I hate free verse. I really do. So many people think they are accomplished poets, when in fact the overwhelming majority of them just spill words on a page that have no assonance, alliteration, rhyme, meter (yes, I know it is free verse, but rhyme and meter are useful tools), onomatopoeia, and other interesting and provocative written language techniques. I find most of these to be very self-centered, non-instructive, non-useful, and non-interesting. Yes, yes, much like the writings on this blog!

So why am I ranting on this? Well, the blog is mine and for me, mostly. You are invited along, but I make no disclaimer as to amusement value or lack thereof. However, by publishing in a form like a poem (even a vers libre poem), certain expectations are raised. A certain level of quality and effort is implied (to me, anyway). Whereas, with the blog, I think there is, at least at this point, no such thing as a standard of quality -- i.e., no established, decently-funded prize exists for blog quality, no one pays money for the privilege of reading blogs, and blog contents are not taught to students in school. In short, I have (luckily) chosen a medium in which mediocrity is standard, so I have no requirement to only practice it at a given level of quality. Poetry, on the other hand, does have certain standards of quality which have been defined (notably by Matthew Arnold and Helen Vendler, among many others). It is as if every 42-year-old weekend softball player insisted on playing in a major league stadium to showcase their "talents." This rant led me on a short but enlightening internet search, culminating in utter frustration for me:

So, again, apparently I am alone in this feeling, as there do not exist the following website registrations: ihatefreeverse.com and .org and .anything else, ihateverslibre.com and .org and .anything else, freeversesucks.com and .org and .anything else, etc. You get the direction this is going. Does everyone (but me) like free verse? Meh.