I had a dream last night
All poets were gathered
Not a contest just a meeting
To decide and limit jurisdiction
No more writing what you like
No more missed punctuations
Or grammar that makes no sense
No sense? To whom? I asked
I write for me! I like me grammar!
Well, ‘Poet’ is now a legal term
Can’t use it without prior deference
There’s too many people
Who demean our craft
And now we must insist
‘WE’ insist on poetic correctness
No more silly love poems
Making readers want to puke
No more humour that’s unfunny
Forcing its way for poetic space
No more pretending to be smart
Using ubiquitous meaningless words
Striking fear in the hearts of amateurs
Plucking ‘do lala’ sentences out of thin air
Philosophical nonsense to impress
Clanking sounds which just don’t rhyme
Causing headaches we cannot shift
If you must write, we must insist
Be poetically correct all of the time
So one by one we all marched out
Saddened faces one and all
If we can’t write just what we want
Then we are doomed
To sit and stare
As our muses take a hike
They have no time to sit and wait
On mortals with too many rules
Poetic correctness, drains us no end
I turned around to see who’s left
Who it is that deemed themselves
Capable of being so poetically correct
There was no one, No not one
So here I am with the singular honour
To announce on behalf of all who write
Poetical correctness just died unseen
No need to starve your poetic muse
Join me and cast your vote right now
For poetic incorrectness
Long may it reign
Significance Speaks 
Stand up for sure! I am with you and all poets. It is the passion that drives the lines.
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Glad I have your support Liz. Creativity and passion rules.
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Hi,
I like that you said, “your voice is yours.” That means I can write what I feel and believe. Maybe, just maybe, the poetical correctness that is demanded by some is only the lack of creativity and the inability to find their own voice. You said it, the voice is yours, but if I don’t hear the voice, I cannot breathe it out. When that happens, we start looking for rules to limit those who have found their way.
I see the same thing happening in fiction. Rules and formulas are being developed for writing the bestseller. I don’t doubt that some of these formulas will produce a bestseller, but is that creativity?
Does that mean you have found your own voice? I don’t think so. For me it only means you have amputated the creative spirit within you.
By the way, I am with you all the way. I hope poetical correctness never comes. It will be the end of the child within. I think Wordsworth said it better, The child is the father of man.
Great poem.
Ciao,
Patricia
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Wow Patricia, your voice is definitely yours and I hear you loud and clear. We have to write from the heart. It is the only kind that counts. Great indepth comment. Thanks.
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That was great….I am a man of creativity within structure but I do believe when you pick up the pen you have a chance to introduce yourself to the world. You can leave a scrabble or your mark. I am with you on being poetically incorrect but even that moment needs structure. So, I say lets be poetically incorrect but lets do it correctly!!!! Create a movement….
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