Everypony hates poetry. Or everypony should hate poetry.
Hey, I'm making a good point here, just wait for it. Besides, I'm a poet. I get to hate poetry as much as I please. Which is a lot more than most people ever will.
Poetry, loosely defined, is a bunch of words strung together in some format or other, used to convey an expression or idea. To a romantic, poetry is a baring of the soul, an attempt to reveal one's emotions to another; to a comedian, it's a way to make people laugh and be as filthy as possible while seeming smart; to the desperate, it's a way to try and convince people not to hate you or cut your head off.
Poems used to have a lot more power than they did today. Love poems were even banned in some societies because they were thought to have magical powers and would ensnare the victims of such prose... not that that stopped anyone from writing love poems, of course. A powerful or well-devised poem could also literally save your life if you insulted some highborn lord or something: if you wrote a poem praising his virtues, he might excuse you from the executioner's axe and declare your faults forgiven. And yet today 'poet' is often treated as synonymous with 'damn fool.' Which it should be, don't get me wrong, but all the same. Hey, I'm allowed to be hypocritical where I want. Besides, I can hate something a whole lot and still appreciate its worth. I hate the things Luna does sometimes but still appreciate her, after all.
Partly because she'd beat me otherwise.
Moving on.
Anyway. Poetry is annoying because by itself, it can be very powerful, and likewise, used in the right way, it can make the lamest story ever appear far, far more strong than it actually is. While quantity in writing can give the appearance of being impressive and important and really good - and take it from me, quantity does not equal quality, or even good practice all the time - a writer's quality truly shines when it comes to pursuing prose and poetry... and maybe that's part of the reason why I hate it so much.
The other part? Because poetry leaves you naked a lot more than writing does. Everything is so dependent on what you're drawing on from your own emotions, on your specific word choices, on the metaphors you use, that even the silliest or simplest poem can leave you raw and vulnerable and open if someone knows just where to jab the testing needle. And believe me, someone out there always knows. And just as often manages to get you right in the damn eye, too. Or the heart. Not that I have a heart. Luna has my heart. I'm heartless without her. Or even with her because she keeps it locked up in uh... well, I ran out of excuses.
That's why I hate poetry, and why everyone should. Poetry is the literary equivalent of a very large cannon: it can equalize two writers who are at very different strengths and levels, and in very different fields. Done properly, it can stir emotions in even the most stoic, and get a point across more powerfully than a hundred pages of text. And poetry was the entire reason I was made Court Poet, which is my best argument for it being a horrible tool used by horrible ponies to trick other people into thinking they have a smidgen of talent whatsoever.
But if you're desperate, and you need to really hit something hard... go ahead, and phrase your words in prose or poetic format. It's a pain in the flank but you might be surprised at the reaction you get, and how smart people suddenly think you are.
Luna wants me to write another poem about her now. So uh. Expect a poem up here at some point. It probably will not be a very nice one. Shh, don't tell her I said that.
~Scrivener Blooms
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