUT I believe that the site needs a major makeover so people can come to the site and READ poems. This could be done with a new page for READERS either as the homepage with a link to all the member stuff or as an additional page accessed by a large link at the top of the home page.

Back to my question how do you see all the latest Haiku or Sonnets? It should be a piece of cake, not via digging for carrots buried in the soup!!! On a mobile device it is almost impossible to find. What do you think?

PS to read poems you have to know to click the tiny weenie Read poems link in the blurb at the top of the page and then click one of the trending topics. Otherwise you have to click forms select H, scroll to find Haiku and then click the View all new Haiku Poems link.buried within the page There has to be a BETTER WAY!!!! IMO of course.

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Indiana
Shaw

Date: 9/12/2017 6:48:00 PM

Stuff the spoon - But I sure do like "Under Milk Wood" narrated by "Richard Burton" . . . : )

Connie
Pachecho

Date: 7/30/2017 12:58:00 AM

I like the title. For a spoon for thought and a ladle for naught. A soup to sigh and a stew to be.

Agnes
Krampe

Date: 7/29/2017 7:42:00 PM

If I wanted to see the latest Haiku or Sonnets, I would go to Poems:New(All)and sort by form. I don't find this partucularly cumbersome, but of course, that shows only the haiku within the 200 latest poems. I found the links pretty self explaining.

John Anderson
Date: 7/29/2017 7:50:00 PM

Yes, but it is cumbersome, and you only get 5 haiku currently in the top 200. Bit disappointing!

James
Fraser

Date: 7/29/2017 4:37:00 PM

If we're all singing from the same Hymn Sheet, the navigation should be easily enough to follow. Sadly it's not that way. The Soup does it's best to allow such navigation to allow smooth familiarity. To me 'Manage Poems' should be 'Your Poems' linked to the persons account. The Manage prompts should all be accessible via 'Your Poems' or under an Avatar so that one click enters all. This will leave scope, Menu wise for the Soup to use accordingly. Just a thought...

Andrea
Dietrich

Date: 7/29/2017 4:04:00 PM

John, I never worry about such things because I am always so busy trying to keep up with all my friends' poetry. However, I do like Brian says below if I ever want to see haiku. I just type it in Search at the top and try the links that suit my purpose. However, the best thing is to simply use the list of the poets you follow and go to their list of poetry and click on Form. From there, you can visit all their work in any form you prefer. If I want New poems only, I go to the New poems All or New Poems PM. then I just scan through it to see who has written a sonnet or haiku or whatever for the day. Yeah, the site needs a youtube tutorial or something!

Andrea Dietrich
Date: 7/29/2017 4:05:00 PM

It took me a good year to become proficient here and there are still things I can't do to this day!

John
Anderson

Date: 7/29/2017 3:21:00 PM

Simple improvements would be to => 1. Replace 'Poem of the Day' with the 'Poems' link. 2. Add 'Poem of the Day' to the poems page and improve the page by adding more links for New (All), New (PM), New (1 Per) Best etc. etc. Make it more user friendly ALSO change the search tool so that you can search for a form (Haiku, Sonnet, Ballad, etc.) WITHOUT having to select a category OR keyword. This would list poems for the form beginning with the latest as the *New Poems* link does. Making the site more Reader Friendly should boast hits! Poets like their poems read!

Cyndi
Macmillan

Date: 7/29/2017 8:04:00 AM

There are many ways to read, here. If you click on Poems: New (ALL) you can sort the forms by clicking on forms and all the haiku will line up for you. If you want instant poems to read, follow poets and then click on the "poets you follow" and you will have three pages of poems to read. There's even a poem random choice. By going to new poems, clicking the form option, I saw a dozen of the newest haiku poems to read in less than a second. Does this help? The only thing I'd like to see is Member Poets/Poems to be moved ABOVE Soup Social links... then poets wouldn't have to take a millisecond to scroll down to New Poems. This being said, I refuse to spend my time outside on a phone. People who are hooked into electronic devices miss out on conversations (I mean actual face to face, real time conversations,) poetry in the motion of trees, traffic, elders and youth walking side-by-side. Technology can help...or it can make people lazy, demanding and self-absorbed. I find poetry on the streets... did yesterday in a fender bender that happened right in front of me and my daughter and she said, "It all happened so quickly. One minute they were apart. The next they came together, even if they didn't want it. The accident made them meet." Poetry. In real time and off a device. It's like finding a poem on line. We move and then we meet.

