The Okcitykid - A Peaceful Vet

From Midnight Muse

JUST 24 LINES

Why only 24 lines
How do you tell the times in just 24 lines
Is the word of song so sad that you only bear to read
24 lines
After 24 we are old and a bore
Reading so much can make you sore

How do I describe a tree
Bird in flight
or the sea
In just 24 lines

Commercialism sound bites raised we
Any more is just an impossibility

Feelings flow pages and pages
Explain the pain
Excitement
The insane

But you want only 24 lines
How boring you must be
Such an existence for me
Would be insanity

By: Roger Harkness
The Okcitykid A Peaceful Vet

********************************************

Have you ever entered a poetry contest. Feelings flow on a piece of paper and then you come across a poetry contest and mistakingly you believe that everybody will understand what your poem is all about as it so perfectly describes what you felt and so, you enter the contest, your submission is turned down as you didn’t read the instructions (ONLY 24 LINES). Has this ever happened to you? I have one poem that is 6 pages long. I think my best work “God Person” takes up four pages. While I do have a few pieces that would fit nicely into their instructions and I might be able to write something that fits into their guidelines, they and those like them can kiss my ass.

The best poem I have ever read was “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and that’s a book. While it was required reading when I was in school, it would never meet the guidelines of any of these stupid contests. And does anybody really win? Are there judges? or is it just who you know or they take bribes under the table. They tell you that your poem is really nice and they would like to include it in their book, and by the way, would you like to buy it, it will come with a certificate with your name on it.

These people don’t care about poetry, they don’t know poetry, they certainly ARE NOT poet friendly. They wouldn’t know the difference between a good poem or a bad poem, I bet they don’t even write poems themselves. No, its just a gimmick and you are just another person they can make a buck off of. So sad how money making schemes kill artistic talent, I would almost say, there should be a law against that, but we have enough laws, fines and prison cells, don’t need no more of that. But we need to realize that the most profitable is not always the most right way of doing things.