What Makes a Good Poem (II)



A good poem makes the ordinary and familiar seem extraordinary.
Michele Coppola


I think it's partly the compactness of a poem that, if the poet has a strong vision and command of language, will let it both "sprout roses and spit bullets" at the same time. A good poem doesn't waste words; it uses them sparingly and meaningfully.
Rebecca Davis


Good poems can tell us what we already know in our bones but had never seen or heard or even put into words before. For a poem to be good it needs the element of surprise. That comes to the reader both in content, line break, sound, and voice. You read the opening line, are carried (or jolted) to the last line, and then wonder, how did I get here? There you are standing in this new place but feeling that, yes, you too, belong here.

A fine poem needs mystery too; it doesn't say everything. If you were to compare a poem to a simple math equation, say 1 + 1 = 2, then a poem is butterfly + jagged scar = his warm breath on your neck. It's another way of knowing that makes perfect sense, but not logical, linear, rational sense...

Poetry works on us not only through content but through sound. And for a poem to be well written it must remember that element as well. It needs to sound right.
Patrice Vecchione.


When I have my editor's hat on and I'm choosing selections for an anthology, I look for poems with energy but focus, poems with emotional weight, poems that tickle me with their word play and cleverness, poems that delight me in the way that structure and words have meshed, or poems whose content makes my mind tingle. When I'm writing my own poetry, I would love to incorporate all of these at once!
Betsy Franco


Taking that medicine analogy, just a little dose of good poetry is sometimes all you need to be helped and even healed.

This, of course, ties into some very old ideas. My Abenaki ancestors said that words have power, that a song can be medicine, can restore balance, can bring back joy after sorrow. Words of power make things happen. Good poems touch that sort of power.
Joseph Bruchac