John Anderson
Date: 7/29/2017 12:46:00 PM

OK, but imagine how hard it is for newcomers to the site to find that New(ALL) link!

My Past Blog Posts


Type of Poems - link deleted from the menu Date Posted: 9/16/2024 8:55:00 PM
Short Poem Contest using the CUBE form - Finalized Date Posted: 9/10/2023 11:51:00 AM
Let There Be Voice Contest Finalized Date Posted: 8/26/2023 10:28:00 AM
#Hashtag Poems - A New Form/Style Date Posted: 8/14/2023 11:59:00 AM
New Type/Form of Poem => The Cube Date Posted: 8/5/2023 12:23:00 AM
A Plea for Contest Sponsors Date Posted: 7/24/2023 10:46:00 AM
It's Done! Word Play Poems, Play-on-Words, Contest Finalised Date Posted: 7/28/2021 2:45:00 PM
THE BELL Contest Finalised - With Peals of Delight! Date Posted: 7/7/2021 8:40:00 PM
Does Poetry Soup Need a SPOON? Date Posted: 7/29/2017 1:18:00 AM
Two-Voice Tanka, Thrice Contest Judged Date Posted: 7/28/2017 5:13:00 PM
New Experimental Form - Tree Poems for Counterpoints Date Posted: 7/26/2017 12:44:00 AM
What is the Difference Beween Poetry and Prose? Date Posted: 7/24/2017 6:25:00 PM
Short Poetry Online Date Posted: 7/14/2017 1:22:00 AM
New Contest Idea - Two-Voice Tanka, Thrice Date Posted: 6/28/2017 2:25:00 PM
New Form - The BELL Date Posted: 6/3/2017 2:32:00 PM
Cinquain Express Train Contest Finalized, Toot Toot! Date Posted: 5/31/2017 1:03:00 AM
Thoughts on Contemporary Poetry, Free Verse Debate Date Posted: 5/25/2017 4:18:00 PM
Give The Cinquain Form a Try! Date Posted: 5/24/2017 4:03:00 PM
Be Didactic - Contest Completed Date Posted: 4/24/2017 9:35:00 PM

