I love writing ,especially poems.In my undergraduate days i use to think and write a lot about the philosophy of life and these thoughts usually came when travelling in a bus or in the school bus with my friends around.Sometimes they gist loudly in the bus and would always expect my contributions but would get nothing but silence.Then,they gave me a name.

They found it funny and wierd that somebody would spend a better part of the day writing, writing and writing,  of all things, poems - geez,the most boring thing one can ever do! Those ones that had the modesty to read the poems dump the manuscripts back in my hands half way, giving every ostensible reason why they would be back to finish it (they never come.)
Only few who has genuine interest in literature reads,critiques and may even give you suggestions at times.

It was the same story in my high school days.Students never wanted to read the literature books included in the WAEC syllables especially poetry. They only try to read them during siesta and guess what? It puts most of them to sleep before they finish the first line.

Right from the days of our fathers,youths who had the priviledge to be educated utilized every opportunity.They became our teachers in primary schools and secondary schools.They were our lecturers in our undergradute days till date,they also wrote most books of literature students use for class work today. You don't see such zeal in our youths today.

So, i keep wondering,is it that youths are lazy to think,write and read or that the works of literature is totally boring(i disagree with this option) or that to do this literature thing is just  innate ,you know, like a talent? I really don't understand. When all the old literature icons die,who will fill in the blank spaces?

yeah sometimes . 

in most cases it depends on who the teacher is . if you  have a lively  teacher .one who knows how to light up the images used  in the peom .one whose diction and figures of speech gives you a better understanding  even the most boring Poems sounds beautiful.

on the other hand  if you have a boring teacher .who thinks Poetry is all about sitting  down on a chair . and reciting Poems ,asking you to pick out figures fo speech and expecting you not to sleep thats gross .

yes it does, just as a good lullaby puts a baby to sleep

you're right most of the poetry pple write these days is introspective and boring stuff.

unless you're actually very good at it.

@lilian777:

post some of your stuff on the site lets see what you do now---

Poetry like music ,appeals to people differently ,I believe there's also a talent aspect to it ,unfourtunately in this part of the world it seems to be a dying art and there's quite a number of reasons for this,apathy ,ignorance and medocrity are but a few. I'm a musician and poet of sorts (not professionally) and whenever i'm in the zone I churn out music and poetry that reflect my opinions,veiws and feelings on any particular subject and the feeling of gratification ,I get money cannot buy.The system is'nt helping matters,the mediocrity which characterisies our movies,music and general way of life do not encourage deep thinking and more importantly does not reward it,so almost everyone takes a short cut which usually leads to nowhere.

poetry,i think is fantasy

i love and appreciate poetry but that was a taste i had to develop on my own without much encouragement. it helped though that i enjoyed writing even before i knew anyone could write a poem.

truth is poetry is an acquired taste and u dont really appreciate it fully if u dont try ur hands at it a few times. so even though i know it is sad that most kids dont appreciate poetry these days, I can understand why. Why be a poet when u can be Jay-FREAKING-z.

another theory is that poetry like many art forms has evolved. perhaps back in the day, what you call poetry (academic poetry) was the rage and kids felt cool if they could recite shakespeare's sonnets off head. today, that stuff is just not cool anymore and rap/musical lyricism has taken its place. i listen to some rap songs (i hate rap by the way) and i have to just respect the lyricist cuz that stuff is not by accident. perhaps the message may not be as profound but the delivery and the attention to detail is apparent and kids are bobbing their heads and coming up with new stuff everyday. so in that way, poetry is not really putting them to sleep, it is waking them up.

@ myro

Somehow,you are right.You particularly don't like rap but u sound like you can't help being influenced by it.Either in your area or school, somebody is playing or singing one to your hearing. You, mentioned Jay z but you didn't say anything about Tu pac whose rap is nothing short of great poetry.I guess that's what you mean

@ ziddy:

I'm still a writer. I do commercial writing in brand management.It's lucrative but not as soulful as personal writing.I will post my stuffs soon. Though, i'm highly finicky about bringing out my unpublished works for fear of plagiarism.But, i'll post some of my approved works with 'loving you.com.' Hope it doesnt put y'all to sleep.hehehehehe

lillian,I'd love to read some of your stuff may'be even put some musical flesh on some of your writings ,you sound like you know what your talking about , keep doing you

different strokes for different folks,
i don't exactly dig poetry either
however, there are a few i'd read/listen and go 'WoW'!!

poems r borin esp doin em wen i was in yr 11!! . forget poems write bars n make music den u cn keep us youths awake

I think our attention span is so short.
And poem take some patience before the interesting part comes along. Unlike music where the starting beat just drives you crazy immediately.
Try Timba land's beats then you'll feel what i'm talking about.
Times have changed and new things have taken over the entertainment that makes poetry so Obsolete and "Old School" if you know what i mean.

