How to write a rotten poem with almost no effort: answering the questions

How to write a rotten poem with almost no effort:

Do you think the essay is serious or humorous, comment?

How to write a rotten poem with almost no effort by Richard Howey is a comical essay, first of all the title of the essay suggests that it is a humorous essay, the use of the term, “rotten poem” gives a funny suggestion. In the beginning of the essay, the writer states, “you had an astounding thought, a car accident or a squalid love affair and you want to record it for all time…..” in here the tone of the writer is humorous as he gives such funny everyday routine examples to establish his point of view. Then the writer states that, “but at least it will be better than all the song lyrics or at least equal to one of Rod McKuen’s best efforts”, here the writer uses humor and sarcasm to explain that what you may at first produce as a poem will be better than song lyrics or comparable with the works of a mediocre or a lousy poet. Then the way in which he illustrates the method of writing poem, by using the example. “in the parking lot of mind”, this is a funny sentence as it sounds odd and bizarre, then his use of similar terms to be placed in the sentences like, “windmills”, “filling cabinet” etc. these all sound very humorous. In the next instance he gives an instruction related to synesthesia, using two senses in a conflicting manner, “listen to the warm”  and “I cuddled your sight in the aroma of the night”, these sentences also are quite humorous,  his third instruction consisting of the term, “she gave me toast that morning” in here again the humor is evident as this line does not relate to the previous lines but she just ships in the poem out of the blue, then in the last instance, when he says that the fourth line should relate to future in some way, “I will see you tomorrow”, in here again the last line is randomly selected and does not make any sense thus it sounds bizarre and funny. The example of the poem that he uses is quite funny, “in the parking lot of my mind, I cuddled your sight in the aroma of the night, I left for work next day on the 8:30 bus, maybe we will meet again in july” in this whole poem the humor evident and the lines do not make much sense and entice a funny mood in the reader. And lastly when the writer remarks, “if you find it impossible to sell it bobby Goldsboro or john Denver, then burn it, for it will look terrible as the first page of your anthropology when its published”, in this line, the writer sarcastically and humorously demeans the effort at writing a “rotten poem”  

What is the whole point the writer is trying to make?

“how to write a rotten poem with almost no effort” by Richard Howey is a comical essay as there are numerous humorous clichés but nevertheless the poem has a serious objective, the writer does intend to give the readers an easy road down the hill of poetry-writing, it seems as though the writer is fed up from the illiteracy and lack of intellectualism in the society, it offends him that poems have lost their worth, they are not appreciated as they should be appreciated, they are not given importance, people have become so engrossed in their daily tough routine pursuits  that they have forgotten how to acknowledge the beauty of life, they do not pay attention to small moments, they do not want to think In a deep and philosophical manner, they just want to withdraw themselves away from the all the abstractions and live a materialistic and robotic life, good poetry thus suffers as there are no readers of poetry, for when one does love life and does not meditate over its meaning, how is one supposed to appreciate a poem on love, life, honor, beauty or spirituality, the writer states, “poetry has become a totally foreign art to many of us…. Good poets and poems are lost forever simply because there is no market for them…..” so it seems that the point writer is trying to make is that people have lost their sense of earthliness, they have lost themselves in worthless things and hence it’s important to make people appreciate the love of poems and poetry for when they do start reading and writing poetry, things will move towards betterment, “once a person has written a poem of whatever quality it is, he will feel comradeship with fellow writers and hopefully read their works, ideally there would evolve a veritable society of poet citizens which would elevate the quality of life worldwide” in here the writer is being grossly optimistic and is embellishing  in an unrealistic manner but nonetheless it becomes evident what actually the writer wishes, how he wants to see a society filled with people who appreciate the beauty of good poetry thus in turn appreciate the goodness of life itself.

Comment on the irony in the essay.

In “how to write a rotten a poem with almost no effort”, the writer uses irony to clarify some of his emphasis and points, for instance in this sentence he states, “…… as a result serious poets either starve or work as account executives, there is no middle ground……” in here the writer uses irony to portray an ill of the society, how much demeaning and downtrodden the profession of poetry has become, so much that a poet can barely survive, he either has to give-up on his profession or spends a large portion of his life doing a job that does not satisfy his heart and soul, for how is it possible for a deep-thinking poet who has a philosophical turn of mind to work around with a bottle of potassium hydroxide in a chemical lab!, in here the writer also utilizes a sarcastic and a sardonic tone.  In the next instance the writer uses irony to exaggerate a fact, for when he says, “……ideally there would evolve a veritable society of poets-citizens which would elevate the quality of life world-wide, not only that good poets could make a living for a change….”  This is ironic because by following the essay’s instructions and by writing a “rotten poem”, a whole society does not readily revolutionize in to a classy system of high-profile literates who adore poetry from the bottom of their heart, this tone of the writer is unrealistic as it takes a great many millenniums and centuries worth of efforts by a large number of individuals  who work tirelessly day and night to build up a mighty society, such a society thus comprises all the qualities that a good literary society does. This sentence hereby is ironic and overtly optimistic.

Does the writer mean that writing poetry is such a mechanical thing?

In “how to write a rotten poem with almost no effort”, the writer presents the problem that poetry has, how it has suffered a lot of setbacks and how there are so few people who appreciate the love of reading and writing poem, in the whole essay, the writer uses a humorous and ironic tone to present a set of instructions for writing a poem, it may imply that following those instructions a person may well be able to write a poem but then again the writer uses the term “rotten poem” meaning that although you can write a poem by following a mechanical formulae-type set of instructions but that poem will be “rotten” and will not be a masterpiece, it seems as though the writer does believe that poetry comes from within and good poems cannot be written in such a mechanical way, “now that poem (like yours, when you are finished) is rotten, but at least it’s a poem and you have written it), which is an accomplishment that relatively few people can claim”, in here the writer states again that whatever that you have produced following the set of instructions is indeed “rotten” and only some people can actually write poems, hence proving that if it were such a mechanical thing, then almost everybody would be able to write poems readily, furthermore the writer’s statement, “….. a veritable society of poet citizens which would elevate the quality of life worldwide….” Here again he implies that poetry cannot be an extensively mechanical thing, if it was then it may not have a share in improving the quality of life, because then it would lack the depth and beauty that is required to mold things in a good way, it would not “elevate the quality of life”

Do you think the poem can be written in this way?

Poetry can be written in this manner but then again as the writer mentions that such a poem will be devoid of life and it will be “rotten”, good poetry requires a lot of insight in to the depth of life, it requires that the poet should have a “comprehensive soul”, a soul that is able to see beyond the surface of things, that is able to capture the beauty in the smallest of the details, that is able to feel the emotions of others as if they were its own, good poets have a broader sense of things around them, they absorb a lot of emotions from their surroundings, they grasp ideas in a unique way, their perception, their judgment, their understanding differ from other people, it can be said that poets are born with the capacity to write poems on the other hand some poets produce good poetry due to the experiences they had in their life, mostly dark experiences leave a deeper impression,  so if a person undergoes a tragedy in his or her life, then that would have a profound impact on that person’s perception of life and hence may lead to a deeper absorption of emotions thus enabling him or her to write deep poetry. 

Anam S.Ahmed