Musing on What's Hot and What's Not

I was thinking today that, to be truly radical now in the writing world you need to go back to writing in forms, rhyming (without trying to...poets, you know the difference. One is a flow and one is a greeting card!) and tackling sacred cows like: 'don't write poems about poetry'.
And since that is really 'the way' to break with the mainstream now (oh, Slammers will be angry and so will the unconstructed, but hey, there's just so many of you out there now...you are no longer different!) I realized I had a truly radical and groundbreaking poem in "Fruit of the Banyan Tree" (a collection by the Ruminators, published in 2009). It is called "Somewhere the Goddess" and commits the two sins of writing in rhyming sonnet form and writing about writing poetry!! And then, it's also kind of Dorothy Parker in places. Here it is:

Somewhere the Goddess

If he compared her to a summer's day

In the current age of global warming,

While turning bright red in intense sun rays

She would not think it sounded so charming.

If he said his love would stay as strong

As the moment he first eyed her eye,

When passionate ties don't last that long,

She would surely think, "He lies."

But though sonnetteers must all move along

Dip their pens in the ink of the latest fad

Fill their cups from the latest hip-hop song

Learn to write post modern verse and be glad

Somewhere the Goddess of Romance still lurks

Feeding on small, sweet sentimental quirks.

Tell me that ain't so! And guys, don't forget to bring flowers...

Thanks to my new followers...I appreciate you! Please don't be shy and share if you have something to add to whatever I post as long as we are on the topic of writing.

Poems posted on Shelliewrites.com

Hi

I was asked to post a poem I wrote last October about Edgar Allen Poe...so it is on the website now, on the page you find if you click Read More under Writing Previews on the homepage.
Another poem from my volume, Journey to the Meaning of Love is also posted. Hope you enjoy them! My book is available for purchase through my website...or you can find it on Amzon.com.

Good news...a different poem from my book, Morgaina's Lament, was just published in the first issue of Poetica Victorian.

I'm now reading an interesting book, set in rural Georgia in the early 1930's. The reminisence of a young girl, this feels a lot like Harper Lee (To Kill A Mockingbird) and racism is clearly a theme, but definitely not the only one in "The Cailiff's of Baghdad, Georgia". This is a more complex journey and a very good example of the regional novel. Check it out! Author, Mary Helen Stefaniak.