i love this topic cos im someone like lilian. ive always loved writing and it made me seem weird even among my family. i remember when i wrote my first poem at a very young age, my dad laughed and said it was too good to have been written by me! my sisters spent a long time trying to figure out who the real writer of the poem was

of course i cried my eyes out like a child and poet that i was _{and still am}

today, im glad i proved them all wrong cos ive written better poems they've come to know that its something i just love doing _{and i'm good at}.

poetry is for the soulful and i will not be a party to trying to convince someone to love peotry cos if uve not got soul, u just cant apprciate any form of art.

its deep, real and very sane.

its sad we dont have many poetry recital shows in nigeria. maybe that would help people understand and appreciate it more.

peace!

Basically stuff you arent enlightened about wouldnt make sense to you. It is no lie that many of the so called graduates we produce in the country cant speak or construct good english, are they the same ones that would now appreciate poetry. Poetry like other forms of literature is deep and only the deep mind can understand it. But that one does not feel poetry does not mean the person is dumb. Many scientist loathe poetry. Therein the issue of taste comes in.

@ jesusfreak,

I laughed when i read your story.That makes two of us Believe me, 'gurl,' i feel u! Good to know that there are still young people out there who appreciate good works of literature,esp poems. I used to do some little sketches too but since i didn't continue with that ,i lost touch, a lil'. Your signature shows you are confident in what you do.keep it up! Try lovingyou.com.You can send your poetry to them and it would be voted for.They'd give you copyright but your poem will be used for cards and stuffs.Just go there sha,you may find something,

shalom!

thanks girlfriend! will definately check out the site

gold cant be found everywhere u know? so to all the few pple who just love the soul that poetry _{and all forms of art} provide, celebrate! cos we're one in a million

you guys keep going on and on about all this poetry stuff. post some stuff on the poetry board now, show us some skills. lets see what you are made off. its good to get other people to critique ur stuff so you know the areas of improvement. get an objective appraisal of what you're doing.

i used to write a lot of poetry myself but not anymore. all i write these days is prose. am working on a novel----

good idea!

y dont u start the posting

i dont mind posting some of my works but i think id rather do that tru the right channel. plagarism is not my friend

but its cool what someone like seun the gracious and merciful owner of the land is doing.


let's see what uve got!

i write prose, not poetry. i used do poetry but i after some time i felt it was all about myself so i stopped.

its a pity everybody's so scared of plagiarism but its hard to grow if you keep your portfolio too close to your chest. that aside sha you guys should be able to do stuff, off-the-cuff,

like this collabo i bumped into some guys doing on this same nairaland: you check out this link below


https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-51015.0.html


there's no point going on all night that we love poetry, arts books etc if we cant discuss it constructively, like we have writing workshops where you read out stuff you're working on and other writers offer criticism (constructively o!)

@ ziddy

cool thread but i wonder why its in the joke section, i think everyone on this thread shld conrrtibute seriously to the unednding story even if its just for fun like im doing

it doesnt have to end up like an unserious story with silly reply when we can try our hands on raw creativity

maybe that would move it to the litereture section

poetry is out of the ordinary. it just depends on how u see it. as for me, i would sleep if i could in a poetry class . though i cant

poetry isnt that boring,its like music u feel it inside of u,ite like listenin 2 music, most ef the lyrics in some soul music r pure poetry

@iice
you r right

Poetry has many sides, although i try to keep my poems as understandable as possible, it still gets complicated.
Poetry is expression in a particular form with figurative language
Poems that rhyme are more easily understood.

poetry never stops getting complicated. its interesting sometimes though but very confusing

Poetry is like music to the soul. Sometimes it lifts one's spirit by touching some spots in our hearts that no one has ever reached ,explaining what we are experiencing at one point in our lives.

Somehow,poetry helps us understand we're not the only ones going through a particular phase.Someone has been there before or has a clear imagery and understanding of what we're going through to be able to put in black and white.

It could lift your spirit if its an Ode or ballad or it may depress you if its an elergy.Either way,its an interesting work of art not a trick of grammer.

With a little bit of literary terms here and there,there's no way poetry can put you to sleep,rather it keeps u awake.
Above all, poetry can only be understood,appreciated and written by "thinkers" and great minds.

@ OP

People tend to react negatively to poetry because it can be tedious. One major reason is that poets themselves don't help matters. They make poems difficult in order to score points with poetry critics. But I recently came across a children educational magazine called OHL (Oliver Home Learning) in which they have a regular poetry column. They try to teach kids poems by using simple poems and showing the kids how to write poems themselves.

nice thread

poetry is an acquired taste perhaps.

some poems are very interesting though- you'd have to take time to search for them.