All kinds make a world - Agnes Krampe's Blog

"All kinds make a world" is something my mother-in-law used to say. 

I have been thinking of this whenever I read the debates what constitutes "real" and "good" poetry, hear the disdain about old fashioned writing in rhyme as opposed to edgy modern free verse, read disparaging comments about humorous poetry.

I was at a poetry reading recently where local poets read from their works. Very different styles. One older gentlemen read a series of short poems on animals; they were all just a few lines, rhymed, slightly humorous, and part of a project intended for kindergarteners, i.e. five year olds. And they were GOOD. They were not modern, had no earth shattering new insights, but were exactly the kind of poem a five year old can love and easily memorize. And that is a wonderful thing, because for many kids, this can be the door to poetry. They made poetry accessible and fun. For what they were intending to do, they were among the best poems read that night.

I am also thinking of the joy a simple poem can bring that is written for an occasion. For my father's 80th birthday, I wrote a humorous rhyming poem about him that could be sung to a melody, with a refrain in which the entire party could join. It was a hit for the party and served this purpose much better than any "good" poem could have. (Those went into a book I gave as a present, to be read at leisure)

My grandmother loved sentimental poems. Song lyrics need to be metered and rhymed. Haiku evoke poetic images. Limericks make people chuckle. Deep poems full of metaphors make people think about the world in new ways. Dramatic ballads can make a kid fall in love with poetry (ask me how I know).

People also write for different reasons. I stopped participating in a certain critique  forum because I found that it was killing the joy for me to have my peoms ripped apart brutally. I write because it gives me joy, and decided I am unwilling to have that taken away from me for the sake of improvement. Other people write to be published, to leave a legacy for posteriority, to advocate for a cause, to give other people joy, to heal their souls.

I think all of these are prefectly fine reasons to write. 

All kinds make a world.