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Date Posted	PoemTitle	Form	Categories
5/10/2025	Half-Life	Free verse	emotions,life,nature,time
5/9/2025	steaming breath	Monoku	spring,
5/9/2025	first to blink	Haiku	bird,
5/9/2025	Caress	Free verse	feelings,
5/8/2025	A Crimson Veil Shrouds What is to Come	Rhyme	fate,fear,weather,
5/7/2025	Ripples and Tracks, Dreams and Memories	Free verse	beach,memory,sea,water,
5/6/2025	Interview with Bikini Atoll	Free verse	home,
5/6/2025	Road Trip	Verse	holiday,sea,
5/6/2025	Emotional Shrapnel	Free verse	growth,introspection,
5/5/2025	To Fly	Free verse	bird,car,fairy,freedom,
5/4/2025	Enjoy the Journey!	Free verse	growth,life,
5/4/2025	what if the sun never rose?	Tanka	memorial day,sun,
5/2/2025	The Prismatic Self	Free verse	creation,poetry,
5/1/2025	Toy	Acrostic	money,
4/29/2025	Wistful	Verse	memory,
4/25/2025	Casualty of Your Cruelty	Free verse	abuse,angst,anxiety,crush
4/24/2025	Hear the Hiss as Knight Falls	Free verse	political,
4/24/2025	The watched are watching you	Free verse	corruption,nature,
4/23/2025	Transient Impermanent	Haiku	nature,
4/22/2025	A Grin from Ear to Leer	Rhyme	games,heart,music,
4/22/2025	Ridding Perception of Self	Free verse	senses,sensual,
4/22/2025	unintended innuendo	Rhyme	hurt,
4/21/2025	It is To Be	Free verse	angst,senses,
4/21/2025	Thirteen, amiss peripheral, beyond	Free verse	growing up,lost,time,
4/20/2025	A flutter of wings rattles heart strings	Rhyme	emotions,heart,love,
4/19/2025	Plagued by Memories	Free verse	dream,memory,
4/18/2025	Shut Up Shop	Free verse	international,political,
4/17/2025	Old Hands Chime Twelve	Free verse	planet,summer,time,winter
4/16/2025	I am	Free verse	birth,memory,
4/15/2025	The Eternal Question: God, No God, Maybe God	Free verse	god,
4/14/2025	Happily discontent, that I am, that I be	Free verse	angst,anxiety,nostalgia,
4/13/2025	Whatever Happened to Elevenses	Free verse	food,morning,time,
4/13/2025	A High Fivefold Dive	Free verse	feelings,senses,
4/12/2025	something old, something new	Free verse	games,money,
4/12/2025	Knitting Memories in the Dark	Rhyme	lost love,memory,
4/10/2025	The Cold Embrace of Death	Free verse	cool,life,weather,
4/10/2025	a fickle flip scares the butterfly	Free verse	america,change,
4/9/2025	Memento on the Moon	Free verse	moon,
4/9/2025	bye bye, me me	Senryu	anger,fantasy,moon,sun,
4/8/2025	The Door of Uncertainty	Free verse	angst,anxiety,time,travel
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4/7/2025	The Same Die Is Cast for One and All	Free verse	fate,
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4/3/2025	the scald war	Senryu	america,grief,money,war,
4/3/2025	tongue melts evokes bliss	Monoku	sensual,
4/2/2025	The Siren of Me, Me Spotlit	Rhyme	angst,
3/30/2025	the spell of a pregnant pause	Senryu	destiny,
3/30/2025	bebop pop sprout	Haiku	spring,
3/28/2025	Comfort in the Afterglow	Free verse	eulogy,love,passion,
3/28/2025	Fate strikes upfront or with backender	Free verse	fate,
3/27/2025	Not clean enough to spit upon	Free verse	anger,conflict,
3/27/2025	The Pattern of Stars, one and all	Free verse	space,stars,
3/26/2025	what the dog ate	Free verse	education,forgiveness,
3/26/2025	Such a beautiful day	Free verse	emotions,water,weather,
3/24/2025	The Now Continuum	Rhyme	perspective,
3/21/2025	The Dance of Death	Free verse	dance,death,
3/20/2025	Disheveled	Free verse	nature,sad,
3/20/2025	Pull the pin	Rhyme	conflict,courage,
3/20/2025	Blue Cheese 'n Pickles	Free verse	food,
3/20/2025	Mayhem of Diadem Forsaken	Rhyme	lost,lost love,
3/19/2025	Glug glug glum	Rhyme	depression,
3/19/2025	Pick a Six	Free verse	insect,nature,
3/18/2025	A Tipping Balance	Free verse	fate,
3/16/2025	Forevermore	Free verse	love,
3/16/2025	two plus two make four	Free verse	political,
3/10/2025	The echo returns not	Rhyme	emotions,remember,
3/10/2025	Memories Lost Within a Frozen Mist	Free verse	hope,memory,
3/10/2025	The Spell of Clouds	Free verse	allusion,emotions,introsp
2/13/2025	Implosion	Tanka	anxiety,break up,forgiven
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2/13/2025	Sea of Roses	Free verse	love,sea,
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12/10/2024	innocent bystander	Tanka	innocence,
12/10/2024	night out roundabout	Tanka	dance,light,storm,
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12/9/2024	Pudding	Pleiades	christmas,food,
12/8/2024	Water Imbibes All Truth Reveals	Rhyme	water,
12/6/2024	Frenemies I have a Few	Rhyme	engagement,friend,friends
12/5/2024	A New Day Dawns	Couplet	day,hope,
12/4/2024	Frantic Night	Rhyme	christmas,parody,
12/3/2024	Coming Down to Earth Grounded	Free verse	flying,
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