Bad Advice

I plan to continue my poetic adventure in 2023, similar to how I started in 2022, with a slight variation. Starting with the letter A, I will try to explore several poetry styles. This journey in poetry writing started two years ago when I strongly desired to learn more about reading and writing poetry. Black Out Poems became my obsession at the end of 2022. I promise to be a little more diverse this year. I started 2023 by writing “Ars Poetic” verse style. This form of poetry can be translated from Latin as “The Art of Poetry,” I titled this poem Bad Advice.

How does “Ars Poetic?” relate to the poem Bad Advice

Horace started this tradition somewhere around 13 B.C.E. This form of poetry is simply writing a poem about writing a poem. It expresses how the poet feels when engaged in the writing process, examining the poet’s relationship to the poem. There are no rules about meter or rhythm. Writing this form of poetry should be a fun experience.

Note: I decided to tackle my “Ars Poetic” poems by writing them in a series of poems without any rules of meter and rhythm. The subject matter concerns what I could write about if I chose to write about the subject matter.

Bad Advice 
He said, “Girls like you don’t go to college.”
They get married, have babies, and work at the factory.
Trapped in a dark tunnel with a narrow point of view
I left his office with a certain knowledge
There were some trees where the fruit hung high
And there were only short ladders for me
He could have been at least a little nice
Geometry, my Achilles heel
Sorting through the numbers and letters
And never coming up with the right answer
It’s not that I didn’t try
To take his expert advice
On a hot day under a May sun
Thirty years later, I stood in cap and gown
To receive my degree
I guess I could write about that

Like notes sung by a little bird
Letter upon letter
Word upon word
Line upon line 
Stanza upon stanza
This poem is for me to create and define

Who is Molly Shea?

Molly Shea is an accomplished fictional short story writer from Indiana who writes short stories and novels about a fictional town called Tecumseh.  To read more of her short stories and adventures, click here.

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