How to Write Better Most Poetry Is Ugly
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Oct 12, 2022 A candid take on why much contemporary poetry feels flat and what makes some poems stick. A dense John Kinsella poem is read and questioned. A celebration of Rupi Kaur’s short, resonant lines that connect heart and mind. A discussion of how powerful poetry turns intellectual truths into felt truths.
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Most Poetry Fails Because It Misses Emotion
- Most poetry fails because it is simply bad writing that doesn't connect emotionally.
- Joshua Fields Milburn realized poetry's value only after finding examples that made him feel something true he already knew.
Confusion From Dense Paris Review Poetry
- Joshua reads a dense John Kinsella poem from the Paris Review that left him puzzled and disconnected.
- He describes flipping through the quarterly and not seeing himself in that elaborate, image-heavy verse.
Discovering Rupi Kaur In A Bookstore Wait
- Joshua discovered Rupi Kaur when he randomly opened The Sun and Her Flowers while waiting outside a bookstore restroom.
- He read page 136's short poem and immediately felt it, tearing up at its concise emotional clarity.
