What makes a good poem?


A good poem is a blind date with enchantment.Above all, no matter what its subject matter,it must possess perfect verbs and no superfluous words. It must be an antidote to indifference.The acid test is that you want to read it time and time again, and not only to yourself. A good poem begs to be shared with others.
-- Lee Bennett Hopkins.


Love and care for elemental details, for chosen words and their simple arrangement on the page... and a way of ending that leaves a new resonance or a lit spark in the reader or listener's mind—that’s part of it.
-- Naomi Shihab Nye.



For me, good poems, ones that I like to read over and over… I think poetry should come from the heart of the writer—whether it is light and funny or deeply-felt. Caring—about the subject, the emotion, the act of making the poem—is, I believe, essential.

It seems to me a good poem can rhyme or not rhyme, use similes and metaphors or not, be metrical or free, be as complex as a Shakespeare sonnet or as seemingly simple as a statement by William Carlos Williams. It can be anything the writer wants it to be—as long as it reflects true feeling. And that "feeling" can be just the joy of using words!

Strong, accurate, interesting words, well-placed, make the reader feel the writer’s emotion and intentions. Choosing the right words—for their meaning, their connotations, their sounds, even the look of them, makes a poem memorable.

-- Patricia Hubbell.


"Prose = words in their best order; Poetry = the best words in their best order"—Coleridge said it, and I believe it. Poetry IS about words—their precision, texture, beauty (and ugliness). Prose is about words, too, but not in the same way. Prose is about the bigger picture. The canvas is bigger and so are the brushstrokes. A good poem, whether narrated by a character or by the poet her/himself, uses words wonderfully, and it uses them to capture specific moments in a fresh way, a way that makes the reader exclaim with delight, "Yes, that's it! That's right!"

-- Marilyn Singer.